Hi guys
Just thought I'd take a minute to update you all on the progress with
Functional Keys.
Functional Keys is alive an well, and has already reached version 1.9. Version 2.0 is just around the corner, but depends on me getting back to my Mac museum to be able to add dual iTunes/Audion media controls as well as an InstallerVISE installer.
As for the problems with Finder activation and fullscreen incompatibility, OS923 was onto something seriously ingenious - though, ironically, not in the way he intended (or at least not in the way I understood he intended
).
After a lot of trial and error, the problem of Finder activation was located to be Apple and their haphazard implementation of their F-key launcher in OS 9. Apple's solution was to force every command though the Finder - even if none of the commands called on Finder itself. As such, I found a third party F-key launcher, creatively called 'KeyboardLauncher', that bypassed Apple's own short sightedness.
And during my trials (and unspeakable ammounts of failures) I also stumbled upon 'OtherMenu', which adds menu bar controls for Functional Keys. Think of it much like what Ambrosia's 'ColorSwitch Pro' did for earlier systems, though much more versatile. So now Functional Keys can be reached from either the keyboard or from the menu bar, or both -
and you can finally get rid of that horrid appendix known as the Control Strip once and for all As for fullscreen applications, this is where OS923 hit the nail right on the head. By setting 'Background Only' to 'True' in the resource fork -
sound, depth, and resolution can finally be controlled without leaving the game.
However, the latter also breaks functionality with System 7, since 'Background Only' makes sense only when operating in a multithreading environment - something which Apple didn't implement until OS 8.
I have created a separate version of Functional Keys with OS 7 compatibility, that will be released as part of Functional Keys 2.0.
I've now beta-ed version 2.0 on both OS 9.0 and OS 7.5 and they both work flawlessly, both from the keyboard and from the menu bar. However, still have 1 question remaining to be answered:
Where does the backwards compatibility of the OS 9 version end? This is needed before I can build a proper installer that installs the right version of Functional Keys according to both OS version and processor architecture.
And in that respect:
Is there anyone here at OS9Lives that could quickly beta-test Functional Keys 1.9 either on OS 8.0 or OS 8.1? Whether on an emulator or on real hardware shouldn't matter. I would be TRULY grateful if anyone here at OS9Lives would help me with this one!
Anyways, Functional Keys 1.9 is available for download here: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/functional-keys/.
Enjoy