Mac Draw II 1.1 under classic

MacDraw is probably far too old to run under Classic. The most recent version was called ClarisDraw, but beyond that, it's pretty much a dead format. Maybe try GraphicConverter.

The option to set memory allocation for a Classic Application is not gone, it just moved to a different place in the GetInfo Box:

61528- Mac OS X: How to set memory use for Classic Applications

One problem that Applications of this era have is that they expect your Hard drive to be under 2 GB is size. When it is as enormous as 8 GB or more, they think it is full. You may need an external floppy or Zip drive to allow saving the files.

And running the monitor in millions of colours does silly things with the memory requirements. You may have to come back down to 256 colours for the task you need to achieve.

Edit:
Found my original MacDraw, upped memory to 5120K, reduced monitor to 256 colours. It works flawlessly under Classic on OSX 10.3.9. Opens and Saves, but can only save as MacDraw or PICT.

MacDraw Ii might be better. There's also MacDraw Pro, ClarisDraw, and then ClarisWorks.

Message was edited by: Simon Teale

To repeat Simon's suggestion reducing colours to 256 works for me, some people have had to go to B&W.

I find you can't open files from Finder, but launching MacDraw then opening via File > Open gets a result.

The Hammer610 wrote:
... Alternately, are there any programs that can read Mac Draw II files?...

http://www.eazydraw.com/ "that's with a z"

Never tried it, just have seen the ad in MacWorld magazine. I think you can download a trial version.

You can't boot any of your old Macs in OS 9 anymore? I have my G3 running 10.4.11 on one drive and OS 9.2.2 on another, for those cases where Classic won't run the OS 9 app.

Also Intaglio from http://purgatorydesign.com/Intaglio/ which some people seem to prefer. No personal experience.

While the iBook G4s and PowerMac G5s can't boot 9, you can boot Mac OS 9 on G4 QuickSilvers.

You will probably need your Mac OS 9 that shipped with the QuickSilver or a newer retail Mac OS 9 to install it so you can boot Mac OS 9 on the QuickSilver. Note here which versions of Mac OS 9 will run on which QuickSilvers:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25517

If you formatted the hard drive for Mac OS X, that could explain your inability to boot 9 on the QuickSilver. Backup your data at least twice, and follow these directions:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75275

Once done, you should be able to boot 9 on your QuickSilver.

Most of that note talks about allocating more for the Classic environment as a whole. In 10.3 and 10.4, if you getInfo on a Classic Application, there IS an item in that box that allows you to change the OS 9 Memory Allocation. Do not despair, just look carefully, it is there with its own Heading. If absent, perhaps that Application is not correctly identified as an OS 9 Application.

I think the issue of memory allocation with MacDraw II may be a red herring.

The application is so old (System 6 days or earlier) that even in System 7 there were memory issues and you had to turn off 32 bit addressing to run it.

Threads like this which have run over the years have tended to suggest that increasing memory made no difference whatsoever with Draw, although one person seemed to reckon that reducing memory made a difference for him. I didn't find it helped me (I needed to access old Draw files under OS9 quite a lot at one stage) but the 256 colours and File > Open route worked fine.

This is sometimes the case, but the need for additional memory arises secondary from the increase of colour depth, from maybe B&W or 16 colour, or 256 colour, to the default of millions now. The primary cause is the enormous increase in monitor sizes and resolutions. Running software at 1920x1200 that was designed for 512x384, especially graphics and drawing packages with their "undo" buffers and layers, definitely will require much more memory.

I'm not disagreeing with your opinion, I've come across many apps that were not 32-bit clean, and like you say, you had to turn off 32-bit addressing, even "in the day" to get them to work - Lightspeed C v5 I remember as being an offender.

And based on the evidence of earlier posts and success at running original MacDraw under Classic, I'm sure that 24-bit addressing is not the issue with this app. I'm also unsure as to whether MacDraw II totally pre-dates 32-bit architecture on Mac (Mac II era).