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.Attachment: dos-box.png
Description: PNG image