Silverwand Software

A collection of freely downloadable software developed by Brendan Bellina. This software is made available for download for individual usage only. It cannot be re-distributed, modified, or included in any distributed works without the express permission of the author.

Currently Active Software Locations

Silverwand Software (hosted at Google Drive) (all of my free software is available here)

Software Categories

Web Browser Enhancements (Bookmarklets)

All Macintosh Software
- AppleScripts
- Apple Dashboard Widgets - A number of Apple Dashboard Widgets primarily for LDAP searches against public LDAP directories. These may no longer function.
 - HyperCard stacks including HyperBattleship! patched for Mac OS 9, MacBalloonMaker, and MacMerlin
- Kaleidoscope Themes (Mac OS 9) including Corwin of Amber

- Wineskin for CiderPress (added 5/27/20)

All Apple IIGS Software
- Hypercard IIGS stacks including:

• BalloonMaker - Add Balloon Help to your HyperCard GS stacks
• Color Click - An educational stack for learning colors
• Extras v1.1 - Adds an Extras menu to your HyperCard Home stack
• GSOS Splash Color - Modify the GSOS Splash page colors for GSOS 5.0.4, 6.0.0, 6.0.1, and 6.0.4 (added in v2)
• HyperTalk Tutor 101 - Teaches the basics of HyperTalk. Used for A2-University in 1994. Includes both the lesson stacks and the transcripts from the online course.
• Key Navigator - adds Keyboard Navigation to HyperCard GS stacks
• Merlin GS - a simulator for the Merlin handheld toy
• No Worries v1.4 - A program launcher HyperCard stack based on Apple's At Ease program.
• Pyramid - A Pyramid solitaire stack
• Word Scrambler - A stack that demonstrates scrambling letters in a word. Accompanied by an Applesoft BASIC program.
• HCGS Extras
• Script-Central Special Edition 2020 (v5n1)
• Script-Central Special Edition 2021 (v6n1)
• Script-Central Special Edition v7n1 (2022 #1)

- GS/OS Finder icons - The bbellina2020icns.2mg disk image includes a set of icons inspired by the Copland OS that was never released by Apple as well a number of custom icons for system files, disks, and the Finder trash can.

- Generic Drive Images - These 32MB ProDOS disk images include GSOS 6.0.1 and a variety of useful IIGS software.

Apple Users Group of Michiana (AUGM) newsletters - These newsletters from 1991-1993 were designed in GraphicWriter III and are available both as disk images and pdf.

Yahoo! Widgets - a large number of my Yahoo! Widgets for displaying icons, displaying weather maps for various states, an LDAP search client, and the Merlin 78 simulator. Requires the Yahoo! Widget Engine to be installed. This is software that is no longer provided or supported by Yahoo!

Baldur's Gate Enhancements - compatible with BG2 and BG1Tutu

Icewind Dale II Enhancements

Neverwinter Nights Mods and Documents

Neverwinter Nights 2 Enhancements


About this Page

I began publishing my software under the name "Silverwand Software" in 1982. I have always recognized that any success I have had writing software has depended greatly on the work and generosity of other software developers and engineers and so I have never charged anything for my work. Over the years I have used several distribution channels for my work, including, but not limited to: GEnie, America Online (AOL), personal websites hosted by various educational institutions I have attended and/or worked for, and public type-specific websites such as the Apple Widget Gallery, Yahoo! Widget Gallery, the Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault at IGN, and the NexusMod site. For various reasons most of these solutions have not withstood the test of time. My hope is to create a single publicly accessible repository for all of my work that will survive for the foreseeable future.

This blog post will serve as the launch page for my software. It will include links to more specific blog posts and those will include download links for the actual software. I will host the software sites that will not require accounts to download from. In the event that those services are retired I will try to relocate the software and then update the links on the blog pages.  One advantage of using the blog pages is that any comments or feedback people may have about a piece of software can be posted on the appropriate blog page.

Thank you for your interest.

Brendan Bellina
July, 2013

Say Goodbye to Yahoo! Widgets

Yahoo! has announced that they are dropping support for the Yahoo! Widget Engine (Konfabulator) and will be dropping the desktop Widget gallery effective April 12. The brief history on this is that Konfabulator is a product first developed on the Mac and then ported to Windows that allowed easy development of cross-platform HTML/Javascript based widgets that run on your desktop. Yahoo! bought the shareware product from the developer (and hired the developer) and released it for free. Over 6000 widgets were developed by the community, most of whom were just individuals wanting to contribute. This got the attention of Apple, Microsoft, and Google and they all developed their own copycat but platform-specific solutions. Yahoo! provided a gallery so that authors could upload in one place and users could download in one place. They built in functionality so that when a widget was downloaded it would automatically install and make it very easy for the users. Using the gallery meant you could keep count of downloads and have comments and ratings. It was all good. And on April 12, 2012 it will be all gone.

Yahoo! Widgets represent everything I like about computers. Widgets were not protected, so you could learn techniques by examining the code of other authors. They were free so you could download and test them out on a whim. They were tiny and consumed very little system resources.  They were cross-platform so it didn't matter whether you were running on Windows or Mac.  They did not require any expensive IDE or tools to create. They did not require purchasing a library of books just to create "Hello, World." And now, like Apple's similar product HyperCard, they are being discarded into the waste basket.  It is a shame when products that have these features are discarded when there is no similar product to take their place. Writing iPhone or Android apps is certainly possible, but the entry point is far higher.  Writing Windows Widgets or Google Gadgets or Mac OS X Dashboard Widgets can be done, but they are platform specific, and therefore subject to the whims of one company.

Time marches on, but it is a tragedy that repositories of knowledge are discarded in the wake.

Photos from Konfabulator Developer Day 2007 at Yahoo! HQ

Blogging is dead, right? Time to get started.

I recently heard that blogging is dead. I read it on the Internet, so I'm certain it is true. So I decided it is the right time to jump in.  Anyone can maximize ROI, I'm going the other way.

I'm not sure exactly what I will do with this blog.  I do know that since Google owns this service we all know very well what they will be doing with this blog. So be it.

My initial plan is to focus the blog on the development I do in my copious spare time. Mostly these days that is development for Neverwinter Nights 2 (as Kaldor Silverwand), but I could also make notes on other fading (or completely faded) away technologies I have at times been passionate about like Yahoo! Widgets, HyperCard stacks, even Applesoft BASIC (what is that you say, hey Google it). In other words, I plan to focus on stuff I am passionate about but am not paid to do. If you are here looking for the stuff I am passionate about and am paid to do then I'm sorry but you will need to look elsewhere.

But don't be hasty. Look around. Pull up a chair. Stay a while.