🚀 go-pugleaf

Allan Cairns <axcairns@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I am a long time PC user who recently picked up an old PowerMac 7200/90
> running OS 7.6.1 out of curiosity.

An old but solid machine, nice case design, the only real drawback is
the limits on expandability (the processor is soldered to the
motherboard, other Macs of the same era have the CPU on a daughtercard).

> I have been ... downloading the files (with .hqx extension) onto my
> internet connected PC, throw them on a PC-formatted floppy and copy them
> to the Mac. However, at that point I run into PC Exchange. When I have
> this disabled, the Mac will not read the disk. When I have it enabled, it
> insists all the files on the disk (with .hqx extension) are PC Text Files!

This is normal. HQX files are "Binhex" text-encoded binary, akin to
base64 or uuencode, but Mac-specific.

You are obviously aware of the problems Mac files can have if they pass
through a PC system, but do be aware that you're not limited to just
.hqx files, you can also safely use the PC to download .sit (Stuffit
archives) files as well without damage. Just avoid .sea's, .img and .bin
files and you'll be fine.

Binhex was an application many years ago, but now it refers to the
format more than anything. To turn a binhex'd file back into something
useful for your Mac, you need Aladdin Expander (or its ancestor, Stuffit
Expander) which is free from Aladdin Systems' website at
http://www.aladdinsys.com. Of course, getting this file to your Mac can
be a chore in itself! The best way to get a copy, if the Mac doesn't
have its own internet connection, is to get it on floppy or CD - many
Mac-oriented magazines come with a CD with each issue, and this will
inevitably have the essential apps like Expander on it,ready to install
and use. The UK magazine "MacFormat" would be a good choice.

> I have thought of several possible solutions/workarounds in a desperate
> attempt to avoid buying a modem.

If you already have a PC connected to the internet, why not let it keep
doing that and hook the two machines together via ethernet and let the
Mac share the connection? This is what I do - I have an old Pentium 200
with Windows 98SE installed, and it has the optional Internet Connection
Sharing installed. The modem is connected to the PC, and my Macs and the
PC all meet in a small 8-way ethernet hub. Once the PC is connected to
the internet, I can hop on the Mac and start surfing and downloading.

If you'd like to know more about this, nip over to www.macwindows.com
and/or www.threemacs.com, both sites are full of information that you,
as a PC user and budding Maccist, will find useful.

> I tried configuring PC Exchange to recognise hqx but it insists I pick an
> application to open the file. I thought .hqx was an application!

PC Exchange is just for handling non-Mac disks, it relies on a companion
piece of software called MacOS Easy Open, which is what is jumping in
and asking you for a suitable application (in later versions of MacOS,
PC Exchnage and MEO merged to become File Exchange). When asked to pick
an application, select Stuffit Expander - this will then become the
default app for opening .hqx files.


Geoffrey

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