Re: System 6.0.1 Trouble

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

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.960410122819.15439A-100000@general2.asu.edu>,
Adam Myrow  <hurry@imap2.asu.edu> wrote:
> I am having trouble with system 6.0.1 on my GS.  The problem is that when 
> I read files of type GWP, all quote marks show up as "T" and "U" 
> respectively and all "'" show up as "U."

"GWP" is not a specific file type - it is a generic filetype for
IIgs-specific word processors.  The auxiliary type inidicates exactly
what type of file it is.

I suspect this is actually a "Teach" file: type $50 (GWP), auxtype
$5445.  Teach files are supported by lots of simple editors on the
IIgs which are based on the TextEdit toolset (e.g. Apple's own "Teach"
utility supplied with the System Software).  A Teach file contains the
text of the document in its data fork, and style information in the
resource fork.  Programs which cannot handle the style information can
just treat it as a text file (an example of this is my "About" program).

The problem you describe with quotes being transformed is due to the
representation of "smart quote" characters (curly single-quotes and
double-quotes, as opposed to the standard straight quotes).

The smart quotes are part of the IIgs's extended character set, which
is only supported by desktop (graphical) programs.  The extended
character set makes use of all 8 bits in the byte.

The text screen does not support these extended characters, so if you
display a file containing them, they get transformed to their 7-bit
ASCII equivalent character.  The quote symbols happen to get
transformed to the letters "R", "S", "T" and "U".

There are two ways to avoid the problem:

1. Use a GS/OS desktop program which can handle Teach files to view
   the files.  The smart quotes will be displayed properly.

2. Don't try to use smart quotes.  Use the normal ones instead.
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand