Strand 500 OLE on Mac!

[lighters]

Having searched seemingly forever and failed to even any indication of whether it would be possible to get the Strand 300/520/530/550 offline editor to funcion on an intel based mac, I embarked on a voyage of exploration in an attempt to find a solution.

 

Here is the result. It is intended as a walk through guide for getting the Strand 500 series OLE to function on an intel based Mac. A knowledge of DOS is useful, but I hope not essential. I have tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, although at this stage it is perhaps not the most straightforward method. I will aim to post revisions as I make them, and ultimately make a simpler folder downloadable from somewhere with most of the hard work done already!

 

1. Download DOSBox from here

 

2. Unzip file and mount disk

 

3. Install DOSBox application in a folder of your choice (I recommend creating a new folder called Strand OLE or something similar, where all the relevant files can go).

 

4. Download the Strand OLE from here

 

5. Unzip the file and copy the contents of the subsequent folder (nb not the folder itself) into the same location as DOSBox.

 

6. Create a new folder inside the DOSBox folder and name it “Floppy”. This will act as a dummy floppy disk drive to copy files in and out of from an external source.

 

7. Run DOSBox and mount the folder containing it as the c: drive using the following syntax:

 

mount c “/users/yourusername/folder1/folder2etc/nameofDOSboxfolder/”

 

obviously replacing username as appropriate, and using the appropriate names of folders at each level up to the final folder.

 

8. Type C: at the command line to change to the mounted disk. C:\> should now appear to replace what was previously there (probably Z:\>)

 

9. Run the install file using this syntax: CIINSTAL

This will guide you into the install process for the offline editor.

 

Select the “O” option, for offline editor.

Follow the install instructions, selecting the desired install (lightpalette/genius pro) and using the default folder names as changing these seems to confuse the program on startup.

 

10. Once the program has installed, you will need to access the newly created GENIUSP folder. This is done with the syntax: cd GENIUSP

The prompt should now display as C:\GENIUSP>

 

In order to actually run the program, simply type CIOS into the command line. Do not use the GENIUSP.BAT syntax as suggested in the install text. Using GENIUSP (or LIGHTP) causes issues when starting up and shutting down the editor, whereas using CIOS bypasses this and provides an error-free startup and shutdown.

 

Unfortunately, this is only half of the battle. Some of the keys and shortcuts used in the OLE are overridden by default Mac settings (most notably the Expose function buttons F9-F12).

 

11. Go to System Preferences; Keyboard and Mouse; Keyboard and check the option to “Use All F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”. You can still hold down the “fn” key while pressing the function buttons to access the original features (volume, screen brightness etc).

 

You will also need to go into “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab in the same section and either disable the use of the buttons F9-F12 in the “Dock, Expose, and Dashboard” section, or reassign new shortcut keys to them (I chose ctrl-alt-F9 etc). It is also necessary to disable the “Turn VoiceOver on or off” feature, or again assign a new shortcut.

 

Still not quite there…

 

12. In DOSBox (you will have to restart it if you have already gone into the OLE program), press ctrl-F1 to access the keymapper. This allows you to tell DOSBox to recognise one key as another - in this case we will instruct it to use the Apple cmd key in place of the ctrl key when operating any programs from within the emulator. This leaves the ctrl key free to operate the shortcuts assigned to DOSBox.

 

13. Using the mouse, click on the left CTRL button on the screen

Then click on the DEL button to delete the association with the actual ctrl key on the keyboard.

Now, click ADD and when prompted, press the cmd key on the real keyboard.

 

Repeat this process for the right CTRL button, using the right cmd key on the keyboard.

 

14. To avoid having to go through the process of mounting the OLE folder each time you open DOSBox, type the following syntax into DOSBox to access the configuration file: CONFIG -writeconf dosbox.conf

 

This will create a configuration file in the same folder as DOSBox.

 

15. Open the file (dosbox.conf) from the Finder - not DOSBox this time - using textedit.

 

16. Scroll down to the [DOSBox] section (2nd one down), and change the memory size from 16 to 256. This ensures that DOSBox has access to enough of your computer’s resources to be able to run the editor.

 

17. Now scroll right down to the bottom of the file. Anything you type here will be lines that are automatically executed every time you run DOSBox, so in actual fact it is possible to automatically open straight into the Strand OLE when you run DOSBox. Of course this assumes that you don’t use DOSBox for anything else!

 

mount a “/users/yourusername/folder1/folder2etc/nameofdosboxfolder/floppy/”

mount c “/users/yourusername/folder1/folder2etc/nameofdosboxfolder/”

c:\

cd GENIUSP (OR cd LIGHTP for a lightpallette installation)

CIOS

 

So now next time you run DOSBox, it will automatically open straight into the Editor. Mounting the “floppy” folder allows even the save to floppy feature to work. You can therefore copy files to open into the floppy folder, or save to there before transferring to a real floppy disk to get them back to the real Strand desk.

 

Everything should now function according to the keyboard shortcuts which are available to download from here

 

In order to use it as the 500 template though, you will have to rotate it and re-save the document. And remember, anything requiring the use of the ctrl key will in fact require you to use cmd instead!

 

Any problems, PM me and I’ll see if I can’t sort it out!

 

- Tom

[Tomo]

Can you put this into the Wiki?

 

That way it's easy for someone to find it later on - threads tend to slowly vanish over the horizon, and most people don't bother using the search functions.

[maeterlinck]

Lighters,

 

Really good tutorial - congrats for getting it working!

 

I'd second the Wiki suggestion if you've the time to do it!

[lighters]

Will try the wiki when I have a bit of a chance to play.

 

Meanwhile, I have just discovered a caveat. Gutted.

 

Basically, because DOSBox only emulates a 486 machine and not a Pentium, it does not support the use of reference groups in cues etc. It will copy hard values across from groups, but breaks the references so updating groups will not update cues.

 

This is not so much of an issue for editing shows using just generic fixtures, but for creating more complex shows with moving lights it is a problem.

 

In a situation where you would like to program a show before getting to the theatre, creating position groups for moving lights is very useful. So long as the cues are programmed to look at groups and not values and you can then simply edit the groups in the venue rather than do it cue by cue.

 

I am trying to see if there is a workround for this somehow, but in the meantime we're stuck with it as it is. Sorry!