Two Boots Are Better Than One..............Bob Sander-Cederlof

If you have been trying to write programs for the whole Apple community, or just for yourself and a few friends, then you have probably run into the problem.  Your friends or customers do not all have the same kind of Apple!  Some of them have the plain old Apple II, and only have Integer BASIC.  Others have the newer Apple II Plus, and only have Applesoft BASIC in ROM.  (Of course, there are some who have both BASICs, either in ROM or with the Pascal Language System.

The problem is that the boot program, or the so-called HELLO program, must be in either Integer BASIC or Applesoft.  It cannot be both at once!  So if you use an Applesoft version, the friend without Applesoft gets the "LANGUAGE NOT AVAILABLE" message when he boots up the disk.  Or if you use an Integer BASIC boot program, the person with an Apple II Plus and no Integer BASIC gets the message.

There is an answer!  I discovered it by reading the documentation that comes with the Apple Writer Text Editing System.  The key is to remember that if the boot program is written in Applesoft, and if furthermore there is no Applesoft in ROM in your machine, then DOS tries to load and run an Integer BASIC file with the name APPLESOFT!  So, INIT your disk with an Applesoft boot program named HELLO; then include on the disk also a similar boot program written in Integer BASIC and store it on the disk under the file name "APPLESOFT"!

When you boot this disk, DOS will try to boot the program named HELLO.  If you have Applesoft on ROM, this will succeed, and you are up and running.  If you do not have Applesoft, DOS will attempt to load it from the disk by RUNning the Integer BASIC file named Applesoft (which is really your other boot program!!).  Isn't the Apple wonderful?
