Apple II 3. Making an Apple II disk for an emulator

Get a ProDOS disk

Download a ProDOS disk from https://prodos8.com/.

Just follow the download links through the download button to get the latest version.

Make a template disk

Open AppleCommander: java -jar AppleCommander-win64-1.5.0.jar (where AppleCommander-win64-1.5.0.jar is the full path and name of the version you downloaded)

Open the downloaded ProDOS disk and delete all the files except for the file named PRODOS
Save this disk to a new name, template.dsk and keep this safe - it will be reused all the time.

Prepare a disk for your program

Copy the template.dsk to hello.dsk in the same folder where you created hello.apple2

Add your program to the disk

Run the following on the command line and take note of the output:

cl65 --print-target-path

Let’s assume it’s Windows and the output was D:\apps\cc65\target

Run AppleCommander and use it to install your program to auto-boot from the disk. Notice that the tail end of the 1st command is the path D:\cc65\target\apple2\util\loader.system. Replace D:\cc65\target\ with whatever the cl65 --print-target-path command gave as output, so in my example case it becomes D:\apps\cc65\target\apple2\util\loader.system.

On Windows, the following commands must be done in cmd.exe, not in PowerShell, so the redirection works. On Unix and macOS, I tested this in the bash shell.

java -jar AppleCommander-win64-1.5.0.jar -p hello.dsk hello.system sys < D:\cc65\target\apple2\util\loader.system
java -jar AppleCommander-win64-1.5.0.jar -as hello.dsk hello bin < hello.apple2 

Remember to fix the D:\cc65\target\apple2\util\loader.system in the first java command to reflect your installation. This assumes that you are using AppleCommander-win64-1.5.0.jar and that it’s in the folder where hello.apple2 resides. Obviously, use the full path to AppleCommander if it isn’t in the same folder as hello.apple2.

You can rename the version of AppleCommander that you have, to ac.jar for short.

You now have a working ProDOS disk that will run your hello.c program when the Apple II boots from this disk.

Running it in the Emulator

Load your emulator and load the disk, hello.dsk into the emulator. (F3 in AppleWin and linapple, or drag-and-drop hello.dsk on the left side of the window in Microm8). Reboot the emulator (F2 in AppleWin and linapple, automatic in Microm8)

You should now see Hello, World! on your screen towards the upper left, and when you press a key, you return to the file selector at ProDOS.

Next: 4. Compiling assembly code for the Apple II