Minipix on The IBM-PC

The first collection of Apple ][ ClipArt that I converted to IBM format was The Beagle Bros. Minipix Collection.
In those days (circa 1990) I would use a serial cable from my Apple ][ to my IBM and send files back and forth and I would write whatever additional programs I needed for the occasion. This process is quite technical for the average person, and assumes that you have an Apple ][ in the first place and the ability to use all the low-level programs that are not necessarily necessary anymore. Utilities like my ClipShop program and the availability of Apple ][ disk images on the Internet now make the process easier.
The MiniPix collection survived the 15 years since I did the conversion and is distributed with my ClipShop program for Windows XP. ClipShop can be downloaded from The ClipShop Website.

The MiniPix Collection of "Old Printshop" Clipart
| Introduction The collection of "Old Printshop" Data Files of Clipart Images distributed with my ClipShop program was converted from Apple II format to IBM-PC format. These images were originally distributed on 3 disks.
How I ported Minipix from the Apple to the IBM-PC In 1991, I converted Disks 1-3 of The Beagle Bros. Minipix disks to Apple Bsaved screens using the Beagle Bros. Minipix Converter that Came on Disks 2 and 3 ("Read Page 6 in Your Manual"). I then used the Proterm Terminal program and a Null Modem cable to port the Bsaved screens from my Apple ][ to my IBM-PC running the Procomm Plus Communications program. I then wrote a program called Minipix.Exe to convert the Apple Bsaved screens to IBM Bsaved screens. (Yes Virginia, there are Bsaved screens on Both Platforms.)
This was so long ago now, that I forget exactly what other programs that I eventually wrote to convert these to their almost final resting place in their respective "Old PrintShop" Graphics Library. Read Further.
How I ported Minipix BACK to the Apple II from the IBM-PC In 2008, I reconstructed Disks 2 and 3 of The Beagle Bros. Minipix disks by using Apple II emulator Disk Images of Minipix Disk 1 as a template, and the "Old PrintShop" Graphics Libraries that I had converted back in 1991. I had long ago lost my original Minipix disks for my real Apple II, and so it seems has the rest of the world. Fortunately for all of us I think, the Disk Image for Disk 1 had survived and was available from a couple of Internet Archives. To achieve this minor miracle of reconstructive digital surgery I wrote a program called Dat2Mini which reversed the process of so long ago by reading the Minipix graphics from the "Old PrintShop" Graphics Libraries" and creating Apple II BSaved Images in the format used by this particular version of Minipix that I came across which it seems to me is somewhat different from the version that I had originally. However it was close enough! To complete the reconstructive surgery I then used two different Apple II DiskImage utilities, and some minor editing of the STARTUP program to identify the new disks as Disk 2 and 3 (keeping in mind that I used Disk 1 as a template so these disks were still identified as such). First I used CiderPress to overwrite the original images with the ones that I had created. Apple II Oasis was unable to do so without running out of room. However, CiderPress scrubbed the file attributes so the disk was unusable until these were restored. This is where Apple II Oasis was used, and I set all the dates back as well as setting the proper attributes. CiderPress was also useful in renaming the volume and file names. Each DiskImage utility has its own strengths and weaknesses, but by using both and some "sleight of hand" in my own organizing of this little project, I am hard-pressed to tell that these new disks were not produced by the Beagles themselves. So I will represent these as being facsimiles of the originals until the real ones come along (I doubt if anyone would even know the difference if I represented these as originals). And in the meantime, the utility that I wrote (Dat2Mini) can also be used to produce many more disks of Minipix from the many "Old PrintShop" Graphics Libraries that I and others still have available for download from the Internet. Beagle Bros. and Minipix and Apple II Forever! |

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