Re: Bird's Better Bye

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Simon D. Williams <email@ld8.org> wrote:

> I'll scout around for that... does it work in 40 column mode?

Yep. Only in 40 column mode, and it only uses 6502 instructions so it
will work on a II+ or unenhanced 40 column IIe.

My version of BBB uses the Tab key to advance to the next volume. On a
II+ you would have to use Ctrl-I for this.

It wouldn't be hard to generate a patched version for the II+ which uses
a different key to go to the next volume, e.g. forward-slash. I think
there is little or no code space left in my BBB so I doubt I'd be able
to add it as an alternative to Tab in the standard version. I'm using
the Esc key to go up one directory, which I'd rather keep unchanged as
it is consistent with other program selectors.

I could potentially modify it so that Esc at the root directory advances
to the next volume, depending on how the code is organised and whether
the branch destination is in range. The space bar is used to re-read the
root directory on the current drive (e.g. after switching floppies).
Arrow keys and Return are used to select a directory or SYS file.

Quitter.System (but not BBB) also uses the Apple/Option keys as
modifiers for some obscure operations, e.g. OpenApple-Escape to run the
currently installed program selector rather than replacing it with BBB.
To do this on the II+ would require a paddle or joystick button.

> Haven't been able to get bye.system working anyway, just seems to hang
> and leave prodos as it was before... maybe the archive is getting
> corrupted somehwere down the line... :(

Quitter.System doesn't patch ProDOS on disk: it installs Birds Better
Bye in memory. If you reboot, you would have to run Quitter.System again
to reinstall the BBB program selector.

Quitter is intended to be the startup application, which presents a menu
that lets you do simple operations like boot from a specified slot or
display all the available volume names. It also has a help screen
explaining the keys used in Birds Better Bye. Pressing ESC exits to the
program selector (Birds Better Bye). If you have a IIgs, Quitter also
lets you reconnect GS/OS after launching ProDOS-8 and using a ProDOS-8
program selector (whether BBB or something else), which normally
prevents you from getting back to GS/OS.

If you want a pre-installed copy of BBB in a patched ProDOS, the
original version on which I based my patches was pre-installed in the
copy of ProDOS on the AppleWorks 3 program disk (probably also in
AppleWorks 4 and 5).

I never wanted to patch ProDOS on disk as I was using it on a IIgs and
normally booted into GS/OS, running Quitter.System from Finder if I
intended to run several ProDOS-8 applications and return to GS/OS
without rebooting. On rare occasions I booted directly into P8 on my
hard drive, with Quitter.System as the startup application. Booting a
ProDOS-8 floppy was a very rare event, and would generally be a random
obscure disk. I also didn't want to have to keep patching new releases
of P8 (not an issue any more).

I've managed to locate a copy I e-mailed to someone else a few years
ago, so I can E-mail it to you if you haven't managed to locate it in
the archives. Is your E-Mail address valid, and can you handle a
BinSCII-encoded ShrinkIt archive?

If you would like a more II+ friendly version, I'll need to dig out the
development tools and refresh my memory. (The IIgs is still set up in my
office at work, but my books are now buried beyond easy access.)
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz