Beamed In Through the Tape Jack

“If your new Mac is physically balancing on a 1983 computer so it can beam code into a tape port… you might be a retro tech redneck.”

I spent an entire night trying to teleport an OS (ProDOS) as well as ADTPro into a 1983 computer using sound.

The mission? Bootstrap ADTPro onto a real Apple //e using nothing but a modern M2 MacBook, an aux cable, and the sacred art of waiting. No disks. No serial cable. Just audio.

I even brought in ChatGPT like my own personal Mr. Spock. At first it guided me well: IN#2… CTRL+A… 14B… — those commands had worked on my //c before. But here? Nothing. I was stuck in a monitor loop, poking memory addresses and second-guessing every byte.

Turns out, Spock doesn't always know the ship.

At one point, I literally had my modern MacBook Pro balanced on top of the Apple //e just to get the cable to reach.

It wasn’t pretty — but it got the job done.

---

The Real Fix

Eventually, the answer was right in front of me — ADTPro’s audio bootstrap dialog. It told me to type:

CALL -151
2000.62E7R
  

That was it. No monitor gymnastics. No secret keyboard codes. I typed that, hit return, and let the audio waveform play uninterrupted. I didn’t cancel early this time — I let it cook.

The waveform ended… and ADTPro booted. Just like that.

No screeching. No flickering. No drama. Just silent success.

“She’s not dead, Jim — she’s just waiting for a waveform.”

---

Tips for Fellow Hackers

• 💡 Don’t assume the instructions will be the same for every Apple II model.
• 🧠 Trust the exact ADTPro popup — it detects your machine and gives the correct memory range.
• 🎧 Use a clean aux cable. No dongles. No noise.
• ⏳ Wait for the waveform to finish fully. Don’t cancel early.
• 🔍 If you’re stuck on FFs in memory, try again with correct audio levels.

Closing Thoughts

Sometimes vintage machines don’t scream when something works. Sometimes they just blink quietly and listen.

Getting ADTPro to boot from a sound file on a Mac into a machine from 1983 isn’t just a flex — it’s a vibe. It’s proof that patience, curiosity, and a little hacker spirit go a long way.

“Sometimes the machine doesn’t make a sound. That doesn’t mean it isn’t listening.”
— CTRL+Strum Log 002: Beamed In Through the Tape Jack

— Log End
Stardate 2025.5726