the alternate operating system for Macintosh computers.
To see what MagiCMac is like, simply launch it by double clicking the MagiCMac Demo icon.
A box will appear. Wait 5 seconds, then click on the OK button to continue.
Two dialog boxes will appear when launching MagiCMac the first time. Simply click the OK buttons in both of them to continue quickly.
The screen will blank and after some seconds you'll be in EASE, the desktop interface of MagiCMac.
If you made a mistake when setting the preferences, you can open the setup dialog boxes again by launching MagiCMac Demo while holding down the Option key or by deleting the file MagiCMac Demo Prefs from the Preferences folder inside the System Folder.
Open drive C: by double clicking, then experience the contents of the folders. Try the DEMO folder first (you'll notice that MagiCMac is a preemptive multitasking OS).
To quit MagiCMac, press Command-Q, to switch the the MacOS without leaving MagiCMac, press Command-W.
If you have problems or questions, consult the MagiCMac FAQ.
For more information about the MagiCMac environment, launch MagiCMac and open the file READ.ME on drive C: by simply double clicking it.
Attention - keyboard layout
By default, the key codes are assigned to U.S. keyboard layout. This layout is specified in the file KEYBOARD.TBL.
To use the setup for a U.K. keyboard, that is pre-defined in the MagiCMac OS, simply remove or rename either KEYBOARD.TBL in the root directory of drive C or LOAD_KEY.PRG that you'll find in the AUTO folder. You can do this both from the MacOS' Finder or the MagiCMac environment. When renaming one of these files, simply delete or change the last character, do not append characters! Then start MagiCMac again.
Installing a new keyboard table
LOAD_KEY.PRG allows you to install any keyboard table you like. To accomplish this, LOAD_KEY.PRG has to be in the AUTO folder, its name must be listed in the AUTO folder's file AUTOEXEC.BAT (which it normally is) and a file named KEYBOARD.TBL reside in the root directory of the boot drive C.
This file KEYBOARD.TBL specifies the mapping of the keys. The file that came with the MagiCMac installation, is for U.S. layout. To create a table for your own needs, you may use the program EDIT_KEY.PRG, which you'll find in the folder EDIT_KEY. Please read the documentation inside that folder before lauching the program.
Here's some additional notes:
* When lauching EDIT_KEY.PRG, you might immediately get an alert message Error 010. If this happen, you haven't switched the screen to b&w. Switch to MacOS by pressing Command-W, then select the item System parameters… from the Options menu and set the Resolution to Monochrome. Then quit and launch MagiCMac again. It should now start up in b&w mode.
* When you've lauched EDIT_KEY.PRG, you should first click on the Load button to get a basic assignment of the keys. Then make your changes.
* Remember: After 15 minutes the demo will be quit and you'll lose all changes that you haven't saved until then! So don't forget to save your changes every few minutes.
* When clicking on Install Keyboard, you'll get an alert message telling that KEYBOARD.TBL has been installed but LOAD_KEY could not be found. That's OK. Just launch LOAD_KEY.PRG manually from the AUTO folder or quit and restart MagiCMac. Then the new keyboard assignments will be activated.
Some known bugs
Atari floppy disk access & System 7.5 with PC Exchange
Accessing DOS- or Atari formatted floppy disks may fail if you have System 7.5 installed and PC Exchange active (you'd get the contents of the MAGIC_C folder). Solutions: Update to System 7.5.1 or temporarily disable PC Exchange (open it from the Control Panels and switch it off).
Pure Debugger
When using the Pure Debugger (PD.PRG), the mouse cursor will vanish soon. There's no work-around yet, but in earlier MagiCMac versions this program worked so we'll have it fixed soon.
Accessing very large files
Reading or copying large files (at several MB in size) may occasionally crash MagiCMac.
PowerBooks
On certain PowerBooks, MagiCMac will not awake properly when the PowerBook felt asleep while MagiCMac was running in foreground. Workaround: Open the PowerBook Control Panel and turn off power savings.
