Version 2.1 (Build 100.0)

December 27, 2011

The new version works with the Watchtower Library edition 2011. It also includes a number of other fixes. Changes as follows. You can download version 2.1 here.

• Rich Text pasting now works
• Removed unsuitable random virtual machine names
• Works for Watchtower Library 2011 (English and Spanish tested out; many thanks to Stephan Vega)

Been doing some more in-depth investigation into the Copy intermittent bug. The problem concerns X11 and Wine, the two major underlying sub-components. Adjusting process and thread priorities does not seem to resolve it, not entirely. Work in progress!

App Store Submission v2.0

September 18, 2011

I submitted version 2.0 of the app yesterday. It sits in Apple’s lap at present. Will they accept the submission? Or will they reject?

The submitted version incorporates a welcome panel. It opens at the application’s first launch. Press play and the panel plays a one-minute 30-second video describing how to install the first library. Lots of other changes since version 1.3. It’s really a completely different piece of software.

This site is also in the process of transition. And there are two new websites.

This site will focus on version 2.0 (currently work in progress) with a smaller section for Leopard support. Version 2.0 does not run on Leopard, only on Snow Leopard and Lion. The legacy (older) version 1.3 will remain on the site for the benefit of those running OS X 10.5.

You will now find the primary feedback and support site at help.watchtowerlibraryformac.info… [read more]

Lion Looming

July 11, 2011

Lion is on the horizon. And you might be wondering if Watchtower Library for Mac supports Lion. The answer is yes but with a small fix. I’ve posted the following instructions in the FAQ as well.

Lion comes with a newer version of X11. So you need to download and add a small file called .Xmodmap; otherwise Lion uses different key codes and your keyboard outputs gobbledygook! Download it and follow the instructions below.

Note, due to the strange name of this file (it’s part of OS X’s Unix legacy), you will need to move it to your home folder using Terminal; Finder won’t let you. Launch Applications » Utilities » Terminal and enter:

mv ~/Downloads/Xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

Please be very careful with your case, upper and lower: the case must match exactly. It might be easier to copy and paste. Don’t forget to press Enter… [read more]

Updating to 2010 Edition

December 03, 2010

If you have received your 2010 edition recently, you might discover that it does not run successfully with Watchtower Library for Mac. So far as initial tests can tell, it does not run with Wine; that includes later versions. Until the problem is resolved, you can perform a little workaround to update your 2009 edition with 2010’s information. Instructions follow.

Starting assumption: you have installed Watchtower Library for Mac and installed the 2009 edition.

Locate the rs_data folder

This folder is where Watchtower Library editions store all the books, magazines, brochures, etc. You can find it if you start at your home folder. This is the folder represented by a little house, not your Macintosh HD folder. Then navigate to

Library
	Application Support
		Watchtower Library
			drive_c
				Program Files
					Watchtower
						Watchtower Library 2009
							E

*N… [read more]

RSS Feeds

May 14, 2010

RSS feeds are now available at this site. You can use these to automatically track news, posts and comments. There are three feeds:

• Watchtower Library for Mac News
• Watchtower Library for Mac Posts
• Watchtower Library for Mac Comments

Just click then drag the links to a feed-reader, such as Apple Mail or Safari. For example, you can click a feed link then drag the address (at the lefthand corner of the address bar) to your Safari bookmarks bar. Safari will then keep you up-to-date.

This will help me to keep track of your questions without my checking manually every day. It will also help you keep track of answers.

Cloud Platform

May 13, 2010

Watchtower Library for Mac website has a new host as of today. It lives on Heroku, a Rails cloud platform with storage pulling from Amazon’s Web Storage service. Oops, I’m having a geek moment. In English, I mean that the website should respond faster no matter where you are in the world. The old service ran out of Dallas. The new “cloud” platform serves from multi-data centres depending on which continent your browser requests originate from. Oops again. Slipping back to geek speak.

There is another new feature of the site: it has multi-language capability. The website detects which language you are using and adapts its content accordingly. A number of brothers and sisters are helping me to complete the necessary translations. There is not that much content to translate. In due course, you should find the site appearing in your native tongue.

Version 1.3 released

December 16, 2009

Version 1.3 was released yesterday. The download link points to the new Disk Image. The new image background reflects the 2009 edition’s colours. The new release fixes an issue when running with the new 2009 edition of the library. The problem concerns how the app finds the starting directory for the WTLibrary.exe when launching a library. The Windows program has changed where it registers such details. Fixed in this new version.