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I decided I wanted to install the Gypsy Ouija board game on my arcade cabinet. But it looks like the MiSTer core for MacPlus and SE isn't really up to snuff just yet. Gypsy went all bugnutty and decided I had stolen their software. Which...to be fair...

It's about the cutest such message I've seen. I am 100% going to make sure it makes it into my demo loop for the kiosk! And I'm definitely not saying this thing wasn't a pain to copy. I didn't even do it, I was handed an image that someone paid to have made. I don't know if it was a flux image or if they just used a more modern Mac with better software than I had at the time.

Text of the error all spelling is (sic):

  Y'know that isn't cricket... trying to make an unauthorized copy of Gypsy. Especially since Magnum Software does allow you to purchace a backup copy for a modest sum if your registration card is on file.

  This is a really terrific, entertaining program... and our elves worked a year to make it that way. So why don't you just play fair and order your own copy. Look at all you get besides a clear conscience:

    1] The full Gypsy program.
    2] The exclusive Mouse Mover
    3] The hard surfaced game board
    4] A 30 page really-useful manual

  Now for the bad news. If you succeed in actually making an illegal copy the spirits of Gypsy will know. And the fearsome Gypsy curse will be upon you, bringing an eternity of bad luck, while making your life miserable. I wouldn't risk it if I was you!

_{Oh by the way, you have to restart your computer to eject this disk now.}

I am finally getting dragged kicking and screaming into software build-dev. Last night I figured out a build issue that's been killing me for a year. Last year I built that museum kiosk to play that old 1985 Macintosh Ouija game. I was always kind of stuck with a very specific SDL binary build that the original author of Mini vMac had made in 2019 as an update to the one being shipped with RetroPie. I couldn't reproduce this version 36.04 build even using his stated exact command line for the arguments. My builds would run lots of Mac stuff and seemed fine, but they crashed when I would launch our Ouija board app. Last night I was alternating between his binary and mine and noticed his screen size was lower. So re-compiled at 512x342 and boom. Worked no problemo. He did not mention that in his build notes of course! And my application is so old, from like about a year after the first Mac launched, that they probably never conceived that it could be a res other than 512 across. Even in the build guide for Mini vMac they list "popular resolutions" of 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768.

640x480:

So NOW I can use the latest & greatest version of the software off of Github. I'm not reliant on running a 32-bit OS or availability of 32 bit SDL, and I don't have to worry about "what if they stop supporting some other XYZ in the future". I do understand that since this thing is basically a modestly locked down interactive signage machine with no internet access even should someone maliciously hand-hack a machine at a tourist museum. I shouldn't really need to worry about running the latest OS in a decade anyway. If it ain't broke and all.

Now I'm ripping into the Mini vMac code itself and disabling all the safeties such as "Are you sure you want to quit" type dialogs and probably will make "quit" be just "Q" if I can instead of "CTRL+Q" (this is a public kiosk, so there is not a full keyboard available to the public). I wonder if I could get the emulator to start at "all out" speed for like, 2-3 seconds and then drop down to Z speed so everything is accurate.

Next I need to try and write a program (Pascal?) to set the system time of the emulated Mac. When you run Gypsy it complains about the system clock being wrong and I want to try and make that dialog go away. The Mini vMac guy wrote a Mac OS plugin for that, to periodically sync his system clock to the clock of the host, but it only works on System 7 and Gypsy does not work on System 7. I don't care about accuracy, I just want to set the time to some arbitrary value in 1985 or 1986.

Here's an important safety tip.

Earlier today I was cleaning out a storage cabinet in my office and decided to figure out if I wanted to keep the USB BluRay player + DVD R/W that someone gave me pre-broken.

So I got it on my desk, found my adjustable "belker" universal AC adapter and found the barrel jack that fit the DVD. I grabbed the little tool and turned the thing to point at 5V. Or so.

Some time ago my NeXTStation stopped booting from the BlueSCSI and started to default to just "Loading from Network" and just looping there forever.

I know the fix for this involves hitting the right-command key and hitting ` / ~ a couple times like you'd hit F2 on a PC. Well that doesn't work here. Dunno why. Keyboard works fine to turn the machine on & off, whatever. I guess I'll recap the machine just to see, but yeah, no idea. I did change the Lithium battery and I'm gonna order a CR3032 holder adapter for it.

Top stripe's not magenta-ey enough. Still though!

Pride Flag image stolen from PridePlace.lgbt. I know nothing about that site, I just wanted something that looked like they used actual photos of objects. But if you need flags...