DCS100@PSUVM.BITNET (David C. Schweisguth) (01/19/90)
Hello, all. This is being posted to both comp.sys.apple and comp.sys.mac; users
from each side of the fence are cheerfully invited to ignore the bits that
don't make sense to them. However, it is about both machines. Listen to my story
...
I have the dubious honor of being my local IIGS group's software librarian, and
therefore the person responsible for installing the library on a Mac Plus/Red
Ryder Host BBS jointly owned by the Apple II, IIGS, and Macintosh groups.
I attempted to move the files using Apple File Exchange (the version from Mac
System 6.0.2) and discovered that AFE added a resource fork ("pdos") to them in
transit, apparently so that the Macintosh would recognize them as ProDOS files.
Red Ryder Host sends these resource forks back to downloaders, Apple II and Mac
alike, thereby rendering them unreadable to ShrinkIT (the Apple II archiver).
It does so regardless of the "filetype" in the RRH filelist. Something similar
happens to GIF files intended for ALL machines; the resource dreck comes first
and confuses any decoder that doesn't know enough to scan the whole file for
"gif87a".
Files which are uploaded from an Apple II to RRH by modem or direct connection
do not acquire this resource fork (coming or going) and unpack just fine at the
Apple II end. Since this is not a small library and RRH does not have a batch
receive (?), it would not be practical to install the whole thing this way.
RRH will send Apple II files properly, without the bogus resource fork if there
is one, if the Macintosh filetype (the actual system filetype, NOT the one in
the Red Ryder Host filelist) is "text". Apparently it assumes that text files
don't have resource forks and doesn't try to send them. We have successfully
moved files by direct cable connection, using MicroPhone II at the Mac end and
tricking it into saving the files as "text". These files can then be put into a
RRH filelist and downloaded just like in the movies.
The upshot is that we can install our library (and in fact are in the process of
doing so), but we have to move either a Mac or a IIGS to do it. This is OK for
installing, but would really stink for regular maintenance.
Therefore ... can anyone tell us how to do this without such a runaround? It
would be nice to 1) use Apple File Exchange in such a way that these bogus
resource forks would not be created, 2) convince Red Ryder Host that we really
don't want it to send us the cussed resource forks, and/or 3) find some way to
change Mac system filetypes en masse (to "text") so RRH would stop trying. (We
can change them, but only one at a time.)
Has anyone dealt with such difficulties? Can anyone offer some suggestions to
the benighted computer enthusiasts of Central PA? Help meee ... help meee ...
Kindly Mac users are invited to mail their suggestions to the address below.
Apple II types may mail or post as they please, although I doubt the topic is of
general interest.
Thanks.
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