PscaleX User Notes
Legacy Pscale for Win and Pscale for MSDos have never run on Mac systems until Apple started using Intel chipsets and the Open Source Dos Emulator named DosBox became available. The PscaleX Cross Platform Environment was initially developed for Window 64 bit Operating Systems that would no longer run Legacy Pscale. It was then refined to work on Mac computers. It will actually run on several operating systems but most current users are running Windows 7 along with several determined Mac Users with Intel Chipsets. I have finally made a downloadable version as a .dmg file with install instructions. PscaleX is available to registered Users for download at no charge. This help file is a collection of tips that will help PscaleX users get the job done. As per the Mac Install instructions the Pscale data and program files are located in: Applications/pscalex/pscale PscaleX was created using the Open Source Dos Emulator named DosBox, which can actually run an early version of Windows (3.11). Officially, due to possible Microsoft License issues, running Pscale for Win in Win 3.11 is for demonstration purposes only. One tiny Win glitch: When you start Pscale for Win (PscaleX Main Menu choice 1) the very 1st mouse click may move the cursor to the upper left corner of the screen requiring you to then double click the Pscale for Win Icon to start Pscale Win. One DOS glitch: It seems, at least on my Mac Mini, the first time that you Run Pscale for MSDos or Scale Compare (MSDOS) within a session, Dosbox may have a problem getting its bearings and running correctly. It seems to not like the Right, Left, Up, and Down Arrow keys initially. If this should happen, keep using the Escape key untill things settle down. For some unknow reason, it seems to settle down after a few tries. Note: This may just be a result of a Windows keyboard and a Mac Mini. There are actually some advantages in PscaleX but the main drawback to the DosBox environment is No Direct Printng or Copy and Paste to outside programs. However, the work around for this is quite easy once you understand a few tricks. There are a few other tricks as well. Let's start with Printing: In Pscale for Win we must always use the View Option as the core print routines fell by the wayside with the coming of USB printers. The view option writes the print output to a file and then opens the file in the Windows Notepad program for viewing and we can print directly from Notepad. However, with PscaleX running in DosBox, Notepad cannot talk to the printer. But, we can do the following: (for text output) Make note of the filename that is open (probably vdata$.txt) You can probbably use the Command Key but F12 should also also allow you to move the cursor out side of the DosBox/Pscale window. This allows you to Minimize The Pscale for Win and Dosbox Windows. Navigate to your Aplications/pscalex/pscale folder and find the vdata$.txt file Double click this file and it will open for direct printing. These basic steps work if you are running Pscale for Dos as well. Printing Graphs As for graphs, depending on your computer, you may need image editing software like Open Source Gimp, or, Paintshop Pro, Photoshop, or other program. In Pscale, when displaying graphs in the Print Menu, you have the option to save the graph to a .pcx file (->PCX). Save the graph file. You use the same above procedure but you will be opening a .pcx file in your image software for printing or editing. A few Other Tips: One of the most important key combinations is Ctrl F9 (Hold down the Ctrl key and press F9 Key. The key combo immediately exits the DosBox PscaleX environment. It's like a kill command. Another key combination, Alt Enter, will run DosBox PscaleX in full screen mode. However, full screen mode seems to disable the use of your command Key or F12 (for minimizing PscaleX) and also may not fully recover your desktop with a subsequent Alt Enter. It's supposed to toggle back and forth between Full Screen and a Window. I should also mention that running Graphics/Dos within Pscale Win will work but will not recover the video correctly on exit. This will require a Ctrl F9 to exit Dosbox. A warning message appears in Pscale Win allowing you to cancel Graphics/Dos. The same applies to the following Pscale Main Menu options under File:
Pscale for Dos Finally, in PscaleX, if you want to compare graphs of two different Pscale files you should use Scale Compare which is PscaleX Main Menu option 3. DosBox Spesial Keys These are the default keybindings. They can be changed using the keymapper. Note: If you're using a Mac and are having trouble with the function keys, you may need to set your F keys to function as function keys. You can do this by going to System Preferences > Keyboard, going to the Keyboard area, and checking the "Use all F1, F2, etc" box. ALT-ENTER Switch to full-screen (and back). ALT-PAUSE Pause emulation. CTRL-F1 Show the keymapper configuration screen, CTRL-F4 Update cached information about mounted drives. Useful if you changed something on a mounted drive outside of DOSBox. Also cycles through disk images mounted using IMGMOUNT. CTRL-F5 Save a screenshot (goes to capture folder). CTRL-ALT-F5 Start/Stop recording of AVI video. NOTE: You may well have some problems with this, please see Recording Video for more information. CTRL-F6 Start/Stop recording sound output to a wave file (goes to capture folder). CTRL-ALT-F7 Start/Stop recording of OPL commands. CTRL-ALT-F8 Start/Stop the recording of raw MIDI commands. CTRL-F7 Decreases frameskip. CTRL-F8 Increases frameskip. CTRL-F9 Kill (close) DOSBox. CTRL-F10 Capture/Release the mouse (if you need to use the mouse within DOSBox). CTRL-F11 Decrease DOSBox cycles (slows down the emulation). CTRL-F12 Increase DOSBox cycles (speeds up the emulation). ALT-F12 Unlock speed (turbo button). These default bindings are also documented in the README file accompanying the software. Language Keys
When a keyboard layout is loaded: CTRL+ALT+F2 Switch between foreign layout and US layout. LEFT-ALT+RIGHT-SHIFT Activate dual layouts (for some keyboards, e.g. GK codepage 869 and RU codepage 808). LEFT-ALT+LEFT-SHIFT Deactivate dual layouts.
For OS X you have to use additionally + [Applekey] for the same result For Linux you have to use additionally + [win] for the same result
Tremaine Parsons RPT |