Big changes in Jace coming

[BLuRry <brendan.robert@gmail.com>]

There are some big changes in Jace coming, and between that and work picking up this year I've been reluctant to say too much about it before I was sure that I was almost done with it before I got anyone too excited about it.

The big change is that everything about how media is handled is changing.  The config screen no longer controls what disks are inserted into drives.  Most importantly, the media management is a sophisticated database which can track disks (140k, 800k, hard disk) as well as single-load binaries (such as the ones in apple game server.)  Using the media manager also tracks all of your files in a central location.  Other data structures are implemented so that additional features can be added without invalidating the database, such as versioning and rollback of disks.

I won't candy-coat it.  Centralizing your files constitutes a possible annoyance that you won't like: The disk images are saved in a programatically-determined directory structure, so anything Jace downloads (see next paragraph) will go a few subfolders down were you would otherwise have trouble finding it quickly. 

So that's the bad news.  The good news is the better side of the trade-off: Jace will be able to browse and download from common online Apple ][ repositories.  Optionally, it can keep downloaded images as temporary in-memory copies unless they become written (such as save-game disks).  This will let you try out software without filling you drive with hundreds of disk images you might otherwise care less about.

I have more to say about all of this, but not until I have the chance to actually build it.  Everything described above is nearly completed.

Many thanks to you guys for keeping the Apple // community alive!
-B