ADTPro

Apple Disk Transfer ProDOS (ADTPro) transfers diskettes and logical disk images between Apple II-era computers and the modern world. If you're familiar with the original ADT, ADTPro extends ADT's reach by working with more logical disk formats, drive types, communications devices, and host operating systems.

There is a host (server) component that runs on modern computers with Java, and an Apple (client) component that runs on any Apple II or Apple /// compatible computer with at least 64k of memory:

ADTPro transfers disks using any of these communications devices:

ADTPro has these features:

  • Transfers any storage device ProDOS or SOS can access
  • Runs on any Apple II, Apple ///, or clone computer with 64k of memory
  • Runs on Linux, Mac OSX, OS/2, Windows, and probably Solaris
  • Understands many digital disk formats: .DSK, .PO, .NIB, 2IMG
  • Serves the original ADT client as well as the updated ADTPro client
  • Bootstraps Apple II and Apple /// computers from bare metal over serial or cassette ports
  • Sends floppies in "batch" mode without having to name each one
  • Formats media on the Apple II or Apple ///

ADTPro may be used to transfer Apple diskette/disk images in DOS or ProDOS/SOS format. The Apple client side happens to run under ProDOS or SOS, but it is perfectly capable of reading or writing Apple DOS (or Pascal, or CP/M, or...) diskettes.

The latest ADTPro can always be downloaded from the SourceForge project page.

Server

The server program runs on a computer capable of running Java. Depending on how you want to connect to your Apple, you might also need a serial port and cables, an Uthernet card, or a couple of audio patch cables.

The server's primary role is to send and receive disk images as requested from the client. But if you have recently acquired an Apple II and a disk drive, and you have no software for it - you're in a bit of a tricky situation if you want to move software from the Internet all the way to your shiny new Apple. ADTPro's server can help get you get bootstrapped by sending operating software to an otherwise completely empty Apple.

Client

The client side runs on the Apple II or Apple ///. It handles most of the user interaction:

When choosing disks/volumes to transfer, anything that ProDOS or SOS can see is fair game:

Transferring data occurs with a 20k buffer on the Apple, so all transfers are broken up into 20k chunks. A progress indicator shows how far it is into the current chunk, as well as a running count of the total progress:

Bootstrapping the Apple II or Apple ///

If you already use the DOS version of ADT, you can use it to transfer the virtual floppy containing ADTPro that comes with this project (ADTPRO-1.1.4.DSK) to your Apple. Reboot the Apple with the ADTPro floppy, and you're ready to go.

If you don't use DOS ADT now, don't have software for your Apple yet, or don't have a serial card, more bootstrapping scenarios and configurations are detailed below. Please note that you will need to use serial or audio communications (not ethernet) for this task.

If you still need to connect your host and Apple computers with physical cables, refer back to the "Configuration" section for your connection type:

Here is a 5-minute overview video of the Apple II bootstrapping process, end-to-end:

Brief Demo Presentation

Attached below are slides to a demonstration presentation I gave to a local Mac users group. It goes through the basic steps it takes to bootstrap the Apple II. There are speaker notes, and it contains a few resources and links.