LisaList2

Quote from: andrew on January 10, 2022, 11:08:34 AM
I wonder how much of a technical challenge it would be to port MacPaint back to the Lisa. The source code is out there, after all, but certain parts of the original code were moved to the Macintosh ROM so I'm guessing the whole thing would be a nontrivial undertaking.

Regardless, a barebones version of LisaPaint would be better than nothing!

No idea, never tried, but a few things incase you're interested in this:

1. QuickDraw routines should likely be the same or at least close.
2. Fonts might be handled very differently, but not sure about the calls for those.
3. Lisa Office System lacks a resource manager, so anything that requires it will need a rewrite.
4. File Save/Open won't existing in LOS, so would need to be save on every change, etc. and have a tear off stationary available.

In re file save/open, my recollection of the ToolKit documentation is that there's pretty good support for serialisation of the object state of your program, and that the creation of a stationery pad is also handled automatically by the Workshop program that installs a tool onto your Office System desktop. See Segment 2 of Lisa ToolKit Self-Paced Training, "What is a Document?", especially this quote on PDF page 23:

QuoteThe end user can put a document away using a command in the File/Print Menu. The document heap (holding the view, the panel, the window, and whatever else had a hand in managing your document's data) is copied into a file. Then the file gets closed. Finally, the window frame goes away, leaving an icon as the sole reminder of the document.

What's not clear in this quote is that the ToolKit does this all for you --- you don't have to write code that does it yourself. So as far as #4 goes, I think you get all that for free if you use the ToolKit. #1 is also the case as I understand it, though ToolKit apps make use of a thin layer on top of QuickDraw that uses 32-bit X and Y coordinates for drawing instead of QuickDraw's 16-bit values. For everything else: a journey through creating the world's first substantial new ToolKit application in decades (so far as I know) awaits you! Good luck! 

(I know that must sound sarcastic, but it would be incredible if you or anyone else made a new ToolKit app. Someday I'll get around to trying it myself...)

ETA: Having neither attempted to author a ToolKit program nor having examined the MacPaint code, I'd be surprised if there was an easy way to get the MacPaint code to run on the ToolKit. There may be a different way to write code for the Office System that's a little easier --- maybe QuickPort would be a better choice?

Found a copy of Videx Desktop Calendar on eBay today. We already have the dc42 image but now we know what the physical disk looks like.

I found a discussion of this style of "AUTO SHUTTER" diskette here.

Yep, I mean; now we know what the label looks like And soon I'll have another manual shutter disk in my collection...

Quote from: stepleton on February 13, 2022, 05:42:39 PM
I found a discussion of this style of "AUTO SHUTTER" diskette ...

I have one of the "interim" auto / manual shutter disks, and made a video of it: https://youtu.be/Sz8FBE7Ka7s?t=551

-J

I know we are getting off topic here but just for reference, I have both the original manual shutter Sony diskette (no spring) on the left and an HP auto shutter diskette (has a spring but you squeeze the corner to close) on the right.  This drive is in a homebrew Z80 based computer.  This Sony drive does allow for normal spring loaded diskettes as well.

That's cool!!

Those very early drives are only 35 tracks, too.

Only reading this thread now. I have Omnis 3 for Lisa 7/7 with invoice, manual etc... Comes with Omnis 3+ for Mac. Will try to image later this week.

Excellent find!

Unfortunately, the Lisa OS diskettes are not readable, and I see some wear marks on the disk surface.

Omnis was made by "Blyth Computers Limited" from the UK (not Organization Software Corporation as the spreadsheet says). The company still exists today. See here https://www.omnis.net/about-omnis/. They even have a photo of the founder using the Omnis 3 software on a Mac (pic below). I have sent an email to them, asking if they still have images of these floppies.

If they'd prefer to deal with someone in the UK (and you're not here), feel free to enlist me!

Thanks @stepleton. No reply yet, but will surely call on you if needed.

@pintoguy - not sure but perhaps BLU can ignore the bad sectors and enough of it can be recovered?If not BLU, then maybe something like CopyIIMac?
Might be worth trying to recover these anyway, perhaps the damage is to unused sectors or sample files.

Thanks Ray. All the floppies I got when I bought that particular Lisa threw errors. I suspect they had been stored in a garage that was very hot in the summer. They all show patches of hazy stuff on the surface, and I plan on wiping them with IPA before trying to read them again. Thanks for the tip on using BLU. I will try.