[shelbydodgeimp]

Hello all, in googling around- I have found that for OSX, you can download and use a MacOS9 style launcher, an OS9 style ASM (application switcher menu in the top right corner), apple menus, and all kinds of things...

But not CSM's (control strip modules).

I cant be the only one who is missing this feature.

However, I was able to find OpenStrip- which is an open source project aimed at making a OS9 & OSX compatiable CSM clone.

The project looks like it died 5 or 6 years ago, however I feel it can be brought back to life.

So far I have been able to use resedit to give it the original OS9 apperance/skin, and the project as it was abandoned in 2000- has a few CSM modules already compiled, mainly:
-Volume Control
-Click Counter
-Activity Monitor
-Clock
-Eyeballs that follow the curser

Its a start at least, anyway I think it would be cool if I could find some people who like the old CSMs who would be willng to program their own CSMs for the OpenStrip project.

Here's what I think would be of use:
-Calender CSM (like the OS9 one)
-Multi-time zone clock
-Calculator
-Itunes controler (stop, pause, next song, prior song, etc)
-Capslock light CSM
-Timer

Anyone think they could help with this? I am not looking at stealing the code of commercial or shareware OS9 CSMs, but I think this would be a cool OSX toy.

Any programers here who did original CSMs back in the classic OS days?

I remeber first using CSMs in System 7 on my Powerbook190, I loved it, in fact it was one of the reasons why I was so quick and happy to buy the retail version of OS8.1 when it came out (and thus gave CSMs to desktops).

[shelbydodgeimp]

Almost forgot, the last release (a beta?) is here:
http://www.strout.net/info/coding/macdev/openstrip/

Here is it on my OS9 machine, with my OS9 style skin applied (its the top one, OS9 CSM is the bottom one):


A friend of mine knows some program and will be doing the bulk of the work, I dont know C so I am more of a "hey, this is a good idea" type who wants to get the project started, contact people etc.

My friend did contact Joe (from the site above) and he said the project is open source and public domain and that we can try to bring the project back to life.

[dru]

Nice idea but maybe it's best to start from scratch. OpenStrip is a CodeWarrior project which might make it tough to move to Intel. Worth looking at though.

[shelbydodgeimp]

Who says it would have to work on intells? There are enough macs out there which can only boot into OSX, which this could work on, to justify the work.

[MacDog]

Originally Posted by shelbydodgeimp

Who says it would have to work on intells?

Uhhhh, have you read any news about Apple lately? Apple is switching to Intel processors next year, and many expect the switch to start at MacWorld in January with iBooks and MacMini machines.

Yes, it's still OSX, but the coding will be a bit different for developers.

[shelbydodgeimp]

Maybe I am wrong, but won't apple be inclined to make some kind of emulator so you can use your old mac software on the intel macs?

Kinda like classic mode, only to let you use the old software?

If so, then this would still work, since it is just an application basically.

[Fonzie]

^Sure, it's called Rosetta. I would advice you to look at the latest MacWorld webcast on Apples website. If you want to know more that is.

[Syzygy]

Yeah, though people aren't going to want to run small always-on utilities in an emulator as they will need more resources.

[Judge_Fire]

Couldn't one create really small Dashboard widgets and a small, horizontal app for hosting them?

This way, creating more modules wouldn't require yet another format. They could even expand into full-size widgets when clicked, and retain only a thumbnail in the strip.

Actually, sounds much better than Dashboard!

J

[Syzygy]

Oh yeah. Or konfabulator might be even better as it would be easier to keep it on screen all the time (as the original one did).

[lookmark]

Why wouldn't you want to use the Menu Extras in the OS X menu bar instead?

[shelbydodgeimp]

I dont know about you, but I much prefere the CSM over adding tons and tons of menus to the top menu bar.

Between airport, bluetooth, volume control and clock- its already pretty full.

Now say you have a situation where the user has to stick to low res, say an eye problem, cheap monitor- whatever. In low res, OSX's menu is too crowded, even with-
-Bluetooth
-Classicmode
-Voume Control
-Airport
menus taken off, the menu bar is not long enough to accomidate everything stuck up there in some applications.

CSMs are nice and tiny, can be moved around, collapsed to the corner when you dont need them- it just comes off to me as more intuitive than putting more and more junk in the top menu bar.

And I cant be the only one who sees it this way, there are enough freeware, shareware, etc apps, sites, etc for making OSX look & feel more like OS9, that clearly some people would be interested in this.

Just do a search for OSX tash can

We have several trashcans for the desktop for OSx now, we have OS9 style launchers, os9 style application switcher menus, all kinds of goodies... just no CSM

Openstrip is a start, but true, the dashboard idea sounds like an interesting one.

How would programing dashboard apps & modules compare to, say, OpenStrip?

[Tick]

Probably easier to just start a new cocoa project instead of porting this carbon/cfm/cw thing.