Using SCORE in Boxer

Below are instructions for running SCORE in Boxer, which is an MS-DOS emulator for MacOS (based on DosBox).

Download the Boxer app

• The most recent version I can find is located on the Github page:

https://github.com/MaddTheSane/Boxer/releases/tag/AS-beta-4.1

This version is compiled for both Intel and ARM64 (Apple M1, aka "Silicon") CPUs.

Download the Boxer.zip file on that page:

https://github.com/MaddTheSane/Boxer/releases/download/AS-beta-4.1/Boxer.zip

• Then unzip and save in /Applications

Related links

• The homepage for Boxer is: http://boxerapp.com. The version of the Boxer program was last updated in 2016, and as I recall, it is compiled for 32-bit (MacOS no longer allows 32-bit programs after version 10.15).

• A 64-bit compiled version can be found on https://boxer.thec0de.com. I successfully have used version 2.0, but trying the 4.1 beta on that page, there was some annoying bug where it continually asked for permissions in the MacOS settings, even after it was granted permission. The related Boxer executable found at https://github.com/MaddTheSane/Boxer/releases/tag/AS-beta-4.1 behaved better, so that is the best to install.

Installing scor4.boxer

• Download the emailed location to this file, then unzip and move to where you want to store it (I placed it in my home directory (~/scor4.boxer), or you can place it on the Desktop, etc.).

Setting up D drive for saving SCORE files

• Create a directory to save your SCORE files. It can have any name/location. I am using ~/score-files.

    mkdir ~/score-files

• Run ~/scor4.boxer either by double-clicking on it in the Finder, or from the command line:

    open ~/scor4.boxer

• The first time you run it, it might suggest or ask for a command to run when you start Boxer (I don't see this prompt because maybe there is a setting remembered from a previous installation of Boxer). If there is a prompt, you want Boxer to run:

    C:\scor4.bat

• Next you need to set up a D drive for saving SCORE files. Go to the Drives menu for Boxer at the top of the window and select "Add DOS Drive...":

Drives → Add DOS Drive

• The select the directory/folder that you created for saving SCORE files:

Select diretory/folder for use as D drive

• Then click on the blue button labeled "Přidat disk" (Czech for "Add disk").

• In order to access the new D drive, quit Boxer and restart scor4.app again.

Test the SCORE files directory

• You should now be able to read and write to the D drive you set up (~/score-files for me).

• If you want to do a basic test, save the following text to a file called ~/score-files/exam1.pmx, or ~/score-files/exam1.txt (since it is plain text):

8  1
3  1   1.500
17 1   9.500 0  1
18 1  14.000 0 99 1
1  1  23.000 9 20 0 1.5 0 10
1  1  38.703 8 20 0 0.5 0  1
1  1  43.938 7 20 0 1.0
1  1  54.406 5 10 0 1.0
14 1  64.875 1
1  1  68.375 4 10 0 1.0
1  1  78.844 6 10 0 1.0
1  1  89.313 5 10 0 1.0
1  1  99.781 7 20 0 1.0
14 1 110.250 1
1  1 113.750 6 10 0 1.0
1  1 124.219 8 20 0 1.0
1  1 134.688 9 20 0 1.0
1  1 145.156 8 20 0 1.0
14 1 155.625 1
1  1 159.125 2 10 0 1.0
1  1 169.594 4 10 0 1.0
1  1 180.063 5 10 0 1.0
1  1 190.531 5 10 0 1.0
14 1 200.000 1  2

(Next Tuesday we will look at this form of SCORE data which is derived from the text you type in in input mode.)

• Then in the SCORE editor type this command to load the data:

re exam1.pmx

or

re exam1.txt

And if successful, you should see this view in SCORE:

Viewing loaded PMX data in SCORE (if the D drive is successfully set up).

• You can also try the "dir" command in SCORE to look at a list of files on the D drive:

Use "DIR" to list files on the D drive (or ~/score-files in MacOS Finder

There are three files: "#MUSDIR#.TMP" which is some temporary file that SCORE uses, "EXAM1.PMX" which is the test file, and "SCORE.SAV" which is also a temporary file that is the default name for saving data to (don't save data there as it will likely get overwritten at some point by SCORE).

Keyboard shortcuts in Boxer

Boxer has better support for emulating keystrokes than DosBox. Here are some of the more important ones:

Key sequence	Meaning	Description
⌘+F	Full screen	Toggle between full-screen and window display modes.
Fn+M	Insert	Equivalent to Insert key in MS-DOS / Windows.
Fn+←	Home	Equivalent to Home key in MS-DOS / Windows.
⌘+V	Paste	Paste text copied from OS X environment with ⌘+C.
⌘+⇧ Shift+S	Screenshot	Screen capture. PNG file written to desktop. But this can also be done using MacOS command-shift-4).
Click	Capture mouse	Clicking in the MS-DOS window passes control of the mouse cursor to the MS-DOS window.
⌘+Click	Mouse out	Release the mouse from the DOS environment back to the OS X system.

• The most important action is command-click which releases the mouse from Boxer.app.

• The next most important is Fn-m (press and hold the Fn key and then press m). This toggles between insert and overwrite mode. Insert mode allows you to use the arrow to to back to some text in input mode and then delete/add next text. Overwrite mode would cause you to have to type in everything afterwards as well.

• It is easy to resize the boxer window (unlike DosBox).

• And most importantly, you can copy-and-paste into the Boxer.app window.

Next steps

• An important thing to know/remember is that MS-DOS files can only have 8+3 characters in their names: 8 characters for the filename, and 3 for the file extension. So when saving files in SCORE, limit the length of the filenames to this. Also in order to load a file from the MacOS filesystem, preferably give it a 8+3 filename (otherwise there will be a strange name that needs to be loaded in SCORE).

• Try entering the short SCORE examples as a warm-up exercise for the first SCORE homework: SCORE user input

• A useful reference for getting started with using the SCORE interface: SCORE survival guide

• Here is a list of useful SCORE commands: http://bit.ly/score-commands

• The first homework for SCORE typesetting is: SCORE user input 2