ActionRetro came up with a useful, agentically developed tool for editing Markdown on a 68k Mac. Quite apart from the interest in having modern formats work on old machines, I enjoy relaxing by writing software for old Apple computers — and it would be nice to carry out as much of that development as possible without having to resort to a modern computer. ActionRetro's tool, ArtfulType, didn't quite do what I wanted: it scaled badly to large monitors, it couldn't handle multiple documents, it couldn't save with Unix line endings, and the Markdown implementation was incomplete. A good start, but it needed finishing.

DodgerType is an evolution of the ActionRetro original. It adds in most of the missing functionality: proper multi-document windows with a Window menu, scaling to any monitor size, Unix line endings, a more complete Markdown implementation, Distraction Free mode, desk accessory support, and printing.

And since ActionRetro wrote ArtfulType agentically, I felt it was only right to use it as an opportunity to learn about AI and build my own skill in this field. So DodgerType is (mostly) agentically developed too. You can read more about it in the readme on the GitHub page.

Simple. It's a Markdown editor for vintage Macs. If you can run System 6.0.8, and you have 256K or more of free memory, then you can run DodgerType.

What With?

DodgerType was built using Retro68, a modern GCC-based cross-compiler that targets the classic Mac Toolbox, running on a modern Mac. The project is written in plain C — no Objective-C, no Carbon; just the original Macintosh Toolbox APIs as Wozniak intended. Most of the coding was done agentically, in collaboration with an AI assistant.

What Why?

I enjoy relaxing by writing software for old Apple computers, and I wanted to be able to write Markdown on a classic Mac without reaching for a modern machine every time I needed to document something. ArtfulType was most of the way there. It just needed a bit more work.

It was also a genuine learning exercise in agentic development — writing software by describing what you want rather than typing every line is a genuinely different skill. A 68k Mac Toolbox application makes a surprisingly good test case: the constraints are severe, the documentation is ancient, and there are no Stack Overflow answers to fall back on. If the agent gets it wrong, it's obvious immediately.

No Guarantees

No warranties are given or inferred. It worked on every machine tested, but your vintage Mac is its own unique adventure. The usual.

Downloads

Vintage Archive — Macintosh Garden — GitHub — 45RPM Software — Pascal Harris