Beagle Bros. Minipix 1-3 Available for Download

[Bill Buckels <bbuckels@escape.ca>]

Beagle Bros. Minipix 1-3 are now Available for Download from the
ClipShop Website:

Here is the URL for the Download (it is not listed on the website):

http://www.clipshop.ca/DiskImages/MiniPix.zip

Including in this download is my utility Dat2Mini complete with source
code. This utility will allow you to create files for your own Beagle
MiniPix Collections from the several thousand IBM-format Old Printshop
ClipArt libraries also available from the ClipShop website when you
intall ClipShop and from other sources as well. However I belive I
have the largest collection of these on the Planet so you would be
best to intall ClipShop if only for these libraries.

I have also included 2 Minipix WorkDisks with files generated from IBM-
format Old Printshop ClipArt using Dat2Mini to show you how this is
done.

Click-on the following URL to read a PDF synopsis of some of the
history of this:

http://www.clipshop.ca/DiskImages/MinipixPC.pdf

Or read the long version below. Or Both.

ReadMe.txt for Beagle Bros. Minipix for ProDOS
Disks 1 - 3
By Bill Buckels 2008

Note: Under ProDOS the following Types and Subtypes are required. Both
are binary files:

BSaved Images - Type $06 SubType $2000
Minipix - Type $06 Subtype $5800

The Apple ][ Minipix Format

When The Print Shop® first appeared on The Apple ][, the only type of
graphics it used were small 4 sector DOS3.3 files, called minipix.
Because the range of them built into The Print Shop® was limited,
people drew their own, using the print Shop Graphic Editor, and soon
these little 88x52 pictures were everywhere. There were disks and
disks, just packed with them. The storage format was quite simple,
basically just a bit mapped image, with every 11 bytes of the file
mapping to one line of 88 dots on the screen. An extra 4 filler bytes
were tacked on the end of each mini-graphic file. Each file held only
1 mini-graphic. 52 lines x 8 bytes + 4 = 576 bytes. Now when "The New
Print Shop" came along, you could convert these little graphics to the
new format. It turns out that all that was done to each graphic to
convert it, was a small header was placed at the start, and the 4
filler bytes were dropped from the end, and so 576 byte graphics
became 605 byte "NPS" compatible graphics.

Minipix on The IBM-PC

The first collection of Apple ][ ClipArt that I converted to IBM
format was The Beagle Bros. Minipix Collection.

In those days (circa 1990) I would use a serial cable from my Apple ]
[ to my IBM and send files back and forth and I would write whatever
additional programs I needed for the occasion. This process is quite
technical for the average person, and assumes that you have an Apple ]
[ in the first place and the ability to use all the low-level programs
that are not necessarily necessary anymore. Utilities like my ClipShop
program and the availability of Apple ][ disk images on the Internet
now make the process easier.

The MiniPix collection survived the 15 years since I did the
conversion and is distributed with my ClipShop program for Windows XP.
ClipShop can be downloaded from The ClipShop Website at:

http://www.clipshop.ca/index.htm

The MiniPix Collection of "Old Printshop" Clipart

Introduction

The collection of "Old Printshop" Data Files of Clipart Images
distributed with my ClipShop program was converted from Apple II
format to IBM-PC format. These images were originally distributed on 3
disks.

How I ported Minipix from the Apple to the IBM-PC

In 1991, I converted Disks 1-3 of The Beagle Bros. Minipix disks to
Apple Bsaved screens using the Beagle Bros. Minipix Converter that
Came on Disks 2 and 3 ("Read Page 6 in Your Manual").

I then used the Proterm Terminal program and a Null Modem cable to
port the Bsaved screens from my Apple ][ to my IBM-PC running the
Procomm Plus Communications program.

I then wrote a program called Minipix.Exe to convert the Apple Bsaved
screens to IBM Bsaved screens. (Yes Virginia, there are Bsaved screens
on Both Platforms.)

This was so long ago now, that I forget exactly what other programs
that I eventually wrote to convert these to their almost final resting
place in their respective "Old PrintShop" Graphics Library. Read
Further.

How I ported Minipix BACK to the Apple II from the IBM-PC

In 2008, I reconstructed Disks 2 and 3 of The Beagle Bros. Minipix
disks by using Apple II emulator Disk Images of Minipix Disk 1 as a
template, and the "Old PrintShop" Graphics Libraries that I had
converted back in 1991. I had long ago lost my original Minipix disks
for my real Apple II, and so it seems has the rest of the world.
Fortunately for all of us I think, the Disk Image for Disk 1 had
survived and was available from a couple of Internet Archives.

To achieve this minor miracle of reconstructive digital surgery I
wrote a program called Dat2Mini which reversed the process of so long
ago by reading the Minipix graphics from the "Old PrintShop" Graphics
Libraries" and creating Apple II BSaved Images in the format used by
this particular version of Minipix that I came across which it seems
to me is somewhat different from the version that I had originally.
However it was close enough!

To complete the reconstructive surgery I then used two different Apple
II DiskImage utilities, and some minor editing of the STARTUP program
to identify the new disks as Disk 2 and 3 (keeping in mind that I used
Disk 1 as a template so these disks were still identified as such).

First I used CiderPress to overwrite the original images with the ones
that I had created. Apple II Oasis was unable to do so without running
out of room. However, CiderPress scrubbed the file attributes so the
disk was unusable until these were restored. This is where Apple II
Oasis was used, and I set all the dates back as well as setting the
proper attributes. CiderPress was also useful in renaming the volume
and file names.

Each DiskImage utility has its own strengths and weaknesses, but by
using both and some "sleight of hand" in my own organizing of this
little project, I am hard-pressed to tell that these new disks were
not produced by the Beagles themselves. So I will represent these as
being facsimiles of the originals until the real ones come along (I
doubt if anyone would even know the difference if I represented these
as originals). And in the meantime, the utility that I wrote
(Dat2Mini) can also be used to produce many more disks of Minipix from
the many "Old PrintShop" Graphics Libraries that I and others still
have available for download from the Internet.

Beagle Bros. and Minipix and Apple II Forever!

What You Have Here

In this ZIP file you have the original diskimages that I mentioned
above and the diskimages that I created that I mentioned above and the
"Old PrintShop" Graphics libraries, and my Dat2Mini utility and more.

In short, you have everything you probably need to get started using
Minipix on the Apple II, the IBM, and if you are using some other
computer but want to see what Minipix look like, I have even thrown-in
Catalog images of all 603 Minipix.

In order to run the Minipix Diskimages you will need an emulator of
you can tranfer these to a real Apple II for an authentic experience.

And finally I have also included a set of Minipix Work Disks to get
you started. You can explore these yourself to see what kind of
goodies I  put on them and use these as the basis for your own
efforts.

Remember to work on a copy as always and put the originals aside.

Have Fun!

Bill Buckels
bbuckels@mts.net
May 2008

Beagle Bros. and Minipix and Apple II Forever!