Deja IIx: AppleWorks Classic on Mac OS X

UltraMacros Primer

2009-05-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

I've scanned a copy of the UltraMacros Primer to PDF.

You can download it at:

http://www.unmarked.com/labs/deja2/files/um_primer.zip

I've checked with Warren Williams and Cathy Merritt at NAUG and got the OK to scan and distribute the PDF to the Apple II folks.

Feel free to upload the PDF to any appropriate A2 archives.

UltraMacros, meet AppleScript

2009-05-12T12:22:00.001-07:00

Starting in build 109, I've added a new external command:

.ExtCall "applescript","script name"

Will run the AppleScript named "script name" located in the folder:

~/Library/Applications Support/Deja IIx/AppleScripts/

For fun, I wrote some scripts to play various songs in iTunes and then wrote a set of macros that would call them.

There are more productive uses for it and I hope to demonstrate at least one of those shortly.

Display, Speed, Bonuses

2009-05-11T11:16:00.001-07:00

Spent several hours this weekend working on some new stuff for D2.

1. Display

I've been experimenting with OpenGL as the display engine. Unfortunately, that didn't pan out (worked for 1x & 2x magnification, but 1.5x looked horrible).

However, I did manage to eek out some more improvements to the existing display code. It should be about 2x as fast at the larger magnifications.

When testing scroll speed, use a macro loop like this:


start
j:<all: oa-1:
	.ExtCall "timer","start":
	x=1 : ba-j: 
	$2=.ExtStr "timer","stop":
	msg "Scroll down took: " + $2>!
<ba-j>:

2. More Speed

There is a new preference called "Speed". Your options are Normal and Faster. Faster simply performs more 65c02 operations per cycle. What does that mean? It means if you have cpu intense operations, they'll go much faster.

Why provide an option at all? One of the side-effects of this change is that operations can happen so fast that the screen never updates. For example, if you have a small to medium-sized word processor document and your press oa-S to save it. Under the Faster option, the save is so fast that the screen doesn't change on you at all. That can be disconcerting.

3. External Commands

Many moons ago, when Randy & I were working on the dot-commands for UltraMacros related to Deja ][ 1.0, we added three commands:


    .ExtCall $, $
$ = .ExtStr  $, $
# = .ExtNum  $, $

In the course of doing Deja IIx (ie 2.0), these commands were disabled. Well, they're back. While I haven't setup the plugin architecture yet, the new mechanism is in place to make it easy (for me) to add commands to UltraMacros.

The first string is the command name, the second string contains any parameters. If the command has a result, you can use either .ExtStr or .ExtNum to get a string or numeric result as appropriate for the command. Commands are set up to be case-insensitive. If you call .ExtStr or .ExtNum on a command that doesn't have any results, you'll get an empty string or zero respectively.

So, here is a simple example of a new command:

.ExtCall "http","www.dejaIIx.com"

This command goes to the given URL in your default browser.

.ExtCall "timer","start"

This command starts a timer for a timed event.

$ = .ExtStr "timer","mark"

$ = .ExtStr "timer","stop"

This command marks the end of a timer event and returns the # of minutes or seconds since the last .ExtCall "timer", "start" was called.

You can use "timer","mark" as an intermediate timer calculation.

Future command ideas:

"applescript" - run an AppleScript

Post your ideas for other possible commands.

Shaking off the Winter Blues

2009-03-08T14:48:00.001-07:00

OK, so a few changes since the end of last year:

1. Deja IIx has changed homes. Formerly under the Puppy Dog Software banner, it is now part of unmarkedLabs.

2. The version numbering has changed. Rather than "b" this and "b" that, I'm using build numbers.

3. You can now print to RTF and specify the monospaced font and size to use.

4. Fixed a bug in reading directories where an entry could be left out, causing all sorts of havock.

5. Finally, Deja IIx compensates for some file typing issues that can occur when moving files between Apple II / Mac environment. Specifically, sometimes files are not given the correct auxtype.

This can be a huge problem in the case of TimeOut apps and AW Inits. Starting with build 106, Deja IIx now sets the auxtype (if not already set) if the name starts with a "TO." or "I." to insure they are recognized.

Deja IIx 2.0 (106)

End of Year Cleanup

2008-12-19T20:09:00.001-08:00

As mentioned on the mailing list, I'm doing some cleanup at the end of the year. The files are moving to a place on the unmarked.com server.

Along with that change, I'm moving Deja IIx from Puppy Dog Software to unmarked labs. Someone else has been pushing the PDS name and since it doesn't bring me any real income, I'm giving it up.

Instead, unmarked labs (the experimental department of unmarked software) will adopt it. There is one significant change that comes with this.

Your Preferences (~/Library/Preferences) with the older version were located in the file:

com.puppydogsoftware.dejaIIx.plist

Starting with b10, the file will be:

com.unmarkedlabs.dejaIIx.plist

To keep your old preferences, just make sure you quit D2, then rename the older file to the newer file.

You can use the check for updates feature or download the new version:

Deja IIx b10

New Google Group: Deja IIx

2008-11-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to figure out how to improve the communication between folks. The blog seems very waited towards one-way communication. Comments help, but there is no real open discussion.

To help in this area, I'm trying a new experiment. I've created a Google Group for a more interactive discussion on Deja IIx. The group allows for both a web-based experience (if that is your thing), or email-based.

Join up and lets open up the discussion.

http://groups.google.com/group/dejaiix/

CONTROL-APPLE-RESET

2008-10-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

TextSoap 6 is finally out the door and with the exception of a few ancillary issues, things are starting to settle down.

I'm working on a couple site changes for Deja IIx and hope to get the builds started again just in time for the holidays.

Stay tuned.

Still not done

2008-07-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted any progress on Deja IIx.

The reason is that all my time has been focused on getting TextSoap 6 finished. It has seen a number of major changes based on feedback from testers and users. That's good for the product, but it has also contributed to that delay.

Unfortunately, that has left Deja IIx sitting on the back burner for some time. And it's likely to continue for a while longer.

TextSoap 6 hits beta

2008-05-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

What does this have to do with Deja IIx?

Well, TextSoap 6 has been one of the key projects that has prevented me from spending much time on Deja IIx to finish it off. TextSoap 6 entering beta push me one step closer.

Pause in Action

2008-03-08T09:08:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted. Most of my current attention is focused on getting the next version of TextSoap out in the next few months. As many of you already know, Deja IIx is more a labor of love, but it doesn't pay the bills.

However, once TextSoap goes out the door, I hope to have some time to finish up the remaining pieces of Deja IIx and bring it out of beta. If you come across bugs, please let me know by either leaving comments or emailing me.

And no, I am not looking to bring Deja IIx to the iPhone. I will, however, make the source available if someone wants to actually try it. :-)

Another step down the path

2008-01-26T17:05:00.000-08:00

This release is a fairly minor one, but addresses a couple issues. Support for minimizing the Deja IIx window has been added, as well as the ability to automatically pause/resume Deja IIx when it is miniaturized.

There was an additional tweak that will help some folks with older video cards. For some reason, it the older cards did not display the window correctly. The new Display preference allows you to overcome this issue, although full support for transparency suffers as a result.

The one big outstanding issue is the printing. I'm still working on getting printing to match as closely as possible, the behavior on an Apple II. I sort of broke some of the printing in the process of making changes, but hope to get it back up and running again in the near future.

Latest Release: Deja IIx 2.0b7

Inching closer to a real release

2008-01-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

Deja IIx continues to inch ever closer to a final release. Beta 6 addresses some file issues, namely the disappearance of file 13.

As a bonus (and we all like bonuses), Deja IIx now handles aliases in the ProDOS Volumes folder. This means you can (once again) store your files wherever you want. Just create an alias to the folder (or volume) and place it in the ProDOS Volumes folder (inside the Deja IIx folder). Presto - AppleWorks will see it.

The only major outstanding issues are related to printing. Printing (to a Mac printer) is still in a state of flux, so please try not to count on the functionality just yet. I'm working on getting the Mac printer pagination to match AppleWorks' pagination.

Latest release: Deja IIx 2.0b6

One more thing for 2007

2007-12-31T11:09:00.000-08:00

It's the end of the year. After many a dry spell in progress, Deja IIx is finally in a beta state.

Occasionally I need to startup Mac OS 9 (under Classic) to see how Deja ][ would handle a particular issue. It's interesting to compare the two:

Deja ][ was very CPU intensive. It basically took 100% of the CPU. Deja IIx only takes about 8-9%.

Deja ][ screen handling was pokey at best. Deja IIx actually presents a true Apple II screen. In fact, Deja IIx no longer patches the screen writing code in AppleWorks. Instead, it emulates the Apple IIe (hopefully the reason for this will be more apparent in 2008).

Of course, there are other goodies Deja IIx like transparency, window scaling (for those with bad eyes and big monitors). Most of the goodies stem from the changes in the Mac OS in the past ten years. It is amazing how much code was thrown out between Deja ][ and Deja IIx (OK, so I actually didn't do a direct port -- but the point remains the same). There was so much code just to bring up a dialog with gray buttons. It boggles the mind how far we've come.

Well, with the changing times comes one more thing before the year ends. There has always been a custom icon available for your AppleWorks folder, to let you know it was for Deja ][. Well, with Leopard and the new app icon, it was time it was updated as well. Deja IIx includes an install option (under the AppleWorks preference section) to make it easy to get (it installs in your Deja IIx folder).

Here's a peek. And Happy New Year!

Latest Release: Deja IIx 2.0b5

My, what big Icon(s) you have

2007-12-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

Before the new year starts, I thought I'd squeeze in one quick release. Beta 2 has lots of goodies:

There is now a UI for adding your own keystrokes. You could do this manually before, but this UI is way easier. The new UI also allows you to reorder the keystrokes via drag-n-drop.

There is now also a UI for working with the new ProDOS Volumes. You can easily hide volumes from AppleWorks (to avoid clutter).

There's also a number of bug fixes. A paused Deja IIx is now clearly indicated (the title bar tells you and the screen is dimmed).

Finally -- Deja IIx has a new icon. It may require a tweak or two, but I think it is much more representative of what the App does than the previous icon. And in the Leopard tradition, the new icon comes in a high-resolution version. Click the icon thumbnails to see them full size.

OLD:

NEW:

Latest Release: Deja IIx 2.0b2

Deja IIx goes beta!

2007-12-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

Santa -- all I want for Christmas is a beta release.

All the features are in and most things now work, so I'm officially changing the designation from alpha to beta.

This release adds the big missing feature -- printing. I wrote a TimeOut Mac Print Setup app to configure your printer. There are three different results you can get from printing.

Mac Printer - this prints through the Mac print architecture. The result is printed paper or PDF (if you so choose).

RTF Clipboard - this takes the print results and copies it to the clipboard.

Save to RTF - this takes the print results and allows you to save them to an RTF file.

The new Deja IIx Printer supports Bold, Underline, Superscript, Subscript, Italic (SC1/SC2) and Strikethrough (SC3/SC4). There is a mechanism for mapping characters per inch to actual Mac fonts and size. And you can specify different font/size mappings depending on the final results -- so you can have one set of font mapping for printing and another when copying the results to the clipboard and even another when saving it to a file.

You can look at Deja IIx-PrinterCodes.plist in the Deja IIx support folder. I'm still working on an interface to allow you to edit these more easily -- but that's definitely a beta thing.

Latest Release: Deja IIx 2.0b1

Here comes Santa Claus

2007-12-14T20:15:00.000-08:00

It's like Christmas in December!

After many months, I finally had a chance to do some work on Deja IIx. Check out the release notes for all the details.

The biggy: Transcendental functions work again. Yes, you get transcendental functions again and you don't have to give up the TimeOut Calculator for it. I've made some changes so that inverse uppercase displays correctly in the WP (when you use ctrl-T).

Other goodies, PageUp/PageDown/Home/End are all mapped to the AW equivalents. Home/End follow the PC metaphor of beginning/end of line (rather than the Mac's beginning/end of document).

A bunch of User Interface changes to simplify things.

Drawing of the text display is handled a little differently than before. This results in a small increase in the percent of the processor that gets used (tops off around 14% or less when idle), but still a lot less than the 99% that the Deja ][ 1.2 uses when idle.

Most (non-graphics) TimeOut apps should work.

I've tested it under 10.3.9, 10.4.11, and 10.5.1.

Soon, I might even call this a beta!

Latest Release: Deja IIx 2.0a24

Happy Holidays!

Finally?

2007-06-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I think I have finally conquered the bank-switching issues that were causing lots and lots of problems. Previous attempts accomplished about 90% of what I needed, but getting that last 10% to work definitely took another 90% of the time.

I've also disabled to Native patching of the SANE math code used in AppleWorks. Apparently there is a format that is not currently supported and thus returns incorrect results (particularly for TimeOut Measurements). I hope to either support the unknown format (assuming I can find documentation) or allow users to toggle the native code on and off.

Again, you can use the auto-update feature or download using the link on the right.

Latest Release: Deja IIx 2.0a20

HIRES Root beer for all

2007-06-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

I was almost ready to give up. After hours and hours of walking through code, I just could not find what I knew to be a very subtle change that was causing Deja IIx to fail (when the original Deja ][ did not).

I decided to spend a few more hours on it. In the course of things to come, I ended up more accurately emulating the Language card bank switching (which turns out wasn't the problem). I also managed to find some PDF's that include the original Apple II reference manuals (boy I could have used those a while back).

So, what was this elusive bug? It turns out that TimeOut (and possibly AW) were expecting the Hi-Res pages to get switched in/out correctly, not for graphics, but for data management. I had forgotten to process the Hi-Res bank-switching correctly.

Time working on this bug : several days
Lines need to be added : about 10
Knowing this bug is squashed : Priceless

Latest version is available with link on upper right of blog. If you have 2.0a17, you can use the check for updates to automatically update your software.

Latest version: 2.0a18

Come Scale Away..

2007-06-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

Another release is here and scaling is back (at least for the time being). In fact, you can scale from 1.0 -> 2.0x in virtually any increment.

Added Sparkle for easy, auto-updating.
You can now toggle the DebugMode on/off w/o restarting.
Selecting the AppleWorks is done under its own tab in preferences.
And fixed some resizing issues for a future OS release. :-)

Known issues:

There are a couple very strange bugs lurking. If Deja IIx crashes, you've likely found the bug.

Trying to use TimeOut Utilities for anything but Configuring can cause Deja IIx to crash.
Removing changed files from a desktop with many files may cause a crash as well.

You can download the latest release with the new permanent link on the right column.

Latest version: 2.0a17

Show me the Open-Apple!

2007-05-28T01:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is a new release -- finally. The new code includes a completely redone display engine. The new display should give the same or better performance in display and scrolling. More importantly, the new display should work correctly on Leopard (the previous release did not) and should handle resolution independence.

What else has changed?

1. The interface has gone minimal. The Action Palette is gone in favor of an Action drawer which you can toggle on when you need it.

2. Scaling is no longer an option. Scaling can really slow things down in a major way, so it's gone for now (but I'm still researching how I can increase the display size w/o too much of a performance hit).

3. Color preferences changed to be a bit more WYSIWYG.

4. Under Preferences > ProDOS paths, Deja IIx now looks for AppleWorks folders and provides a complete list (great if you've got multiple). No more typing in paths to change which AppleWorks folder you want.

The newest download can be had at Version 2.0 (A16).

RSS feed reminder

2007-04-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons for using a blog is that you can subscribe to the RSS feed.

If you use an RSS feed reader, you can either use the link at the bottom of the right column, or if you're using Safari, by clicking on the RSS button in address bar.

Rebel Teenager?

2007-04-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Deja IIx has reached that rebel teenager stage (although it probably started earlier and I just wasn't paying attention).

This quick fix resolves a crash on setting up the debugger window at launch, especially under 10.3.9.

The newest download can be had at Version 2.0 (A15).

IMPORTANT: I am *considering* bumping the OS requirements to 10.4 to take advantage of some newer APIs and reduce testing requirements. Your feedback is appreciated. Are you still using 10.3.9? Planning to move to either 10.4/10.5 or not? Let me know.

Warming up!

2007-04-14T02:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's been a while since I've posted anything new. I decided I needed some warm up exercises before I tried to do any heavy lifting.

This release features some modest changes, undoing some of the last changes made (which I ended up no liking very much). The debugger window explosion has been tamed, consolidating back to a single debugger window + memory windows.

I am also starting some experimentation on improving the display.

The newest download can be had at Version 2.0 (A14).

New Domain!

2007-02-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am slowly getting things back on track for Deja IIx, starting with a new domain!

DejaIIx.com is the new home for the Deja IIx project.
The main URL takes you to the blog for now, will probably change that over time.

The latest download can be had at Version 2.0 (A13).
Note: This is still very alpha.

A new location for files

2007-01-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

Deja IIx hasn't seen much action lately, as I'm finishing up the last bits in preparation for Macworld next week.

I moved some domains around and that caused the links to no longer work.

I moved the files to a new location and updated the blog to reflect those changes. In the process, I also removed some of the links to older releases.

After Macworld is done (and I've had a chance to recover), I'll get a chance to do some additional clean up work. Stay tuned.