schung@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Stephen the Greatest) (08/12/87)
In article <13888@topaz.rutgers.edu> rubin@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mike Rubin) writes: >Why has nobody mentioned in this discussion the various DA's for >viewing text and MacPaint files? Or am I missing something? Hello, I am the original poster of "More on 'improving' Finder." I have indeed received some suggestions to some useful DAs, one too many. For MacWrite files, I'll need "View," for plain text files, I can use "MockWrite," for Microsoft Word files, Well, tough, go buy the program. Can't complain about MacPaint files, really, 'cause neither UN*X nor MSDOS has any utility to display bitmap files--i.e. you need a special program just like in the Mac. But for text files, I still prefer "cat <filename>" Sure I'll sometimes get unintelli- gible junks. (Somebody told me to try "cd /usr/bin" and "cat *" something a UN*X users--not necessarily programmers--won't do) But the point is, at least I can *DO* something with the file, see what's in it, try to figure out something (like you can sort of make out a WordStar file, even with the funny characters.) That is to say, within in its limitation--as all programs have limitations, even Mac programs--the UN*X and MSDOS tools do not *restrict* you. OK, some wordprocessors string sentences together and I can't see them all in the screen; so, I'll write a short program to cut sentences--and for that matter one to strip the eight bit--and do "strip <file> |cutshort |cat" Can I do pipping on the Mac? No! I have to wait for each program to load, go to the menu bar, pull down a menu, wait to be asked some questions and wait for the file to be loaded, and the screen painted, etc. Recurse three times if I have to use binhex, packit, and Microsoft Word. The other thing I don't know how to do on the Mac is "mv <file>?.* chapter1" I said "move" not "copy and erase," another DA? Yes, I have heard of "DiskTop" and certainly love it, even though I have to go back to the menu bar and pull down a menu and do several selecting and clicking. Hopefully "Suitcase" can be as exhilarating as I have heard so far. sugih jamin