Amidst the changes that the new Intel-based Macs will introduce, one did not generate as much attention as I thought it could, and yet is important for many people including us.
Classic won't be anymore.
Indeed, Rosetta will emulate only on a user level process-by-process basis (for instance, there won't be any such thing as a mixed-mode manager, that was used to ensure that PowerPC apps could call system code that was still in 68k , as the Mac system software was originally written in 68k assembly, kicking in and out of the 68040LC emulator in the same context as needed), not a full-fledged operating system with its virtual platform layer and hooks down to the lowest levels of OSX, Darwin, and Mach.
Even if not all of our stuff will get Intel-native, at least most of it (EVONE, Mission Computer, the tools surrounding NovaTools such as EnRle/DeRle, ConText/ResStore, and of course peripheral stuff such as Photoshop, the 3D apps, and sound apps) is currently OSX native and will be emulated, hopefully without any problem (have you ever got ~any~ with the 68k emulator when playing old stuff, and games including Maelstrom and Apeiron?). But one heck of a big thing isn't OSX-native. I'm speaking of course of ResEdit, and NovaTools proper with it. I checked the app, and in fact it is not even PowerPC native, it's actually running with the 68k emulator. To tell you. We cannot expect it to be updated, of course, Apple has not done so for PowerPC nor OSX, and furthermore they want developers (the primary target of ResEdit) to quit using resources altogether, favoring other resource mechanisms such as plists, string files, nibs for the UI, direct sound and image files (aiff, png, for instance), and at worst resources-in-the-data-fork files that ResEdit can't handle, everything put inside the application bundle (yes, most of what you beleive are OSX apps are in fact folders for the file system, just find one and control-click it, you should get a contextual menu item saying "show bundle contents"). I have to admit that my software, especially ViewRLE, does not contain the slightest resource, Apple seems to have been sucessful with this.
Even if MC and EVONE are nice and have a number of features, we can't rely entirely on them, because they are not general-purpose resource editors as ResEdit is (was). For instance, ResEdit is still essential to set file type and creator if one wants to create data files for a TC. ResEdit handles many a thing such as cicn, ppat, DITL, such stuff that we use infrequently but that people may end up having to edit, and realise, too late, that they can't. Not to mention ResEdit better handles resource copying, handling, etc... (for instance, EVONE sucks at opening a file with arbitrary resources, such as the Nova app itself, when it can be useful to grab some, such as DITLs, that can be overrided: concievably, not only resources in the data files but also resources in the Nova app itself can be overrided by resources in plug-ins). Therefore, we need to replace ResEdit by another general-purpose resource editor.
Some Mac programmers don't give up easily and some keep using resources, so some OSX-native resource editors have been developped since there is still a market (not to mention they eat their own haggis). I've been maintaining a watch for such editors (consisting mainly of looking for "resource" in VersionTracker). Some are largely or completely irrelevant for us, such as Resorcerer. Just check the price tag. It's not for us. Mac Resource Dog could have been interesting, but it was dropped long ago. ResFool is good, one problem is that it isn't free (not that we really mind, being supporters of shareware, but wait until you see the next one). But Rezilla is what we actually need.
On top of being a general-purpose resource editor (can play sounds, view PICTs, etc...), it supports a number of templates and especially a number of advanced template tags: WORV can easily be used for flags in a very intuitive way, and the potential power of keyed sections should allow us to select how to edit the ModVal field depending on the ModType field, for oütfs, for instance (should make editing cloaks simpler). This should get us up and running while we wait for the implementation of the big thing: a plug-in architecture, that could conceivably allow a programmer such as me to make full-fledged editors like NovaTools for ResEdit. In fact, some of the NovaTools code could be reused for this (not to mention ViewRLE code). And on top of that, it's open source, which means that even if the author drops it or doesn't work on it much, we can still use it, improve it, and correct bugs (there are some, currently...)
So, first I'll try to make Rezilla-optimised templates (note that the ResEdit ones work fine in Rezilla, but some Rezilla-specific stuff will make life easier), watch this space for them; then as soon as I finish adding some critical features to ViewRLE (such as the secret one and rlë superposition), get it tested to death by Nova board members (heck, you don't need to be a plug dever to use this...), and release it in the add-on files, I'll work on Rezilla and with its author, who happens to be French (should make things easier...) First I'll try to get some stuff integrated, such as the ability to create Nova plug-in files and a color picker for HTML and 16-bit color fields (note: since EVC and EVO only play in classic, there is no need to bother adding support for them here, they can keep being edited with ResEdit). Then I will try to help implementing the plug-in architecture, and once it's implemented I'll work on such plug-ins. If I can, I will try to obtain the NovaTools source from Dr Ralph to start from.
With any luck, while I doubt the whole plan will be ready for the first Intel Macs, we will be prepared and have at least Rezilla with templates and basic features. Of course, it's not essential for us to be ready from day one, since we can usually keep an old computer for plug stuff (I heard some people are still in OS9 for that very purpose). But nevertheless, we must be prepared. Even if only to answer to this: "Hi, I'm a Nova fan and would like to know how to make plug-ins. I'm running Tiger on an Intel Mac, is that a problem?".
Soo, does that sound like a good plan to you people? I'm willing to hear your opinions on the matter, and potential alternatives, if there are some.
Although AGP is being phased out by Intel and the Graphics Card manufacturers so you'd only see that on a couple of the earliest MacIntels. However, Windows doesn't need PS/2 or Serial to run, and since the only real motherboard difference I can see (beside ports Apple with have Firewire, and no PS/2) is somesort of ROM to keep OS X only on Macs.