https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/04/17/turning-an-ipad-pro-into-the-ultimate-classic-macintosh/

Get Info [?]I
by Matt Sephton

Turning an iPad Pro into the Ultimate Classic Macintosh

2021-04-17  *  2 mins read
#system7 #minivmac #basiliskii #emulation #macintosh

I've started work on the next in my 1-bit Woodblocks series:
"Tekagami" (Ito Shinsui's "Hand Mirror"). So it's a good time to talk
about how I turned an iPad Pro into the ultimate Classic Macintosh.

[6547d0cb-4]

Emulators

Both Macintosh emulators available on iOS we're ported by @maczydeco
who has done an amazing job making them feel truly at home on iOS.
Many thanks! They need to be built from source using Xcode but it's a
pretty straight forward process.

Mini vMac

  * Supports System 1.1 to 7.5.5
  * Limited RAM and CPU emulation
  * File Sharing via bespoke method
  * No dynamic screen resolution changing
  * Odd interface using Control key shortcuts

BasiliskII

  * Supports System 7.0 to 8.1
  * Advanced RAM and CPU emulation
  * File Sharing via mapped folder
  * Dynamic screen resolutions through Monitors control panel, or
    automation
  * Native iOS interface for settings panel, negating all the issues
    with the desktop GUI

File Sharing

This works a treat in both emulators, but the experience is better in
BasiliskII.

With Mini vMac you need to run a special file import app, and then
whilst it's open use iOS Share Sheet to send a file to Mini vMac.
These extra steps are just enough friction to make the emulator
annoying to use.

With BasiliskII things are easier as it has a drive mapped to the
app's file sharing folder. You can use the Share Sheet in the same
way as Mini vMac, but you can also simply copy/move a file to the
BasiliskII folder and it will be accessible inside the emulator. The
only gotcha with this approach is that you'll need to move the file
to the emulated system's main disk drive otherwise you'll encounter
various oddities with apps that don't know how to cope with files
located on this sort of shared drive.

Screen Resolutions

The original Macintosh had a native screen resolution of 512x342.

Conceptually, the iPad has a logical screen resolution of 1024x768,
which when running in pixel doubled mode equates to 512x384. A pretty
good match. Specifically, the native resolution varies according to
the model of iPad or iPhone you are using.

I use an iPad Pro 12.9" which has a native resolution of 2732x2048,
pixel doubled that means 1366x1024, and pixel quadrupled 683x512.
Targetting this ballpark of resolution means user interface elements
will be around the magic 44pt tappable area, so that fingertip
interactions are accurate, predictable and enjoyable.

Of course the iPad can flip between landscape and portrait
orientations on demand, which means BasiliskII supporting the
Monitors control panel is a big win.

So I added a bunch of custom resolutions to the BasiliskII soure code
to add support for both pixel-doubled and pixel-quadrupled
resolutions, in both portrait and landscape, with and without room
for the software keyboard. I can switch between these resolutions
with keyboard shortcuts. Which leads nicely on to...

Custom Keyboards

Both emulators share the same software keyboard mechanism. The
keyboard maps are user-editable as JSON and compiled into a custom
format.

So I hacked together a custom keyboard for BasiliskII that gives me
quick thumb access to tools and shortcuts in my most used apps:
UltraPaint and artWORKS. With this I'm mostly relabelling the
function keys, but I've also replaced some key codes to reposition
keys for my own purposes. I'll go into exactly how these keys trigger
app functions in another post.

[Ex96lH3WUA]

Comments: @gingerbeardman