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Apple II DeskTop

Home Page: https://a2desktop.com

Project Page: https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d

1.6 Alpha

The focus of the v1.6 release has been stability and responsiveness, rather than new features.

Significant work went into an automated test harness utilizing the MAME emulation framework. Scripts can be written to exercise changes and detect regressions. The extensive list of manual verification test cases has been converted to test scripts. Some manual verification is still required, and even the MAME emulation is not a perfect replica of real hardware, but this effort has led to fewer regressions and more confident improvements. Version 1.6 should be the most stable so far.

An 8-bit Apple II running at 1MHz will never be a perfect platform for a graphical user interface, but two big changes in v1.6 improve the experience. The first is to align redrawing the mouse cursor with “vertical blanking” periods when the display is not updated, to eliminate the cursor flickering when the user moves the mouse. The second is to reduce the times when the cursor is temporarily hidden while other parts of the screen are updated. Neither of these are perfect and there is room for further improvement. Combined with other performance improvements, the overall experience should feel more solid.

New Features

  • Add "Startup.Items" folder support.
  • Add option to skip checking 5.25" drives on startup.
  • Support dragging files onto ProDOS "interpreter" applications. (#903)
  • New Toy: Minesweeper.
  • New Screen Saver: Maze.
  • Date & Time: Support setting IIgs clock, No-Slot Clock, ThunderClock, ROMX RTC, and The Cricket! clock. (#38)

General

  • Eliminate cursor flickering when mouse is moved.
  • Improve visibility of button flashing using VBL.
  • Adjust movement scaling in MouseKeys mode.
  • Change MouseKeys mode to make dragging easier and support modifiers:
    • Space clicks the mouse button
    • Comma (,) presses and holds the mouse button
    • Period (.) releases the mouse button
    • Solid Apple is now just a modifier as normal
  • Improve appearance of watch cursor.
  • Ensure text caret is visible after key/click.
  • Reduce cursor flickering while menus are drawn.
  • Make mouse cursor responsive while drawing menus.
  • Reduce cursor flickering while list view rows are drawn.
  • Improve appearance of menu items with check marks.
  • Fix file picker behavior with more than 127 files.
  • Add small icons for system files.
  • Show app icons for system files in file picker.
  • Fix lo-res color display in DAs on the Apple IIc. (#911)

Launcher

  • Fix crash after 40 restarts.

DeskTop

  • Show correct icon state after failed operation that closes window.
  • Fix display of window header when partially offscreen.
  • Fix spatial navigation when all icons are selected.
  • Horizontally center file icons and center icon labels more accurately.
  • Show disk name when prompting for source/destination disks.
  • Allow keyboard navigation after clicking on volume icon, even with window open.
  • Improve performance changing views with large numbers of icons selected.
  • Remove support for keyboard scrolling via Apple+S.
  • On window close, repaint overlapping windows before the animation.
  • Reduce cursor flickering while icons are drawn.
  • Eliminate cursor flickering when clicking on the desktop or windows.
  • Time window open/close animations using VBL.
  • Add Apple+Escape as shortcut to clear selection and focus window.
  • Add OA+SA+Escape as shortcut to clear selection and focus desktop.
  • Add Space as shortcut to select first icon.
  • Prevent volume icon flicker on startup with empty Disk II drives.
  • Don't show About dialog when Ctrl+Shift+2 is pressed.
  • Fix hang after 60 restarts.
  • Fix error shown after non-empty directory fails to delete.
  • Fix hang after non-menu shortcut if window fails to open.
  • Fix behavior after File > Duplicate failed due to space or storage type.
  • Set empty window maprect so that when restored with new file scrollbars are inactive.
  • Fix volume icon flicker after Check All Drives for removable disks.
  • Select volume icon after Format/Erase.
  • Fix display of long device names in Format/Erase volume picker.
  • Animate Apple > About Apple II DeskTop window open/closed.
  • Animate Apple > About This Apple II window open/closed.
  • Animate Date & Time DA window open/closed when menu clock is clicked.
  • Reduce cursor flickering when copying / deleting files.
  • Don't repaint scrollbars before window when resizing.
  • Eliminate scrollbar repaint after window opens.
  • Fix "Unexpected error" seen when copying certain directories.
  • Allow Shift+Arrow keys to extend icon selection (IIgs/Platinum IIe)
  • Don't case-adjust SmartPort device names that are already mixed-case.
  • Eliminate unnecessary window refreshes after canceled move/delete.
  • Add option to skip checking 5.25" drives on startup.
  • Adjust order of startup operations to make icons appear faster.
  • Fix crash after canceling prompt when moving files on ejected disk.
  • Make retries on "volume not found" errors more consistent.
  • Fix buttons shown in alerts for errors after actions like New Folder, Duplicate, and Make Alias.
  • Reduce disk activity needed after showing file dialog.
  • Handle write protected disk when modifying shortcuts.
  • Fix label/border overlaps in Get Info and Format/Erase dialogs in some locales.
  • Reduce cursor flickering when animating windows open/closed.
  • File > Get Info: Reduce cursor flickering when computing volume/folder size.
  • Automatically select newly inserted disks.
  • Select disk (if present) after Special > Check Drive.
  • Add "Startup.Items" folder support.
  • When needed, ensure icon scrolled into view even if already selected.
  • Fix crash when repainting only header of scrolled window.
  • Support dragging files onto ProDOS "interpreter" applications. (#903)
  • Fix crash when inspecting file with invalid dates.
  • Renamed "Startup" menu to "Restart"

Selector

  • Fix potential hang after 30 restarts.
  • Reduce cursor flickering when copying programs to RAMCard.
  • Center title of copy progress dialog.
  • Renamed "Startup" menu to "Restart"

Disk Copy

  • Don't erroneously show "DOS 3.3 disk copy" when source format is unknown.
  • Flash OK button when a disk is selected via double-click.
  • Fix copying all blocks on 32MB volumes.
  • Erase tip once copy is complete.
  • Reduce cursor flickering during copy.
  • Fix copying all blocks on volumes with unusual sizes.
  • Fix overlapping labels during copy in some locales.
  • Fix crash on Apple IIc/IIc+ on mouse activity after some copies. (#900)
  • Rename "Quick Copy" to "Smart Block Copy" and "Disk Copy" to "Full Disk Copy".
  • Adjust drive list box size to ensure long volume names fit.

Desk Accessories

  • About This Apple II
    • Add accessories to IIgs bitmap.
    • Show Aux slot separately from Slot 3; include aux-specific memory count
    • Don't case-adjust SmartPort device names that are already mixed-case.
    • Identify Nuova Elettronica DELTA.
    • Detect Oxen Super Expander E memory expansion.
    • Detect Phasor sound card.
    • Detect Z-80 Appli-Card.
    • Detect 13-sector Disk II card.
    • Detect IEEE-488 interface card.
    • Improve Z-80 card detection on IIgs.
  • DOS 3.3 Import
    • Fix keyboard shortcut handling.
    • Close window if too many icons present after import.
    • Handle control characters and empty filenames.
    • Prevent crash if VTOC can't be read.
  • Sounds: Time "Silent" menu bar flash using VBL.
  • Screen Savers: improve animation for Flying Toasters, Hexix, Message and Melt.
  • Calculator & Sci.Calc
    • Fix clicking button edges and button spacing.
    • Support repeating last operation.
    • Fix button labels in BG builds.
    • Reduce cursor flickering.
  • Sci.Calc
    • Fix ASIN/ACOS for 1/-1.
    • Fix repeated operator presses.
  • New Toy: Minesweeper.
  • New Screen Saver: Maze.
  • Text Preview: Show first 64K of larger files correctly.
  • Control Panels: Handle write protected disk when modifying settings.
  • Control Panel
    • Fix overlapping button labels in some locales.
    • Show pencil cursor over desktop pattern editor.
  • Map
    • Fix overlapping labels in some locales.
    • Reduce cursor flickering when blinking position indicator.
    • Search by prefix, and show match with mixed case.
  • Image Preview
    • Improve single hires file preview quality.
    • Support AXE PACKER image files
  • Lights Out: Add keyboard support: A..Y toggle lights.
  • Eyes
    • Reduce cursor flickering.
    • Reduce pupil flickering.
  • International: Reduce cursor flickering.
  • Joystick
    • Reduce cursor flickering.
    • Don't show second joystick location on IIc. (#909)
  • CD Remote: Fix shuffle play randomization.
  • Neko: Pace animation on accelerated systems.
  • Date & Time: Support setting IIgs clock, No-Slot Clock, ThunderClock, ROMX RTC, and The Cricket! clock. (#38)

Misc

1.5

An unofficial release with bug fixes and enhancements. November 13, 2025.

See the release notes at: https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d/blob/release-1.5/RELEASE-NOTES.md

1.4

An unofficial release with bug fixes and enhancements. July 28, 2024.

See the release notes at: https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d/blob/release-1.4/RELEASE-NOTES.md

1.3

An unofficial release with bug fixes and enhancements. July 1, 2023.

See the release notes at: https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d/blob/release-1.3/RELEASE-NOTES.md

1.2

An unofficial release with bug fixes and enhancements. December 28, 2022.

See the release notes at: https://github.com/a2stuff/a2d/blob/release-1.2/RELEASE-NOTES.md

1.1

Final release by Version Soft/Apple Computer dated November 26, 1986.

See also: