There's also a nice freeware script called The Classic Environment.

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If you add the line

tell application "Classic Support" to quit

inside the if statement, this script will cleanly quit Classic (i.e. it will do a shutdown, allowing you to save changes in running Classic applications). Finally, a way to quit Classic without going to System Prefs! -Alex Hill

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Why not let the user decide whether to quit Classic upon discovering that it is running:

tell application "Finder"
if (name of (every application process)) contains "Classic Support" then
  activate
  say "Classic is running."
  display dialog "Want to quit Classic?" buttons {"No", "Yes"} default button "No"
  set the user_choice to the button returned of the result
  if the user_choice is "Yes" then
    tell application "Classic Support" to quit
  end if
else
  say "Classic is not running."
 end if
end tell

Unfortunately, the way AppleScript seems to work in OS X, you have to bring the finder to the front for that dialog box to appear.

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Better than "The Classic Environment" freeware script.

Use that 9 icon too for a nice effect!

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Better still, why not let the user decide either way? I don't really know Applescript very well, but it looks like you can do something like this:

tell application "Finder"
  if (name of (every application process)) contains "Classic Support" then
    activate
    say "Classic is running."
    display dialog "Want to quit Classic?" buttons {"No", "Yes"} default button "No"
    set the user_choice to the button returned of the result
    if the user_choice is "Yes" then
      tell application "Classic Support" to quit
    end if
  else
    activate
    say "Classic is not running."
    display dialog "Want to launch Classic?" buttons {"No", "Yes"} default button "No"
    set the user_choice to the button returned of the result
    if the user_choice is "Yes" then
      tell application "Classic Support" to launch
    end if
  end if
end tell

Alternatively, you should be able to poll classic through the terminal:

[localhost Sat 7:22:21pm ~]% ps aux | grep Classic
chris      405   0.0  0.1     1112    100 std  U+     0:00.01 grep Classic
[localhost Sat 7:43:07pm ~]% # launch classic from system preferences
[localhost Sat 7:47:27pm ~]% ps ax | grep Classic
  406  ??  S      0:32.51 /System/Library/CoreServices/Classic Startup.app/Contents/MacOS/Classic Startup -psn_0_1441793
  407  ??  R      0:59.28 /System/Library/CoreServices/Classic Startup.app/Contents/Resources/TruBlueEnvironment 
  412 std  R+     0:00.01 grep Classic
[localhost Sat 7:47:56pm ~]% 

i.e. bring up a list of all running processes & filter it down to just ones realted to Classic. If you have anything running, then Classic must be running. If the only hit you get is the grep command (which doesn't always show up) then Classic isn't running. I haven't tried to wrap this up in a pretty script that will bring Classic up or down, partly because I'm lazy (I just want to know if it might need launching or halting, and don't mind going elsewhere to do it if so, in this case), and partly because I'm not sure how to do it from the shell anyway. I think you can just open a classic application & trick it into opening, and it might be kosher to "sudo kill -9" any Classic processes you find (???), but I'm not sure how good either of these solutions are, and since the point here is just to ask, not to do anything about the answer, then it's sufficient for me.

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Gah, you beat me to it! I blame my wife, "Hurry up, dinner's ready!" Geez. I've also modified the script to offer the other option, grab it ready to go, here: ClassicCheck

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thanks a lot. i put the script in the Dock and also in the Script Menu. it works 99% of the time. but occasionaly i have to force quit it. then re-run the script again and it works every time. also this latest version of the script will bring the finder to the foreground so you do not have to click the finder. dont know why as there is no difference to the tell command. i edited it a tad, took out the "say" here is my edited version.

tell application "Finder"
  if (name of (every application process)) contains "Classic Support" then
    activate
    display dialog "Classic is running, want to quit it?" buttons {"No", "Yes"} default button "No"
    set the user_choice to the button returned of the result
    if the user_choice is "Yes" then
      tell application "Classic Support" to quit
    end if
  else
    activate
    display dialog "Classic is not running want to launch it?" buttons {"No", "Yes"} default button "No"
    set the user_choice to the button returned of the result
    if the user_choice is "Yes" then
      tell application "Classic Support" to launch
    end if
  end if
end tell

it works great! thanks to all that have contributed to making this script even better and more functional than the one rob originally posted. Ken Edwards ken@meancode.com

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just modified the script with a restart option, if someone needs that just grab it here

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Saved As Run Only means I can't edit your choices. An application with out startup screen is enough.

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Great!Thanks Ben

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I use a script by the author of "TransparentDock", called "ToggleClassic". From the author's description: "If Classic is active when the script is launched, the Classic environment will be shut down. Likewise, if Classic is inactive when the script is launched, the Classic environment will be started up. There is always a five second delay with a cancel option if you change your mind." I have this in the dock, with the classic icon pasted on it, as in the last tip. What I'd really like is to have the icon in the dock indicate whether Classic is running or not. You can find this authors script's at: http://homepage.mac.com/kfkel/

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This is my script that I use. I cleaned it up and added variables to turn features on and off. Copy and paste it into a script, set the variables at the top of the script and that's it.

--Set user definable Configs
set displayDialogs to 1 --change the 0  to just use Speech
set UseSpeech to 0 -- chnge to 1 to have Speech tell you IF Classic is running or not
set i to 8 -- seconds to wait before dismissing the dialog automatically 0 is off
-- End user definable configs

-------------------------- Begin Script 
if displayDialogs = 0 then
  set UseSpeech to 1
end if
tell application "Finder"
  if (name of (every application process)) contains "Classic Support" then
    activate
    if UseSpeech = 1 then
      say "Classic is running."
    end if
    if displayDialogs = 1 then
      beep
      display dialog "
Classic is running. Shutdown Classic?" buttons ¬
      {"Yes", "No"} default button "No" with icon caution giving up after i
      set the btnRetrnd to the button returned of the result

            if the btnRetrnd is "Yes" then
        tell application "Classic Support" to quit
      end if
    end if
  else --classic is not running 
    activate
    if UseSpeech = 1 then
      say "Classic is not running."
    end if
    if displayDialogs = 1 then
      beep
      display dialog "Classic is not running.  Startup Classic?" buttons ¬
      {"Yes", "No"} default button "No" with icon caution giving up after i
      set the btnRetrnd to the button returned of the result
      if the btnRetrnd is "Yes" then
        tell application "Classic Startup" to activate
      end if
    end if
  end if
end tell

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At present, the only way to tell if Classic is running or not is to open the System Prefs panel and look at the Classic pane, or double-click a Classic app and see if Classic launches.

Or, you could just hit Command-Option-Escape--it's faster and easier than either of these two methods.

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cmd - alt - esc is the fastest.

if the classic environment is present in the list you know it's up and running..

(dd.)

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If you always keep a Terminal window open like me, you can just use either 'ps x | grep Tru' or 'top | grep Tru'. Or just create an alias of either.

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Here's a quick utility I whipped up for you. Put the app on the dock and start it it's not a Dockling (sorry don't know how to make one) The Dock icon will change to reflect the state of Classic Running or Not Running a Glowing Green 9 is running grey dimmed 9 is not running the Dock Icon also has a sub menu to startup or shurdown classic Download it and give it a try http://jupitermultimedia.com/Classiccheck.sit 703k let me know what you think of it Cheers Eddie

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updated the new link to download the above utility is http://xgadgets.com

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Want to see it in the dock. Just drag the icon from Classic Starup to the dock. You'll find it @ System/Library/CoreServices/Classic Startup. Now it appears on your dock as it did in OSX beta. When Classic is running, you get your little visual aid triangle.

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