[bit.listserv.novell] Discussion about Mac VAPs and file interchange

DOEMELB@WABASH.BITNET (Bill Doemel, (01/17/90)

Art Whittman (wittmann@cae.wisc.edu) writes:
>PCs can read the data fork of mac files without "special programming".  The
>resource fork is hidden from them, but could be gotten through special
>programming.  Most vendors haven't done this since the resource fork usually
>only holds executable code and special information meaningful only to the
>mac.  We don't have too many programs that could possibly read data from
>macs, however we do have Foxbase, and it seems to be able handle it's data
>bases from both macs and PCs.  In the case of word perfect, I'd call their
>support number.  They've been pretty helpful in the past and should be able
>to resolve the issue quickly (one way or another).

We run WP 5.0 on PC's and VAX and 1.03 on Macs.  The Mac can save files in the
5.0 format preserving most of the text characteristics, even fonts if you have
the same font on both machines.  The PC and VAX versions cannot read Mac files
saved as Mac 1.0 documents but can read if the files are saved as 5.0 documents.

 When saved in that format there is not a resource fork.  As a result, the Macs
sometimes have trouble reading 5.0 documents created from Mac WP 1.03--an
undocumented feature.  The PCs can read these files and the Macs can read
5.0 files saved from PCs and the VAX.
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                        WABASH COMPUTER SERVICES
Bill Doemel                                             DoemelB@Wabash
Director                                                (317) 364-4311
Wabash College
Crawfordsville, IN 47933
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