Re: not there yet (FAQ info)

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

B.J. Major & Dennis J. Gorin <NOSPAM***bjbear@ibm.net> wrote:

> In article <5gs217$j8l$1@europa.frii.com>, shack@deimos.frii.com (Randy
> Shackelford) wrote:
> 
> > So I checked the FAQ to see if the info about using ProTYPE had made it
> > there yet. In case you don't remember, that's the cool drag 'n drop file
> > converter which makes it trivial to get files from a Mac to ProDOS 8 in
> > a readable form. This is what I found instead:
> > 
> > "There used to be a program to remove a resource fork from a file, but
> > appears to have disappeared from the net. There has been no luck in
> > finding a replacement; those on csa2 who use Macs to download either (1)
> > deny there's a problem,
> 
> Not me, there is a very BIG problem.  I followed all directions in the FAQ
> to a T, being careful to use binary data transfer on the Mac side for over
> one week now--downloaded tons of Apple // files, and have not been able use
> that BINSCII program worth a darn.  Res Edit on the Mac side tells me there
> is no resource fork in any file, yet I keep getting "file type mismatch" or
> "path not found" everytime I try to exec the binscii application.  And
> magic number in applesoft is exactly what it's supposed to be AND
> sysadm@zws.com the file creator/type changer are exactly what they are
> supposed to be--TTXT and PDOS.

Those should be 'TEXT' and 'pdos'.

> >(2) think that everyone should have file/creator type changer
> > programs, even though such things are not part of the MacOS by default or
> 
> The file/creator/-type/changer isn't what's the main problem.  Utilities
> programs on the Apple // side can take care of this part.

Actually, it _is_ the main problem.

If, on a Macintosh, you copy a file onto a ProDOS disk, then the file
will end up as an "extended" file (unreadable by ProDOS-8), _unless_ the
following rules apply:

1. The file's creator must be 'pdos'.

2. The file type must be one that can be translated to a standard ProDOS
file type, using the standard conversion rules.

(As far as I know, this means the file type must be 'TEXT' or one of the
specially encoded formats which cannot generally be entered from the
keyboard.  The current standard format encode the ProDOS file type and
auxiliary type in three bytes, with an initial 'p'.)

3. The file does not have a resource fork.


If any of these rules are not satisfied, then the Mac will create an
extended file.

This is obviously needed in the case of a file with a resource fork (you
must have an extended file to support two forks).

In the case of the file type and/or creator being wrong, the extended
file is needed because there is nowhere to put the Macintosh file type
and creator in the ProDOS directory entry.  There are fields provided in
the "extended key block" (the first block in an extended file, pointed
to by the directory entry) which hold all the Macintosh directory
information.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand