LisaList2

A graphic terminal emulator called TEKALIKE by Mesa Graphics. Three physical Twiggy disks labeled:

TEKALIKE Installation Software.
Copyright 1984 by Mesa Graphics.
Tekalike .1

TEKALIKE Office or Workshop Version.
Copyright 1984 by Mesa Graphics.
Tekalike .2

TEKALIKE DEMO 2/84.
Copyright 1984 by Mesa Graphics.

Not much seems to be known about this software, and I am unaware of any other available copies (physical or online). Hi-res scans of the Twiggy disk labels are available here on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1E6Oowmz6x9APFMJ_tPBmJMoJjN0WxnbE?usp=share_link

Just getting around to trying these and none of the disks are in LOS format. The TEKALIKE Installation .1 disk is bootable, but it wants Workshop to be installed (which I don't have at the moment) to finish loading. The other two disks (.2 and Demo) are not themselves bootable. Perhaps they become useful after .1 is booted in conjunction with Workshop?

Thanks very much, ried! This is mysterious. I do have a Workshop install, so I will try to make time to try this. I may need to cut some new Twiggies for myself first, though!

The workshop could probably have been a pricy necessity for anyone who just wanted to run this software.

I have the version of this for the Macintosh - I wasn't aware there was a Lisa version!

The Macintosh version supports the Apple Color Plotter!

-J

I finally got around to trying this with a Lisa 1 and a ProFile that has Workshop installed. Unfortunately, however, the ProFile contains Workshop version 3.9, which is the final version and was configured for Macintosh software development. That ProFile will not boot a Lisa 1 machine; it hangs during the boot process showing the hourglass icon. It boots fine on a Lisa 2/5, for reference.

Anyone have a ProFile drive image of a Lisa 1-compatible version of Workshop? Probably a long shot, but figured it's worth asking...

I should do. I can try to get it to you this evening.

Thank you, Tom! Very kind  No rush on my part.

Here you go: an installation of 1.0 along with the files I used to develop lisabbs. This is a raw concatenated blocks image of the type that works with ESProFile or Cameo/Aphid. An IDEfile version is available on request.

While this image boots if your ProFile (or emulator) is attached to the Lisa's built-in parallel port, the IDEfile it came from was attached to the lower connector of a parallel port card fitted in slot 2 of my Lisa 1. If you boot from this image anywhere else, you may wish to update the connected devices information in SYSTEM_MGR -> Preferences -> Device Connections.

I hope you'll consider sharing an image after you install TEKALIKE. I've been meaning to install TEKALIKE on my Lisa 1 but have been putting it off since I need to make some more Twiggy floppies. Sorry for letting it slip like that; hope this image helps make up for it 

Well received! Thank you, Tom. This image works perfectly using an ESProFile, attached to either the expansion port 2 lower connector or the built-in parallel port.

Unfortunately, I'm at the limit of my current understanding of how Workshop... works. While the ProFile image boots just fine, I do not know how to browse the Twiggy disk directories or launch any executables they contain from the Workshop shell.

So, I reboot the machine and boot from the TEKALIKE .1 disk in the upper Twiggy drive as before (and also have the TEKALIKE .2 disk in the lower Twiggy drive). As we know, this disk is bootable, and launches an Environments window. It still complains that it cannot start the Workshop (screenshots below) - presumably because it's on the ProFile drive and doesn't see it / know how to make use of it.

My current working theory is that I need to boot Workshop from the ProFile drive and somehow browse & launch something from this TEKALIKE Twiggy disk to make it work. Hmmm...

Boot from the ProFile (or simulator) into the Workshop as normal. Type f to enter the FILE_MANAGER (or FILE_MGR or "File Manager" or whatever it's called; don't have my Lisa on to check) and type l (as in "list"). Specify -UPPER-= or -LOWER-= as the path you wish to list depending on the Twiggy drive you are using. What do you see listed there?

What I would expect to find is a readme file that you can open and read in the editor and/or an exec script that you can run to install TEKALIKE. Either way, try not to alter the contents of the twiggies themselves

Easy enough, thank you! Well, it doesn't look good. Even though the TEKALIKE .1 disk is bootable, this is what Workshop tells me about the disk:



Same result for all three TEKALIKE Twiggy disks. I did try the same function on a known good disk and it works fine, and on multiple machines. So, it looks like my Twiggy disks are not viable.

This may have been due to me experimenting with them all this time. So, at some point, I will use the disk images in this forum to create new copies. Hopefully that will solve it... though chances are the original disks used to create those images were damaged in the first place. Hrm.

We may not want to give up on the disks just yet: it could be that I've missed a step.

The Workshop manuals are very well-written and easy to read, or at least I think so. Chapter 2 of this manual is all about the file manager. Boot into the workshop, enter the file manager, insert a TEKALIKE disk into one of the drives (let's say the UPPER one). and try the following:

1. Use the O for Online command to see what devices are "online" to the OS. If you see something like what's at the top of PDF page 44 --- that is, no mention of UPPER, go to step 2. If you see a mention of UPPER but you don't see the letter M under the "Attr" column, go to step 2. If you see UPPER and you see M in the "Attr" column, give up.

2. Use the M for Mount command. When it asks what device to mount, say UPPER. If it doesn't like UPPER, say -UPPER. If it gives an error mesasge, give up.

3. Use the O command and verify that you see UPPER with M under the "Attr" column. If you don't, give up.

4. Use the L command and ask it to list -UPPER-=. Take a photo if it works?

5. Use the U for Unmount command and specify UPPER. If it doesn't like UPPER, say -UPPER. (This ensures that you tell the OS that it should no longer try to access the disk.)

end.

I briefly looked into this a while back while taking a break from compiling LOS, and if I remember correctly, the TEKALIKE Twiggies are formatted using the LOS/Workshop 2 format, which Workshop 1 can't read. So maybe try an install of Workshop 2 instead. I believe I tried this in LisaEm and then ran into some sort of issue where the emulator would lock up whenever I tried to insert a Twiggy disk, which is why I gave up and didn't go any further, but I don't remember for sure. Hopefully results are better on actual Lisa 1 hardware!

Oh interesting! Then ried, you should be able to make a Workshop 2 install on an emulated Lisa 2 in LisaEm, then get the disk image onto a drive emulator for your Lisa 1 and carry on from there.

For what it's worth, I was able to run TEKALIKE from within Workshop 2.0 on LisaEm using a D ROM and 40 I/O ROM using the second Twiggy floppy. From within Workshop 2.0 in LisaEm, choose (R)un with this path: -UPPER-TEKALIKE 

Disk #1 will boot to an environments window, but the mouse cursor is funky and doesn't work (or it's hung). 'Workshop' is listed. For grins, I've attached a screenshot of the contents of Disk #1. I get the feeling it's a stripped down Workshop environment that simply allows you to run TEKALIKE from Disk #2, but the experts in here might say otherwise.