I run Xy in DosBox. I had someone else install DosBox and set up XyIV within it.
1. Function keys. There is a way to change the function keys/control/alt/etc. combination dedicated to working DosBox, so that they are free to be used by Xy. (Help files in DosBox tell you where & how). Once you get to the proper screen, there is a keyboard layout and choices for various DosBox functions and key combinations. Some of those dedicated DosBox controls are unnecessary if you aren't doing games anyway. Once I made those changes, eliminating unnecessary functions, I could use the same keyboard file ported from my Xy setup on my PC running XP.
The Mac itself uses function keys. You can set the Mac to free those function
keys. On my MacBook, I use fn-Function keys for Mac operations (sound, brightness), so under Xy my old ALT/SHIFT/CTRL combinations work without any problem.
2. Full screen works beautifully. Just press ALT-Enter.
3. Files and folders I create under Xy are visible and easily accessible in Mac Finder. Just go to Users/(your name)/Dos/Xy4/Folder name/ For a list of files. They can be copied or moved to the desktop, e-mailed, or imported into Word as Text files. For me this is most important, as I am constantly importing files from Xy into Word to print or e-mail.
4. Printing. I do all my printing from Word. Most of my formatting as well. I open Xy docs as text files in Word, copy and paste into templates created in Word.
The benefit of Xy is all in the
creation and manipulation of text (writing). Also the Wildcard Search and Replace, which Word can't match. So this system works for me. The only PC based program I use is Xy. Everything else, Mac seems to do better. But my needs are limited to Word Processing, easy Spreadsheets, Photos, and surfing the Web.
Lisa
From: flash
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, November 4, 2011 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: running Xy on a Mac
Y'all
Getting Xy to run under Mac OS X.
First off, let me limit the parameters of the discussion. 1) I have no
experience of XyWin; I can offer suggestions only for III+ and IV users.
2) I never print from Xy, so I cannot offer any help getting any version
of Xy to print from any port to any printer. Nada. For printer
questions, consult the archives. 3) I do not use TameDos. I run
box-standard fonts.
I have gotten Xy to run on both PowerPC (Tiger) and Intel (SnoLep) Mac
notebooks.
I can offer the following general advice: Xy will not run natively in OS
X. While it is theoretically possible to "port" any program to run in OS
X, it would require a high level of technical ability about
under-the-hood processes in both unix (the underlying OS in Mac OS X)
and Xy. Realistically, this is not likely to happen.
Practically, therefore, you need to install some kind of virtual
environment on the
Mac so Xy thinks it is running in the environment it
was designed to run in.
There are several options, some of them freeware, some of them licensed,
some may ship with some versions of Mac OS X.
Opton 1: install a DOS emulator. Option 2: install an emulator which
supports Windows.
Option 1 is easier, cheaper, offers better performance (less CPU usage),
but has fewer features (for example, printing may be difficult or
impossible, there may be no choice of fonts, there will probably be no
2-way communication between the virtual environment and OS X file
structures). Option 2 is more complicated, costs money (mostly), uses
more CPU on the Mac (and therefore has less to devote to Xy), and offers
all the usual features you expect from both Mac and Windows (such as
printing, choice of fonts, 2-way communication between the virtual
environment and OS X file structures).
Option 1 (DOS emulator):
there are several available on the Internet,
including DOX Box, and DOS Emu. They were designed by and for gamers,
not Xywriters. Which means they tend to have more graphics options than
we know what to do with, and few or no choice of fonts. Installation is
simple--I mean installation of the DOS emulator (don't install Xy, drag
a working copy to a target folder). Once the DOS emulator is installed,
you "mount" a drive (this like mounting a lamp on a wall, not like
mounting your wife). This consists in creating a folder which exists
within the Mac OS X file structure; mounting it in the DOS emulator
makes it visible to both the DOS and Mac OS X environments. This
procedure is documented within the DOS emulators themselves: type 'help'
or '?' or whatever for syntax. That folder is where you drag your
working copy of Xy.
Option 2 (emulator which supports full-scale Windows): again, there are
several
emulators, including Parallels, VPC (virtual PC), BootCamp. They
allow you to install any version of Windows (e.g., the last one in which
Xy ran smoothly); this supposes that you have a version to install (on CD).
I have both setups, DOS-only on an Intel MacBookPro (SnoLep), as well as
a full Windows environment on a PPC (Tiger).
Some pluses and minuses: a DOS emulator is simpler but probably will not
allow Xy to 'see' any of the Mac file structure apart from the folder(s)
you mount. This means that to do file management (moves and copies), you
will be using native Mac OS X apps (e.g., Finder), not Xy. Printing from
a DOS emulator might or might not work--assume that it won't. The
full-scale Windows virtual environment is more complex to get running
and tweaked, but, assuming you get it running and tweaked, it will allow
Xy to 'see' the Mac file structures and print using whatever printer(s)
the Mac uses.
The Mac will 'see' Xy files and folders; if there are
black holes, they'll be that the DOS emulator won't see the Mac
files/folders (except what you explicitly 'mount').
If you go the route with full-scale Windows environment in Mac, then you
have effectively a dual-boot machine, which is capable of running any
other Windows app. If you go the simpler route with DOS-only emulation,
then you don't. If you like the Mac and use it, and intend to run only
XyWrite, then I recommend the simpler DOS-only emulation. I don't see
the point of buying a Mac and running only Windows on it.
A few caveats. Emulated DOS-only full-screen mode may not display as
crisp a font as Xy running in native Windows/native DOS full-screen
mode. TameDOS might improve this, but I have no experience of it.
Emulated DOS-only full-screen mode on my MacBookPro does not fill the
whole screen, but only about 80% of it, with a black frame
round about
(ALT RETURN toggle on/off). In my VPC setup (on PPC), virtual Windows
will go full-screen, but Xy in virtual Windows will not.
Another caveat: the F1 to F12 keys may not work as expected in Xy. Mac
OS X defines these keys for special functions which may or may not be
released to either a DOS emulator or a full-scale Windows environment.
You may have to re-assign some of these functions in your Xy keyboard
file to other keys or to other key combinations (e.g. ALT F10 or CTRL F9
or whatever). Mac OS X allows you to redefine the F1 to F12 keys, too.
You just have to test it yourself and see whether it works better to
have Xy or OS X redefine those keys.
Attached is a screenshot showing how both OS X and DOS Box 'see' the
mounted folder where editor.exe was planted. Start Xy by typing
editor.exe in the DOS emulator and away you go.