Basilisk II & Editing the .basilisk_ii_prefs file on a Mac

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JDW
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Basilisk II & Editing the .basilisk_ii_prefs file on a Mac

Post by JDW »

First, it took me ages to figure out what the path was to the Basilisk II preference file on my iMac:

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~/.basilisk_ii_prefs
For clarity, it's actually this:

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<home folder>/.basilisk_ii_prefs
Thankfully, I have my Macs setup to display hidden files by default, otherwise even scanning the Home folder would not reveal it.

I've been a long time Mini vMac user and found Basilisk II rather shocking because the default Display settings, unlike Mini vMac, don't play nice with Retina displays at all. It looks very fuzzy and bothersome. Why the resolution isn't set to Nearest Neighbor by default is something I simply cannot understand. Even so, I finally found that the fix is tied to editing that hidden preference file (which I personally wish was not hidden). That is described here:

https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/ba ... uilds_only

Specifically, adding the following two lines to the preference file makes a world of difference:

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scale_nearest true
mag_rate 2
Sadly, the documentation is wrong. It says that our manually added text will only be deleted if we change/save the prefs in the GUI app, but in my testing that is not true. Those two lines I added are wiped away immediately upon clicking the "Start" button in the GUI app.

What I have done for now is to LOCK the .basilisk_ii_prefs file. But that of course prevents editing until I unlock it. It's all very fiddly, so if this issue can be fixed, that would be very much appreciated. And if there are other workarounds for the problem I described, please let me know.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Basilisk II & Editing the .basilisk_ii_prefs file on a Mac

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

JDW wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:32 am First, it took me ages to figure out what the path was to the Basilisk II preference file on my iMac:

Code: Select all

~/.basilisk_ii_prefs
It is mentioned in the setup guide. "~/" is the usual way to indicate your Home folder in OSX/macOS and any file with a name starting with a "." is normally hidden in the Finder. The name and the location were inherited from the original Linux version when BasiliskII was ported to Mac OS X.

Why the resolution isn't set to Nearest Neighbor by default is something I simply cannot understand.
Because it looks terrible in fullscreen mode on non-Retina screens. This 'advanced' setting was added not long ago specifically for Retina screens.

The 'advanced' settings need to be added manually, because the development of BasiliskII app is ahead of the development of the GUI app.

Sadly, the documentation is wrong. It says that our manually added text will only be deleted if we change/save the prefs in the GUI app, but in my testing that is not true. Those two lines I added are wiped away immediately upon clicking the "Start" button in the GUI app.
The Start button saves the settings and starts BasiliskII. The GUI app is only needed for changing settings. Normally you will launch BasiliskII itself without using the GUI.
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JDW
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Re: Basilisk II & Editing the .basilisk_ii_prefs file on a Mac

Post by JDW »

Ronald P. Regensburg wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:35 am Normally you will launch BasiliskII itself without using the GUI.
Thank you for clarifying that assumption.
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