Fixed option to override 'state' property of a saved machine
This commit is contained in:
Jeff Parsons
parent
0f4402aa2a
commit
4bb7c65208
7 changed files with 132 additions and 10 deletions
121
_posts/2016-02-17-saving-disks-and-machines.md
Normal file
121
_posts/2016-02-17-saving-disks-and-machines.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
layout: post
|
||||
title: "Saving Disks and Machines"
|
||||
date: 2016-02-17 14:00:00
|
||||
permalink: /blog/2016/02/17/
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
PCjs (v1.20.9) now offers some new, *much* easier ways to save disks and machines, thanks to the new
|
||||
[Save Disk](#saving-disks) and [Save Machine](#saving-machines) features. With one click, PCjs can now
|
||||
generate a single download containing everything you need to embed any of our IBM PC demos on your own
|
||||
web page.
|
||||
|
||||
Saving Disks
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Floppy disk images can now be saved to your desktop computer by simply clicking the **Save** button next
|
||||
to the floppy disk controls. Select the drive first, and then whatever diskette is shown as being "loaded"
|
||||
in that drive will be saved in your local machine's Downloads folder when you click **Save**.
|
||||
|
||||
If you made any changes to that disk after it was loaded, those changes will be included, so if you want a pristine
|
||||
copy of the disk, click the **Load** button first. PCjs will ask you to confirm that you really want to reload the
|
||||
disk and discard any changes.
|
||||
|
||||
Note that the disk *should* be downloaded as an **.img** file, which is nothing more than a sector-by-sector binary
|
||||
dump of the disk. For example, a 360Kb double-sided double-density (DSDD) disk contains 9 512-byte sectors on each
|
||||
of the 40 tracks on each of its 2 sides, so when you **Save** a 360Kb disk, the downloaded file should be exactly
|
||||
368,640 bytes large.
|
||||
|
||||
The Mac OS X operating system can automatically mount most **.img** files (from disks created by DOS 2.0 or later).
|
||||
Older 1.x DOS disks, along with most non-DOS disks, do not have a BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) in the boot sector, so
|
||||
most modern operating systems won't recognize the disk format. Other operating systems, like Windows, may require
|
||||
third-party software in order to mount an **.img** file, and some third-party software may prefer a different extension,
|
||||
such as **.ima** or **.bin**.
|
||||
|
||||
It's also recommended that make your **.img** files *read-only*, so that if you do mount them on your desktop
|
||||
computer, neither you nor the operating system will inadvertently modify the contents of the disk. On OS X, this is
|
||||
easily done with the **chmod** utility.
|
||||
|
||||
For example, if you saved the disk named "PC-DOS 2.00 (Disk 1)", it should have been downloaded as "PCDOS200-DISK2.img"
|
||||
in your Downloads folder, so the OS X Terminal command `chmod -w PCDOS200-DISK2.img` will make it read-only, and
|
||||
`chmod +w PCDOS200-DISK2.img` will make it writable again.
|
||||
|
||||
Saving Machines
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Saving the entire state of any existing IBM PC machine is also possible with a single click. You can choose to save
|
||||
a machine in its initial state, or make changes to any of the machine's disks and then save it. All your changes should
|
||||
be preserved.
|
||||
|
||||
Under the bottom-left corner of any IBM PC on the PCjs [website](http://www.pcjs.org/), you should now see a
|
||||
[**Save Machine**] link. When you click that link, PCjs will generate a large "blob" of JavaScript containing
|
||||
everything that machine needs to run, including:
|
||||
|
||||
* The machine XML configuration file (eg, "machine.xml")
|
||||
* The machine XSL transformation file (eg, "components.xsl")
|
||||
* The machine CSS stylesheet file (eg, "components.css")
|
||||
* The machine state file (eg, "state.json")
|
||||
* The PCjs machine emulation script (eg, "pc.js")
|
||||
* Copies of all the disk images mounted by the machine
|
||||
|
||||
Let's say you want to save the IBM PC on the PCjs [home page](http://www.pcjs.org/). When you click
|
||||
**Save Machine**, two things should happen:
|
||||
|
||||
* A file will be downloaded ("pc.json")
|
||||
* A popup will appear with some markup to copy-and-paste
|
||||
|
||||
The popup should provide the following information:
|
||||
|
||||
Check your Downloads folder for "pc.json", copy it to your web server as "pc.js",
|
||||
and then add the following to your web page:
|
||||
|
||||
<div id="ibm5150"></div>
|
||||
...
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript" src="pc.js"></script>
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">embedPC("ibm5150","machine.xml","components.xsl");</script>
|
||||
|
||||
The machine should appear where the <div> is located.
|
||||
|
||||
Rename the downloaded file from **pc.json** to **pc.js**, copy it to your own web server, then create or edit
|
||||
a web page and insert the above text. If **pc.js** and your web page are in different folders, then you'll also
|
||||
need to change *src* to indicate the location of **pc.js**.
|
||||
|
||||
Some notes:
|
||||
|
||||
* PCjs asks the browser to name the downloaded file **pc.json** instead of **pc.js** because a file with a ".js"
|
||||
extension may cause the Chrome web browser to block the download. And not all browsers support named downloads;
|
||||
PCjs will attempt to open a new window/tab if that seems to be the case.
|
||||
|
||||
* Your version of Chrome may also impose size limitations on the download. If nothing downloads, the machine may
|
||||
be too large for your browser, so try a different browser (eg, Firefox or Safari).
|
||||
|
||||
* If you have modified any floppy disks mounted by the machine *or* any of the machine's hard disks, those
|
||||
modifications should be saved along with the machine.
|
||||
|
||||
* Any floppy disks mounted during the lifetime of the machine will be added to the machine's state. So, for example,
|
||||
if you want your copy of the machine to include all the Windows 1.01 SDK disks, make sure you have loaded each disk
|
||||
once before clicking **Save Machine**.
|
||||
|
||||
* Any floppy disks *not* mounted during the lifetime of the machine will be *removed* from the machine's list of
|
||||
available disks; we don't want machines running on other websites to be consuming our bandwidth.
|
||||
|
||||
* The machine's current state, including memory and screen contents, are included as part of the saved
|
||||
machine state. So, even if the original machine always powers on from scratch, the *copied* machine will always
|
||||
resume at the point it was saved. This behavior, however, can be disabled by passing a *parms* object as the
|
||||
4th parameter to the *embedPC()* call, overriding the 'state' property:
|
||||
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">embedPC("ibm5150","machine.xml","components.xsl","{state:null}");</script>
|
||||
|
||||
While the [PCjs Documentation](/docs/pcjs/) explains how to create a *new* machine, by writing your own machine
|
||||
XML file and manually copying all the other pieces, the new **Save Machine** feature is the best way to save
|
||||
any *existing* IBM PC and embed it on any other website.
|
||||
|
||||
**WARNING**: While this feature is still "hot of the press," there will probably be some kinks to work out. Every
|
||||
browser seems to have its own idiosyncrasies in terms of what can be downloaded and/or how large it can be. It's
|
||||
also quite possible that certain machine features or modifications may not be properly preserved.
|
||||
|
||||
If you're having trouble with a particular browser or a particular machine, be sure to
|
||||
[let me know](mailto:Jeff@pcjs.org), and then try another browser and/or machine.
|
||||
|
||||
*[@jeffpar](http://twitter.com/jeffpar)*
|
||||
*February 17, 2016*
|
||||
Loading…
Reference in a new issue