Today is a great day for all those users who are unconditional fans of the brand since its inception, since something unthinkable has happened today. Apple has given permission to museums to publish the source code for Apple II computers.
El Museum of the History of Informatics along with the DigiBarn Museum today released the source code for the Apple II computer dating back to 1978. The code is released for non-commercial purposes and with prior permission from Apple.
The Apple II began shipping to buyers in 1977 as a ready-to-use product, equipped with a keyboard and compatible with any monitor. It had a starting price of $ 1.298 which justified having color graphics, expansion slots, games and the built-in BASIC programming language. The source code for the Apple II was developed by Paul Laughton, a programmer hired by Shepardson Microsystems, who wrote the code on punch cards in seven weeks and for which Apple paid him $ 13.000.
The code was written on punch cards. I was able to handwrite the code in 80 columns. Then a guy from Shepardson named Mike Peters took those sheets and made the punch cards that would be read by Wozniak's invention.
The paper tape that the Apple II reads is read through a plug-in card made by Wozniak. As the project progressed and the code was written, it was debugged and updated. The source code can be downloaded directly from the website of the Museum of Computer History. The Museum of Computer History also has a detailed history of the creation of the Apple II, which is well worth reading.
More Information - Curiosities: Twitter on an Apple II
The link: http://9to5mac.com/2013/11/12/apple-ii-dos-source-code-released-by-computer-history-museum/