Help needed finding docs on Program Linking/Apple Events, aka PPCToolBox

[Tashtari]

I'm sure there are plenty out there who are better at finding this stuff than I am, so I'm seeking help...

What I'm looking for is protocol-level information on the protocol used by Apple Events, I'm not entirely sure what it's called, but I know that the service type it announces to NBP is "PPCToolBox". I managed to google up some documentation on how to program Apple Events at the OS level, but it lacked any information on the underlying ADSP-based network protocol.

What I'm trying to do is make an implementation of this outside Mac OS, with an eye to eventually being able to let HyperCard stacks easily interface with services on a modern machine, and all the fun shenanigans that would enable.

Anyone? =)

 

[Phipli]

I'm sure there are plenty out there who are better at finding this stuff than I am, so I'm seeking help...

What I'm looking for is protocol-level information on the protocol used by Apple Events, I'm not entirely sure what it's called, but I know that the service type it announces to NBP is "PPCToolBox". I managed to google up some documentation on how to program Apple Events at the OS level, but it lacked any information on the underlying ADSP-based network protocol.

What I'm trying to do is make an implementation of this outside Mac OS, with an eye to eventually being able to let HyperCard stacks easily interface with services on a modern machine, and all the fun shenanigans that would enable.

Anyone? =)

Hum, AppleEvents aren't PPC specific, so that might just be a PPC variant or patch?

 

[Tashtari]

Hum, AppleEvents aren't PPC specific, so that might just be a PPC variant or patch?

PPC apparently stands for Program-to-Program Communication or something similar to that, not PowerPC. Apple just loves to overload names and acronyms...

 

[Phipli]

PPC apparently stands for Program-to-Program Communication or something similar to that, not PowerPC. Apple just loves to overload names and acronyms...

Aaaahhhhh that makes sense.

 

[cheesestraws]

Yeah, Apple used "PPC" for "Program-to-Program Communication" some time before they also started using it for PowerPC. The usual documentary chaos.

I'd love to see more on the protocol if anyone has it, though.

 

[DBJ314]

Source code for PPC exists. https://github.com/elliotnunn/supermario/tree/master/base/SuperMarioProj.1994-02-09/OS/PPC
Any header files included would be here. https://github.com/elliotnunn/supermario/tree/master/base/SuperMarioProj.1994-02-09/Internal/C
The Apple Event Manager source also exists. https://github.com/elliotnunn/super...perMarioProj.1994-02-09/Toolbox/AppleEventMgr

 

[Tashtari]

Thanks for the links! It's good to know the source is out there, though I was hoping that some documentation existed. Going solely off of C code is a difficult way to get an overview of how the system is meant to work. For one thing (among many) it'd be nice to know why they used ADSP instead of ASP as a basis for PPC...

 

[eharmon]

I assume Inside Macintosh wasn't detailed enough? (The Interapplication Communication volume). It doesn't get to the lowest level but seems to have a lot of information about the different message payloads.

A modern PPC service host sounds like a lot of fun

 

[Tashtari]

I assume Inside Macintosh wasn't detailed enough? (The Interapplication Communication volume). It doesn't get to the lowest level but seems to have a lot of information about the different message payloads.

I flipped through IM volume 6 and while it does have some structs defined in it, as you say, it doesn't get to the low level stuff - some of those might be passed directly over the ADSP connection in a way that can be figured out from looking at traces of actual traffic, but it doesn't seem to get into the mechanics of things like authentication/authorization at all, which is a bit of a problem...

A modern PPC service host sounds like a lot of fun

The possibilities are exciting! HyperCard stacks that can connect to the internet, controlling the Finder from scripts on a Linux host...

 

[twelvetone12]

Did you have a look in the Think Reference? I saw there was a big chapter on PPC and one on ADSP, but I did not check if it is the same stuff as IM.

 

[Tashtari]

Did you have a look in the Think Reference? I saw there was a big chapter on PPC and one on ADSP, but I did not check if it is the same stuff as IM.

Is it online somewhere? I'll definitely have a look...

 

[cheesestraws]

THINK Reference seems to only have API documentation, not protocol documentation

 

[NJRoadfan]

Have you seen this blog post?: http://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-apple-network-servers-all-too.html