johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu (01/10/91)
One of the nice aspects of the new versions of StuffIt is a "modular" structure that supports "Translators" for *other* file formats. Translator modules contain just the information needed to accomplish the format conversion; StuffIt Classic or Deluxe provide the user interface. Far from being a symptom of "feature-itis", these modules can be included in StuffIt at the discretion of the user; just drop the module into the "Translators" folder and the next time you run StuffIt, the translation options appear magically in the "Other" menu. Users who have previously relied on a host of stand-alone utilities for tasks like uu**code'ing, MacBinary (BinHex 5.0), DDexpanding, and Ascii<-->Binary conversions will be able to perform such tasks from within a single application, with a consistent user interface. I was glad to see that Aladdin used this modular format, and I am pleased to see that the first public domain translator modules have recently been made available on the commercial boards. The first three modules are MacBinary, DDexpand, and Ascii<-->Binary. UU**code, tar, and ".Z" (unix compression) translators are coming "real soon now", I have been told. I would like to put these up for anonymous ftp, but in the meantime I would be happy to send a StuffIt'd and binhexed copy by e-mail to anybody who is interested and can't wait. These are only useful in conjunction with StuffIt Classic or Deluxe; so I plan to use StuffIt Classic's "Better" compression mode for the e-mail copies. For the anonymous ftp file I will observe net.convention and post in the standard StuffIt 1.5.1 format. (If anyone has any suggestions as to the quickest way to get them up for ftp'ing, I would appreciate your input.) The MacBinary and "Ascii<-->Binary" modules were written by Ray Lau; and the DDexpand module is copyright Aladdin. Thanks to Leonard Rosenthol of Software Ventures for forwarding copies of the new translators and pointing out to me that they work with the shareware StuffIt Classic as well as for the commercial StuffIt Deluxe! -- Bill (johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu) -- 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949
pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (01/10/91)
In article <41298@nigel.ee.udel.edu>, johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu writes: > One of the nice aspects of the new versions of StuffIt is a "modular" > structure that supports "Translators" for *other* file formats. > Translator modules contain just the information needed to accomplish > the format conversion; StuffIt Classic or Deluxe provide the user > interface. Yes, this is a good idea, and one which will be showing in a future version of DD as well, according to Lloyd Chambers (though I must admit to nagging him to put it in :-)) > DDexpand, and Ascii<-->Binary. UU**code, tar, and ".Z" (unix compression) One warning about the DDExpand translator in SD. One person on AOL had immediately downloaded it and tried and it promptly locked his machine up completely. Since Salient hasn't given their format to Aladdin any more than Aladdin has given their format to Salient, there are bound to be some quirks for a while until Aladdin completely figures out what Lloyd has done. And then of course is the problem that DD 3.1 is being shown at Macworld Expo right now (a free upgrade for registered usrs) and it uses a slightly different file format, such that 3.0 can't expand 3.1 files and it's extremely unlikely that the SD translator can either. Just so as you know .... cheers ... Adam > > -- Bill (johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu) > -- 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949 -- Adam C. Engst (best) ace@tidbits.tcnet.ithaca.ny.us (also) ace@tidbits.uucp (if all else fails) pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu --------------------------------------------------------------- Editor of TidBITS, the weekly electronic Macintosh news journal
macman@wpi.WPI.EDU (Chris Silverberg) (01/11/91)
In article <1991Jan10.105544.1940@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: >One warning about the DDExpand translator in SD. One person on AOL had >immediately downloaded it and tried and it promptly locked his machine >up completely. Since Salient hasn't given their format to Aladdin any >more than Aladdin has given their format to Salient, there are bound >to be some quirks for a while until Aladdin completely figures out >what Lloyd has done. Actually, i'm not sure Alladin really knows what DD is doing... I haven't SEEN the translator work yet, but from the file description I read, it requires DiskDoubler, so I am ASSUMING (just a guess) that this translator is using the IAC capability provided within the DiskDoubler INIT to first uncompress file file, and then let Stuffit compress it.... can anyone confirm this? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chris Silverberg INTERNET: macman@wpi.wpi.edu Worcester Polytechnic Institute Main Street USA 508-832-7725 (sysop) America Online: Silverberg WMUG BBS 508-832-5844 (sysop) "Ask me about TeleFinder... A Macintosh BBS with a Macintosh interface"