rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) (03/18/88)
I've been noticing that a lot of folk are posting to BBS's stacks of stacks, so to speak, for Hypercard. Just a curious thought about those - if the format of a stack is well defined, wouldn't it be a nice project for someone (not me please) to implement a stack browser for the Amiga? Just a thought. Rob Peck ...ihnp4!hplabs!ardent!rap
scott@applix.UUCP (Scott Evernden) (03/18/88)
In article <331@ardent.UUCP> rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) writes: >I've been noticing that a lot of folk are posting to BBS's stacks of >stacks, so to speak, for Hypercard. Just a curious thought about >those - if the format of a stack is well defined, wouldn't it be >a nice project for someone (not me please) to implement a stack >browser for the Amiga? Just a thought. > >Rob Peck ...ihnp4!hplabs!ardent!rap Does anyone know the format of a stack? Can anyone suggest a source for such information? I read in Danny Goodman's book that Bill Atkinson wanted the format to be made available for anyone to be able to develop HyperCard stack readers. But in 'MacIntosh Technical Notes', #170, entitled "HyperCard File Format" it says, "The file format of a HyperCard stack is proprietary and will not be documented." I know that at least one company has developed a MacIntosh DA to browse stacks, so they had to get their info from somewhere, or else have made use of some Apple-supplied toolbox for accessing stacks. Recently, I asked comp.graphics for information on the graphic format employed by HyperCard (supposedly achieving 30:1 compression ratios with patent pending). No one seemed to have a specific understanding of what the encodings are. I have a bunch of HyperCard stacks on my Amiga, and have spent many hours attempting to divine the internals. I'm getting nowhere fairly quickly, tho. -scott