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Using Desktop Pictures on the Mac SE/30

a short article by Tyler Sable, spam at fenestrated separated by dot from net.
Find me on the 68kMLA forums as TylerEss

Introduction | Desktop Pictures | Putting It Together

Introduction

Full-screen desktop pictures are one of those little interface improvements that make using a computer more pleasant. MacOS 8 and newer support desktop pictures by default; System Software 7.0.1 thru 7.6.1 can use the commercial DeskPicture or the shareware Decor to display desktop pictures.

Why then this article? The Macintosh SE/30 and PowerBook 140 and 170 are fully color-capable Macs that just happen to only display 1-bit black and white. Neither DeskPicture nor Decor support these Macs; they seem to operate correctly but the picture never shows up on the desktop.

Enter Desktop Pictures | Top

Using the Desktop Pictures control panel from MacOS 8 is the answer. It requires System 7.5 and about 1.5MB of disk space. Also, you'll need to modify it for correct operation.

Unmodified, the Desktop Pictures control panel will open, but produce a warning dialog:

Desktop Pictures is not installed correctly.
Please place Desktop Pictures in the Control Panels folder and Restart your Macintosh.
This message appears even after doing exactly what it says!

What's really going on behind the scenes is this: In System 7.5 Apple introduced a new filetype, APPC. This was for normal Macintosh applications that were supposed to go into the Control Panels folder when dropped onto a closed System Folder. This is in contrast to the past, when only files of type cdev displayed that behavior.

Under 7.5, files of type APPC in the Control Panels folder are not scanned for startup INIT resources. Only Control Panels of type cdev are scanned for INIT resources. Because of this, Desktop Pictures never thinks it was installed correctly; its startup code is never run.

Changing Desktop Pictures' file type to cdev is the obvious answer, but then the Finder reports that Desktop Pictures is 'broken' and you cannot open it. The easiest setup that actually works is as follows:

Putting the Pieces Together | Top

  1. Get the Desktop Pictures control panel. It can be extracted from the MacOS 8.1 Updater using TomeViewer.
  2. Duplicate the Desktop Pictures control panel. Name the copy "Desktop Pictures Extension".
  3. Drag the renamed copy onto the INITtyper to give it the file type INIT.
  4. Drag the original and the new Extension, and drop them on your closed System Folder. They'll go into the Control Panels and Extensions folders, respecively.
  5. Drop the Startup Item into your Startup Items folder. It's an AppleScript I wrote that reminds the Desktop Pictures Control Panel to set your background automatically. Otherwise, you'll have to open it yourself and click "Set Desktop" each reboot.
Congratulations! You're done. Enjoy your new desktop pictures!

Download Links:
MacOS 8.1 UpdateMac_OS_8.1_Update.smi.bin
TomeViewertomeviewer-13d3.sit
INITtyperINITtyper.cpt.hqx
Startup ItemDesktopPicStartup.cpt.hqx

Text and Images copyright 2003-2008 Tyler Sable