CLImax 1.5d2 re-released

Any old-school scripters out there might be happy to hear that I've re-released CLImax 1.5d2, which I recently rediscovered on a long-lost backup.

CLImax is an AppleScript command-line interface for the Mac OS. It was originally written in 1996 for System 7.5, and development was stopped in 1998. Ten years after its first release, version 1.5d2 can still run under Classic today. It's not as convenient as it was under 9.2.2 natively, but it's not bad either.

I've received a bunch of positive comments about CLImax from people including Bill Cheeseman (of AppleScript Sourcebook), Ray Barber (of MacScripter), and Peter Hosey (of Adium X). Peter was the one who actually got me to re-release it.

CLImax 1.5d2 is now FREEWARE and available at no charge. Be sure to visit the CLImax homepage for more information, including screenshots.

I'm currently soliciting feedback on whether it'd be worth porting it to Mac OS X and creating a modern version. Thoughts?

PD Tweaker 1.0

For all you fans of Parallels Desktop out there, I've released a quick little hack to fix some problems in their initial release (aka: build 1848). It's called PD Tweaker.

It's very simple and only does two things.

• Optimizes caching for HDD and SAV files

  Caching large files is actually harmful to your Mac's overall performance. HDD files do not need caching because the client OS will already have a cache layer. SAV files are streamed in and out and don't need to reside in the disk cache.

• Always writes HDD and SAV files all the way to disk

  Your data is precious. Especially data like a HDD file that took you hours to install and configure. Shouldn't you treat it that way?

I wrote it primarily because although Parallels Desktop is a great product, I got fed up with the way it wasted my entire 2GB of RAM with the HDD file and made my machine virtually unusable. With PD Tweaker installed, you will not only notice greatly improved performance from your Mac as a whole, but your HDD files will be safer from data corruption as well. And best of all, it's entirely free and the source code is available.

It uses Unsanity's Application Enhancer 2.0 to do its thing.

More information (including some rationale and a technical explanation) is available on the PD Tweaker website. What are you waiting for? Go there now!