MacTCP Progress

I finally got some System 6 compatible MacTCP code written in C to compile. So far it's just an MPW tool. I can stop and start music on my Linux box from inside MPW.

Tomorrow I'll have to get it into an app. Then make it useful.

So much effort to do what I can presently do easily with Pascal. Feels a bit silly, since I might just end up going back to pascal for this project, but I have a much better understanding of MacTCP now.

As a side note, I was able to compile Porter's Browser6 with Think C. Perhaps some day I'll be able to do something useful for that project. Maybe for the Winter WarmUp?

Coding

I spent some time yesterday trying to write an After Dark module, but had no success. I might try again later in the challenge. At the very least, I'll gather the resources I found together and post them. Perhaps someone else will have better luck.

Most of today was spent working on a TCP app. I hoped to write a TCP app using C. Either Think C or MPW, but as usual, I'm having problems geting it to work. Looks like I might go back to Think Pascal tomorrow.

4th of July Weekend

A Fourth of July weekend full of working in the morning followed by barbecues in the evening has conspired to derail me from the challenge, but not completely.

I have been reading the Inside Macintosh: Devices chapter on the ADB manager. I must admit, the idea of writing inits and device handlers is a bit intimidating, and I've yet to find much example source code to pillage.

I've also played a few games of MacSki on my LC475.

So in order to make up for little in the way of content to share, please enjoy these screen shots from After Dark: Flying Toasters, and my favorite, Doodles.

ADB Window Closing Button v0.1

What this project lacks in impressiveness, it makes up for in one-big-button-ness. The classic macintosh hasn't ever been called a hacker friendly platform. That's partially where the allure of doing something beyond software comes from.

This is my first step into the world of the Apple Desktop Bus. It's not a big step. The hardware is based on a pic microcontroller. Using Microchip's appnote (AN591), most of the work was already done for me. The appnote was originally for a pic 16C56, so I converted it to run off of a 16F84 since that's what I had on hand.

For the adb cable, I sacrificed a crappy third-party adb mouse.

When you press the button, the adb device sends "command-w" and that front most window bids you adieu...


... or does it? Good question. Some windows don't respond to command-w, so in order for this to be a proper window closer I would need to write a device handler for this adb device.

Source code and hex file are available here. The schematic is in the App Note pdf.

RetroChallenge Reference Library

In order to prepare for the challenge I've spent a bit of my beer money on some books. It's remarkable the used books that can be had for classic computers, costing next to nothing (several for $0.01 + S&H).

I cleared out a bit of space for my RetroChallenge reference library, and as the books come in they'll take their place of honor.

Several of these books I already had, but the newcomers are (going left to right on the bookshelf):

• Designing Cards and Drivers for the Macintosh II and Macintosh SE


• Macintosh Family Hardware Reference


• Guide to the Macintosh Family Hardware


• Technical Introduction To the Macintosh Family (2nd Edition)


• Inside Macintosh: Devices (Apple Technical Library)
  


• Complete Mactutor Mac Programming Journal Volume 2


• The Book of Scsi: A Guide for Adventurers

I'm still waiting on a couple of Macintosh assembly language books to arrive. If they don't show up, well then I'm bailed out of having to stumble down that path.

Waiting...

Retrochallenge begins July 1st 2009.

Going to Wisco

I'm heading to Wisconsin for the rest of the month. Not sure what I'm going to take with me or what I'll be able to get done if anything while I'm there. Over the last few days I've been heading in two directions...

One is newton programming. I've got the eMate out. UNNA has a great collection of Newton development tools, documentation and source code that is compiled onto a single HFS image. The NIE (Internet Enabler) pdf from Apple looks promising -- I'd like to write an mpd client for the newton -- but I think I might have to take it to a printer to get a hard-copy. It's too hard for me to digest large PDFs on a computer. Speaking of the Newton docs, I needed to find a pdf reader for OS9 and found Pure Mac, which has lots of versions of lots of things well organized.

The other thing I've been doing is playing many of the ascii games available on SDF, and in general exploring parts of the system I've ignored or overlooked in the past.