Apple II Desktop Version 1.4 Released

Posted by: A.P.P.L.E. Date: August 1, 2024 5 Likes 2604 Views

The full release of the Version 1.4 chain of the Apple II Desktop graphical interface for the Apple II computer has been released. Joshua Bell, the curator of the Apple II Desktop project has been adding features and fixing issues with the project at a high rate of speed over the past several months. Thus, the latest version, Apple II Desktop 1.4, includes a slew of new advances and changes in the operation of the interface including the following items:

General

  • Improve mouse responsiveness and event ordering.
  • Prevent spurrious clicks following double-click.
  • File Picker Dialog: Show watch cursor when polling all drives.
  • IIgs: Reset video banking state on launch to prevent garbled screen. (#764)
  • Improve wording and fix spelling/grammar mistakes in various strings.
  • Added Dutch (nl) localization. (#767)
  • Improve sound played when entering/exiting Mouse Keys mode.
  • Improve window title bar apperance.
  • Prevent scrollbar thumb jumping when not moved. (#778)
  • Package now includes ProDOS 2.4.3 and BASIC.system 1.7.
  • Improve appearance of buttons when clicked. c/o @buserror
  • Reduce vertical spacing between menu items. (#794)
  • Include all code page fonts for System and Monaco in packages.
  • Fix width of ‘ö’ and ‘ü’ in German System font, ‘ö’ in Swedish System font.
  • Fix ‘9’ glyph in System and Monaco fonts.
  • Add additional MGTK fonts Fairfax, Magdalena, McMillen, Mischke, and Monterey, c/o @RebeccaRGB.
  • Add Quark Catalyst font, c/o @eric-ja.
  • Improve compatibility with older AppleWorks files, c/o Hugh Hood.

Launcher

  • If starting from a folder, brand it as a system folder (AuxType $8000).
  • Prevent crash or hang when quitting back to launcher on unsupported system.

DeskTop

Enhanced Features

  • Remove 12 volume limit from Format/Erase picker.
  • Improve layout of Add/Edit a Shortcut dialog.
  • Update label in Add/Edit a Shortcut dialog.
  • Add checkbox to lock/unlock file in Get Info dialog. (#149)
  • Remove Special > Lock and Special > Unlock commands.
  • Reorder columns in list views.
  • Allow selection to remain in inactive windows. (#361)
  • Improve menu item names for Format, Erase and Copy Disk.
  • Show progress bar during copy and delete operations.
  • Click on menu bar clock now shows Date & Time DA.
  • Increase number of items that can be added to the Apple Menu to 13.
  • Added an easter egg. Can you find it?

Disks & Files

  • Add file type string “LBR” for $E0 (“archival library”)
  • Filetype and support for Vortex Tracker PT3 files.
  • Show drag outlines even for icons outside visible area.
  • Show icon for locked files in list views.
  • Show special icon for folders with AuxType $8000.
  • Update GS/OS “case bits” when renaming files/volumes. (#352)
  • Preserve GS/OS “case bits” when copying files. (#352)
  • File > Rename is now modeless, and can be invoked by clicking a selected icon’s name. (#203)
  • File > New Folder now creates a directory called “New.Folder”, then prompts to rename it.
  • File > Duplicate now copies the selected file, then prompts to rename it.
  • Pbageby Bcra-Nccyr Fbyvq-Nccyr S.

Performance & Fixes

  • Prevent crash launching program after previewing images. (#765)
  • Reduce drive poll frequency to ~0.33Hz for 1MHz systems.
  • Fix tracking of Yes/No/All buttons in alerts.
  • Fix off-by-one in used/free values in window headers.
  • Fix updating of window headers following File > New Folder.
  • Fix refreshing volume icon after Format/Erase.
  • Refresh correct window after renaming an icon, if view is by name.
  • Fix corruption when exiting Shortcuts dialogs with a list view window. (#790)
  • Don’t close File > Rename and File > Duplicate prompt if path is too long.
  • Fix corruption issues when replacing files with folders and folders with anything during copy.
  • Fix initial window size calculation for list views so scrollbar is not shown. (#792)

Selector

  • Selector is now named “Shortcuts” in UI strings.
  • Errors encountered when copying to RAMCard now show standard alerts.
  • Fully clear and reset text screen when quick-booting from a slot.
  • Show progress bar while copying shortcut to RAMCard.
  • Prevent crash on IIc+ under ProDOS 2.4.3. (#789)

Disk Copy

  • Ensure /RAM is correctly restored after exiting. (#766)
  • Re-verify block counts when Read Drives is clicked, so correct destination drives are shown.
  • Hide “Select Quit…” once menu is not accessible.
  • Show correct block counts during Quick Copy.
  • Show progress bar during copy.
  • Show ProDOS volume names with GS/OS “case bits”, if present. (#428)

Desk Accessories

New Accessories

  • Benchmark – measures CPU speed using VBL.
  • Change Type – allows changing the type and auxtype of files. (#149)
  • Round Corners – temporarily makes the corners of the screen rounded.
  • Screen Saver: Helix.
  • Screen Saver: Message

Preview Updates

  • Image Preview
    • Add slideshow mode – press ‘S’ to auto-advance images.
    • Add support for LZ4FH-compressed files. (https://github.com/fadden/fhpack)
    • IIgs: Add support for Packed Super Hi-Res PNT files ($C0/$0001).
  • Text Preview
    • Fix memory corruption causing incorrect line display. (#770)
    • Align Proportional/Fixed text with window title. (#787)
  • Electric Duet Preview: Detect Mockingboard and The Cricket!, and use for playback if found.
  • Eliminate top level PREVIEW/ directory.

Control Panel Updates

  • Control Panel: Show shortcut keys for buttons (if that option is enabled).
  • Date & Time: Show shortcut keys for buttons (if that option is enabled).
  • Sounds
    • Add Cancel button c/o @buserror.
    • Add several new sounds c/o @frankmilliron.
  • Options: Add setting to preserve upper/lowercase when naming files and volumes. (#352)
  • System Speed: Add support for Titan Accelerator IIe c/o @buserror.
  • Map
    • Show shortcut key for button (if that option is enabled).
    • Larger map image is shown.

Other Accessory Updates

  • Sort Directory: Correctly order SYS files with “.SYSTEM” suffix. (#762)
  • This Apple:
    • Detect Grappler, ThunderClock, Apple-CAT, and Workstation card.
    • Detect NVRAM and BOOTI block devices.
    • Prevent hang on IIc and IIc+ in MAME.
    • Detect ZIP CHIP accelerator.
    • Display larger memory sizes in MB.
    • Round up bank counts from Slinky memory if needed.
  • Matrix: Show green-on-black text on IIgs.
  • Screen Dump: Improve output aspect ratio.

Downloading the Latest Version

The Apple II Desktop package is available in nine different languages and is available in formats described in the following information from the Readme:

A2DeskTop .2mg and .hdv files are disk images containing the full
application and all accessories. The .2mg file can be transferred to a
3.5" floppy using ADTPro. The .hdv file has the same contents, just a
slightly different file format which other tools/emulators/solid state
drives prefer, and is a 32 MB image so you have plenty of space to
copy other things onto the disk.

A2DeskTop...140k_disk1.po, ...disk2.po and ...disk3.po are 140k images
containing different parts of the application, and can be transferred
to 5.25" floppies using ADTPro.

You can download the Zipped disk images as well as all source code for the project from the Apple II Desktop GitHub page at: https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d/

Author: A.P.P.L.E.
The A.P.P.L.E. Website is run by the Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange Users Group and is open to all Apple and Macintosh fans and their friends.
Website