Re: Xy on Mac

[Myron Gochnauer goch@xxxxxxxx]

Lisa wrote:
> Ech...The tech guy was able to get DOS boot via Parallels. He figured
> out a work-around, because the explanations of how to do it on the
> Parallels forum did not work.
Win2K and WinXP run pretty well under Parallels, and I have run Xy4
DOS in those environment.
> 2.2 build 1940 (C) 2005-2006 Parellels Softward International INC. All
> rights Reserved
If you have problems with this you might want to update Parallels.
They're now at build 3186. There have been noticeable improvements
since 1940, at least when running WinXP.
> Directory of C:\
> Command.Com 54,645 05-31-94 6:22a
>
> I've added a Xy4 directory, but am not sure what to do next.
The most sensible thing to do is copy an entire, working Xy4
directory from another computer. I haven't officially installed Xy4
since the initial release. When something was updated or I changed a
keyboard file or printer driver, I just put it in the Xy4 directory
(replacing the old version, if there was one). When I got a new
computer, I just copied the entire directory onto the new hard disk.
The easiest way to do this is to copy Xy4 from your old computer onto
one or more floppy disks.
1) Then attach a USB floppy drive to your MAC, with the Xy4 disk
already in it.

2) Start Parallels-DOS.
3) In the Parallels Desktop menus (top to the Parallels Desktop
screen), choose Devices/USB. You should see "USB Floppy" in the list.
If it is not checked, click on it (check it).
4) From the DOS prompt C:\ , change the drive to B:, and ask for a
directory: B:\dir. You should see a directory of your Xy4 floppy.
Now you can copy the files to C:\xy4.

5) To change the disk in the floppy drive:

   a) Go to Parallels Desktop Devices/USB
   b) Uncheck "USB Floppy". (You'll hear the drive working.)
   c) Take the disk out and insert the new one.
   d) Go to Parallels Desktop Devices/USB
   e) Select/check "USB Floppy" again. (You'll hear the drive
working.)
> What do I need to copy into the root directory? What do I need in a
> DOS directory?
Assuming your Parallels-DOS is up and running, I don't think you
*must* have anything else. Normally you would have an autoexec.bat
file and a config.sys file to customize the way DOS functions. I
don't know if Parallels-DOS does some of this a different way. If
not, you'll need these.
It's been a long time since I worked up a DOS system, but my
recollection is that the only DOS files you cannot get along without
(once you have a bootable system) are COMMAND.COM, HIMEM.SYS, and
EMM386.EXE. Well, actually, the last two aren't strictly necessary,
and Parallels-DOS may handle high memory in its own way, thus making
these unnecessary.
>  What's the minimum I need in XY4 directory to test if/how Xy
> works in this environment.

I think you can give it a *fair test* with these files:

editor.exe
startup.int
settings.dfl
mykeybrd.kbd (if you have a special keyboard file)
XY4.dlg and XY4.mnu (or whatever you call your DLG and MNU files)
DICT.spl
DICT.hyp
ASCII.prn (or some other simple printer file) If you use one of the
Laserjet printer drivers, you'll need Lj.bin too.
LOG.LOG (or some kind of login file --- I've never understood this. I
just kept copying whatever worked before. It may not be necessary,
but my system always complained when I didn't have the file.)
Speedo fonts if you want to type graphics mode.
> As of now, nothing happens when I press the track pad in lieu of
> mouse.
> I have an extra mouse & driver, but don't really use them in Xy.
> Should
> I try?
Why not? You probably need a mouse driver in DOS. Mouse-dot-
something-or-other.
My MacBook Pro trackpad works in Xy4 running in a Parallels-WinXP
window. I don't use a mouse or trackpad with XyWrite, though, so I
don't know if there are special limitations or problems with it.
...
> What I've done in XP on my Windows computer is just copy files using
> windows. How to do that with the virtual machine?
The problem you will have getting things into and out of your
Parallels-DOS system comes from two things:
1) Your DOS drive C:\ is actually not a real drive, so neither Mac
nor any other "outside" operating system can directly access it. It
only *appears* to be a drive when Parallels-DOS is running, and even
then only that instance of DOS can see it as a drive.
2) DOS itself only gives you easy access to "drives" or drive-like
things with names like A:, B:, C: etc. Once you are in the Parallels-
DOS environment, your Mac hard disk is (I think) invisible --- it is
nothing to which DOS can assign a letter. The same seems to be true
for things like USB "stick" drives and even external USB hard disks. 
There may be workarounds for this, but it's not dead obvious.
HOWEVER, a USB floppy drive is treated by Parallels and DOS as a
standard give-it-a-letter device, so you can get things into and out
of your DOS world via floppy until you figure out some other
strategy. It's hardly 21st century, but we got along quite nicely
with floppies before... and fountain pens, too, for that matter.

Myron