Having a big, fat monitor is great, but if you've tried to design applications or presentations for smaller screen Macs, you know what a problem it can be. No matter how hard you may guess, you always seem to be off. So I wrote MiniScreen for Macs with Color QuickDraw. MiniScreen changes your monitor's desktop to any size you desire, like the dinky, nine-inch "Classic" monitor. It's excellent for:
• Software development and localization
• QuickTime video development
• Multimedia presentations
• Game playing
• Office pranks
• ...and more.
The MiniScreen Control Panel
Once you've put MiniScreen into your Control Panels folder, restart your Macintosh.
The MiniScreen Control Panel allows you to customize the way MiniScreen runs. Double-click on the MiniScreen Control Panel icon to reveal:
"Shrink" controls the shrinking of the display after your Macintosh starts up. "Icon" controls the display of the MiniScreen icon during startup. Click on the "Display Type" pop-up menu to select from a variety of standard screen sizes, or enter your own values in the "Size" boxes for a custom display.
Starting Up
To use the mouse to choose a custom desktop size, press and hold the Option key until MiniScreen appears after restarting your Mac. As you move the mouse around, and MiniScreen traces the outline of the new screen, showing the dimensions on the menu bar. Press the mouse button to set the desired size. MiniScreen uses the new size each time you restart your Mac until you change it again.
To prevent MiniScreen from miniaturizing your screen, hold down the mouse button, command or shift key during startup.
Technical Info
MiniScreen is an INIT (Extension) and CDEV (Control Panel). The INIT portion temporarily loads at startup time. It shrinks your display, disappears, and does not take up any memory while you use your Macintosh. It does not "patch traps", so it does not slow down the computer.
Avoid changing pixel depths if possible (e.g. with the Monitor's Control Panel or a screen switching utility). The Macintosh cannot retain a fully miniaturized display if you change pixel depths after starting up with MiniScreen. Parts of the Mac's toolbox will honor the smaller the desktop size, but others will not. The smaller display is not affected by switching color and gray modes, however.
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