Re: MAC File Transfer

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

Andrew Webber <andrew.webber2@btinternet.com> wrote:

> dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
> > Andrew Webber <andrew.webber4@virgin.net> wrote:
> > 
> > > I have transfered some files from my Mac to a 800K Prodos disk, but
> > > when I subsequently run an application under GS/OS from that disk all
> > > i get is a dialog Window saying that "An application can't be found
> > > for this document"
> > 
> > The most likely explanation is that the download process didn't set the
> > Mac file type and creator correctly, so the files end up with the wrong
> > details when transferred to the IIgs.
> 
> The files came from a 800K ProDos disk. It was actually a game by
> Sierra (King's Quest 2).

Hm.  That should have worked.

Which Mac software are you using to access ProDOS disks?  Recent systems
(7.6 and later, if I remember right) include PC Exchange, which supports
both MS-DOS and ProDOS.  

With earlier systems, you might be using the ProDOS File System
Extension (I forget its exact name - it is associated with the Apple IIe
emulation card for the Mac LC), or going back even further (6.x through
7.1) you may be using the Apple File Exchange application, which works
like Font/DA Mover.

Do you have any Mac utilities for examining file types and creator
codes?  (ResEdit will do in a pinch, but there are better ones.)

In some cases the auxiliary type is lost when copying a file via the Mac
(e.g. for text files and SYS files) but the file type should always be
preserved.

The older utilities (Apple File Exchange and possibly the ProDOS File
System Extension) may throw out the auxiliary type for all files, using
an earlier standard for encoding the ProDOS file type in the Mac file
type.  The older applications might also ignore the ProDOS resource
fork, or not support copying extended files at all, or appear to copy
them but produce a damaged file.

Loss of the auxiliary type will cause problems for lots of special
program and document types, e.g. AppleWorks GS documents won't be
recognised as such, GS/OS drivers won't behave correctly, etc.

Plain old TXT and SYS files should be unaffected by this, but a random
access TXT file is likely to be modified or damaged by being copied
through a Mac: HFS doesn't support sparse files, while ProDOS does, and
the record length is stored in the ProDOS auxiliary type.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz