Roy Ratcliffe

Here are some notes about installing the new 2009 edition of Watchtower Library with the new version of Watchtower Library for Mac 1.3.

Be patient

It takes a little time to install. If it looks like it’s doing nothing, please wait. It will eventually complete the installation successfully. The progress bar sits still for a while. It only looks like it’s hung. The whole process takes about five minutes on a MacBook.

The right order

Note, you cannot run Setup.exe off the CD-ROM and run a library at the same time! This makes sense. The installer will make changes to the software. Hence you need to close down libraries before installing new ones.

Explicitly, the install order should proceed as follows.

1. Run Watchtower Library for Mac without the new CD-ROM in the tray;
2. close any open library editions;
3. insert the new CD-ROM.

If you have the CD-ROM in the tray before running Watchtower Library for Mac, the app will notice the CD-ROM and automatically run Setup.exe. It tries to be helpful! But in this case, if your Watchtower Library for Mac auto-launches libraries, it tries to run set-up and existing libraries at the same time at launch time. Is this making sense? In that case, close the warning message, close the running libraries then manually launch Setup.exe by dragging it to the Watchtower Library for Mac dock icon.

Uninstalling the old version

The easiest way is to insert the 2008 CD-ROM. Again, you need to shut down any running libraries first. The installer will find the version already installed and ask if you want to uninstall.

Will I loose my Research Favourites?

No.

My appologies to those who have downloaded the previous version (1.2.1). I made a silly mistake. The Watchtower.framework build for version 1.2.1 does not have the native Copy patch. This means that those who have Greek keyboard support working will also find that unfortunately Ctrl+C does not work.

New version 1.2.2 includes the native clipboard patch. My bad. I’m not quite sure how I managed to miss that. I was upgrading Wine versions for the new release and somehow managed to skip the Copy patch. Guess my subtitle is coming true: Sorry for the inconvenience! There have only been 118 downloads thus far for that versions, so hopefully not too much inconvenience created.

How to upgrade

Download, install the new framework (1.1.31) and drop the new app into Applications.

For the Greek-speaking Mac-using brothers and sisters, those who need the Greek keyboard fixing, I’ve released version 1.2.1 (build 257a515a)!

You can download the package by clicking the image above, or from the usual place. You only need to install the Watchtower Framework and application—versions 1.1.30 and 1.2.1 respectively.

Please let me know if this version fixes the keyboard for Greek users. As far as I can test on my machine, it works. You can now enter all the Greek letters: pi, lambda, mu, etc.

Localisation

At present there is no localisation for Greek. If anyone wants to localise the application please let me know.

If you are not a Greek user

Please do not upgrade to version 1.2.1 yet! Stick with version 1.2 until the later version has been thoroughly checked out. I want to make sure that other keyboards still work, as well as the Greek!

Brother Faulk has asked some very good questions. The answers should help existing users. So I’ve given them a page of their own to make them clear and easy to find. My answers have two forms: the quick version first, followed by the long version if you care about the details.

Will the user need to uninstall the old Watchtower Library for Mac?

No.

The new Watchtower Framework replaces the old one. The new application replaces the old one too. The framework lives at /Library/Frameworks/Watchtower.framework; the new framework overwrites at this location on your Macintosh system hard drive. The new application overwrites the old at /Applications. Though, in fact, you can store the application anywhere and have multiple versions if you really want to, but I don’t recommend that.

Will users need the official Watchtower library disks when upgrading?

No.

Once installed, you do not need to reinstall libraries when upgrading. The new software will update and reuse any libraries already installed. Individual libraries install under Library/Application Support/Watchtower Library relative to the user’s home directory. Upgrading does not delete this. Your libraries, research favourites and other settings remain!

What order should users install X11?

Any order.

X11 installation only applies to Leopard 10.5!

Provided you do not launch the application, order does not matter. Please make sure you are not running the application when installing however.

Does Watchtower Library for Mac conflict with CrossOver?

No.

You can run both, even at the same time! No conflicts. Both Watchtower Library for Mac and CrossOver essentially work the same way. Both rely on Wine and X11. However, exactly how they get there differs. Watchtower Library for Mac uses standard X11 as used by Apple; puts the fixed-location Unix-based Wine software in a framework at /Library/Frameworks and places the floating application code in a standard Mac application bundle. The virtual Windows sub-system lives under Application Support. This layout entirely avoids clashing with CrossOver (by design).

What if the library set-up program fails to launch automatically?

Instead, drag Setup.exe to the dock icon.

Open the CD-ROM directory. You will see an executable file called Setup.exe. Drag this to Watchtower Library for Mac’s icon on the dock. This is the manual way to launch programs. Automatic launching relies on seeing a genuine CD, not a copy!

Any problems running on Snow Leopard, or Leopard?

No.

The software runs on Snow Leopard and Leopard, OS X versions 10.5 and 10.6! But not 10.4 (Tiger). The software build machine runs Snow Leopard, building against the 10.5 development kit. That means you need 10.5 at least.

If you are running on Tiger (10.4) on an Intel-based machine, I recommend upgrading your operating system. If running on a PowerPC-based machine, unfortunately there is currently no working solution to running Watchtower library programs on your Mac because you need a processor chip compatible with Windows machines, the old Intel386. PowerPC processors have hardware incompatibility with Intel processors and have no software readily available to emulate a 386.

Conclusion

I hope that answers some of the important questions when upgrading. Please feel free to post more questions below. I’ll do my best to answer them.

Download the Disk Image. Double click the Watchtower Framework package. Follow the on-screen installation instructions.

Drag the application to your Applications folder and run as normal.

X11 for Leopard 10.5

The application requires X11. If you have upgraded to Snow Leopard, skip this part. You already have the correct version of X11 installed.

If running Leopard 10.5, download and install X11, version 2.3.3.2! See To X11 or not to X11?.

When upgrading

You may notice a pause for a minute when running for the first time, when upgrading from an older version of Watchtower Library for Mac. This is normal. It only happens once.

If you have a question about upgrading, you might find the answer here. If not please post a comment; I’ll do my best to help you.

Installing for the first time

After running Watchtower Library for Mac you need to insert an official CD-ROM. After inserting the CD, the standard setup program launches automatically. Just follow the instructions as normal.

If for some reason the setup program does not run automatically, you can open the CD directory and drag Setup.exe to the Watchtower Library for Mac dock icon.

(UPDATE: Please see new home, with latest version 1.3 as of January 2010)

At last!

Direct link to meta-package

Use this when installing Watchtower Library for Mac for the first time. It installs all the necessary dependencies in one go, including XQuartz.

The full package requires 256 MB of space on your computer’s hard drive.

Upgrading from previous versions

Don’t forget to quit the application before upgrading.

The all-in-one package takes time to download, 90 MB. It also consumes a sizeable chunk of my monthly bandwidth allowance too. Don’t let that worry you too much though. Only, upgrading is quicker for you and uses less bandwidth for me. I’ve upgraded to 50GB-per-month, so no more bandwidth concern!

The upgrade provides you with a Disk Image. Downloading opens the image, from where you can install the updated Watchtower framework. Do this first. Just double-click the Watchtower Framework package icon. Then finally drag the application icon to the Applications folder.

As far as I can tell, version 1.1 will be the only way to run Watchtower Library on Mac computers with truly complete functionality and without any hassle. Installation requires only a few clicks—just install a package, insert a CD-ROM!

Although not a native Mac port, it blends fairly well with OS X. True, the menu bar does not appear on the Mac menu bar! OS X puts application menus on top of the screen, not on top of the application window. Nevertheless, it’s as close as you might expect for a Window program running on OS X.

You get one application, one dock icon. The application blends XQuartz with Wine when the app runs. So no unnecessary X icon. You can still run X and X applications separately, no problem. The two do not interfere, even though they share the same software installation. Most users will not care about X.

It adds small but useful enhancements:

• Installation of multiple language editions with working synchronisation. Good for those involved in the multi-language field.
• Automatic or manual launch of selected languages.
• Access to Wine configuration, Windows registry and X preferences. Useful for customising and configuring for users’ individual requirements.
• Outstanding toolbar bugs fixed. Search panel works as it does in Windows. You see all the buttons and boxes. They all work.
• Activate the favourites from outside the Watchtower Library by clicking the favourite links from within Finder. You can organise your favourites with Finder. A menu item opens the favourites folder in Finder for you. No digging around!

Of course, output features such as printing and copy-and-paste also work. There’s only one small cloud to mar the silver lining: Chinese-Japanese-Korean font mapping will require a tweak to the registry.

Final step. The app needs an icon! Any budding artists out there?

Version 1.0 is ready for download. Sooner than I thought. Things have gone relatively smoothly. Please take it for a spin. Feedback very welcome.

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Numerous changes. The biggest difference is that the underlying Windows emulator has jumped to 1.1.16; that means things like sorting of search results actually works, for instance.

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