🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <0l7y7.1771$Yy5.123299@ozemail.com.au>,
 "Allan Cairns" <axcairns@hotmail.com> wrote:

:> Hi,
:> 
:> I am a long time PC user who recently picked up an old PowerMac 7200/90
:> running OS 7.6.1 out of curiosity. The Mac has no modem (old corporate
:> machine) but I would like to install some shareware/freeware from the net on
:> it. I have been trying to do this by 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!
:> 
:> I have thought of several possible solutions/workarounds in a desperate
:> attempt to avoid buying a modem. 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! I also thought maybe zipping the files up
:> and using Stuffit to expand may get around the problem. The other possible
:> was the existence of utilities to change the file type?
:> 
:> Your thoughts would be appreciated.
:> 
:> Thanks,
:> 
:> Allan Cairns
:> axcairns@hotmail.com

The hqx extension denotes BinHex encoding.  It's similar to uuencode, in 
that it encodes files rather than compressing them.  But if you've got 
StuffIt on the Mac, there's your answer.  PC Exchange isn't the 
brightest bulb around...it's designed to help you figure out which Mac 
app handles which PC files.  But BinHex files are Mac files (basically, 
anyway).  They just don't have their type and creator codes set properly 
so that a double-click would run the appropriate program.  So just 
locate your StuffIt Expander program, then drop the files with the hqx 
extension on its icon and watch the magic.

HTH.

= Steve =
-- 
Steve W. Jackson,  Montgomery, Alabama
http://www.mindspring.com/~sjacksn/stevehome.html

In article <0l7y7.1771$Yy5.123299@ozemail.com.au>, axcairns@hotmail.com wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I am a long time PC user who recently picked up an old PowerMac 7200/90
> running OS 7.6.1 out of curiosity. The Mac has no modem (old corporate
> machine) but I would like to install some shareware/freeware from the net on
> it. I have been trying to do this by 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!
> 
> I have thought of several possible solutions/workarounds in a desperate
> attempt to avoid buying a modem. 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! I also thought maybe zipping the files up
> and using Stuffit to expand may get around the problem. The other possible
> was the existence of utilities to change the file type?
> 
> Your thoughts would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Allan Cairns
> axcairns@hotmail.com

You'll need to install Stuffit Expander and drag the files onto it.

In article <0l7y7.1771$Yy5.123299@ozemail.com.au>, 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. The Mac has no modem (old corporate
> machine) but I would like to install some shareware/freeware from the net on
> it. I have been trying to do this by 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!
> 
> I have thought of several possible solutions/workarounds in a desperate
> attempt to avoid buying a modem. 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! I also thought maybe zipping the files up
> and using Stuffit to expand may get around the problem. The other possible
> was the existence of utilities to change the file type?
> 
> Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Stuffit Expander opens and decodes .HQX files.

Yes, zipping the file and using Stuffit will bypass PC Exchange. I prefer
MacZip but this is a moot point and unnecessary in your case.

You can also open the PC Exchange Control Panel and 'train' it to
recognise .HQX as Stuffit Expander TEXT files so that double-clicking any
file with a .hqx extension will open it directly with Stuffit Expander
bypassing any dialog asking you to find an application to open it with.

As it is, PC Exchange giving the .hqx files a PC TEXT File type and
creator should not be a problem as it is being correct - .hqx is ASCII
TEXT. You can drag these files onto Stuffit's application icon to get it
to open and decode the .HQX format.

The only problem you might encounter is downloading .hqx files to your PC,
with Mac files you need to DL these to a PC as RAW data, else your DL
client may interpret the DL as some kind of unknown PC text file and
insert DOS carriage returns into the file rendering it useless when you
get it over to the Mac.

You might also find the application 'HFVExplorer' useful on the PC, it's
freeware, it can format, read/write Mac floppies and other media on your
PC making file transfers to a Mac from a PC a pretty painless operation. I
find it an invaluable tool. 

<http://netti.nic.fi/~lpesonen/HFVExplorer/>

Also regarding your "desperate attempt to avoid buying a modem" if you
already have a modem you only need to purchase a Mac modem to PC modem
extension and you'd be able to use your existing modem on occasions that
warrant having a modem on your Mac. It's just a cable that fits into the
Mac's modem port and couples up to the cable from your existing modem
which would normally go to the serial port of your PC, costs 5 - 6 dollars
(10 to 15 here in Australia from Dick Smiths/Tandy etc).

Mike

In article <0l7y7.1771$Yy5.123299@ozemail.com.au>, axcairns@hotmail.com 
wrote:

> I have thought of several possible solutions/workarounds in a desperate
> attempt to avoid buying a modem. 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! I also thought maybe zipping the files up
> and using Stuffit to expand may get around the problem. The other possible
> was the existence of utilities to change the file type?

When it asks to choose the application, select Stuffit (Expander or 
Deluxe, whichever you have) and then it should automatically expand .hqx 
files for you
-- 
Bob Jewell             e-Mail : rajewell@NOSPAMmac.com
Ph: +61 0413 906482

I have added NOSPAM to my email address because 
I dont like canned meat made from lips and arseholes.

In article <emteedee-1410011409470001@mac.zacglen.com.au>, 
emteedee@BOUNCEoptushome.com.au (Mike Dee) wrote:

> It's just a cable that fits into the
> Mac's modem port and couples up to the cable from your existing modem
> which would normally go to the serial port of your PC, costs 5 - 6 dollars
> (10 to 15 here in Australia from Dick Smiths/Tandy etc).

Its obviously been a while since you bought a cable from either of the 
above stores.  Try doubling that.
-- 
Bob Jewell             e-Mail : rajewell@NOSPAMmac.com
Ph: +61 0413 906482

I have added NOSPAM to my email address because 
I dont like canned meat made from lips and arseholes.

In article <0l7y7.1771$Yy5.123299@ozemail.com.au>,
"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. The Mac has no modem (old corporate
>machine) but I would like to install some shareware/freeware from the net on
>it. I have been trying to do this by 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!

That's because they are. An .hqx file is a text file produced by encoding a
document, application or whatever in 'Binhex' format. Before you can do
anything with the file you need to decode it, which Stuffit Expander can
do. Simply drop the .hqx file on the Stuffit Expander applicaton.

See here for more:

http://www.natural-innovations.com/boo/binhex.html

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

(remove excess baggage to reply via mail)
-- 
WARNING: mail to this address will be auto-bounced if:
(a) more than 10% original content appears before first quoted matter,
(b) quoted material exceeds 75% of total message content, and/or
(c) HTML is used to format text and/or embed non-ASCII items.

In article <rajewell-735BBF.15080614102001@news-server>, Bob
<rajewell@NOSPAMmac.com> wrote:

> In article <emteedee-1410011409470001@mac.zacglen.com.au>, 
> emteedee@BOUNCEoptushome.com.au (Mike Dee) wrote:
> 
> > It's just a cable that fits into the
> > Mac's modem port and couples up to the cable from your existing modem
> > which would normally go to the serial port of your PC, costs 5 - 6 dollars
> > (10 to 15 here in Australia from Dick Smiths/Tandy etc).
> 
> Its obviously been a while since you bought a cable from either of the 
> above stores.  Try doubling that.
> -- 
> Bob Jewell             e-Mail : rajewell@NOSPAMmac.com
> Ph: +61 0413 906482

Well Bob thanks for the "helpful contribution" (sic). If you look
carefully you will see I added an "etc" to the potential sources of this
cable adapter.

BTW If you go to JayCar <http://www.jaycar.com.au/> and search for

Part#: WC7550

Item: Computer Leads Apple Macintosh Modem Cable D25 Male to 8 Pin Mini DIN Male

Price $AUS 7.80 + P&H

*Obviously* I could lower my conservative 'guesstimate' but DS and T will
often have a higher price so it generally pays to shop around. - But if as
you say you pay double what I suggested then you are getting ripped off
Royally.

Me, I prefer shopping at "etc" :-)

Mike

Thanks to all for your advice. Very helpful.

Allan Cairns
axcairns@hotmail.com

In article <1f19vxe.9h2x2x50su2oN@[192.168.0.2]>,
 quanEXCESSBAGGAGEtic@bigfoot.com (Geoffrey) wrote:

->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).
->

Yeah but if you really want :-)  you can buy G3 and G4 cards from Sonnet.  They 
plug into a PCI slot and run pretty well.   Of course there still is the 
backplane bus throttle.
-- 
Carl Witthoft  cgw@world.std.com  carl@aoainc.com  http://world.std.com/~cgw
Got any old pinball machines for sale?

On Sun, 14 Oct 2001 16:04:15 +0930,
quanEXCESSBAGGAGEtic@bigfoot.com (Geoffrey) wrote:

-snip-
>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.

Hi Geoffrey,

I'd like to add, that *.bin files are "PC-compatible" aswell -
I've D/L'ed them many times onto PC without any problems. They're
raw data files, and there's no two-forked structure - most
PCtoMac programs can handle such a files w/o troubles.

Regards,
Artur

Artur Yelchishchev <risico@hot.ee> wrote:

> >You are obviously aware of the problems Mac files can have if they pass
> >through a PC system ...

> I'd like to add, that *.bin files are "PC-compatible" aswell -
> I've D/L'ed them many times onto PC without any problems.

Ahh, good to know. I rarely use a PC for downloading *anything* :) and
when I've had to use one for a Mac file, I've always played it safe and
taken the .hqx option if available.


Geoffrey

(remove excess baggage to reply via mail)
-- 
WARNING: mail to this address will be auto-bounced if:
(a) more than 10% original content appears before first quoted matter,
(b) quoted material exceeds 75% of total message content, and/or
(c) HTML is used to format text and/or embed non-ASCII items.

A.hqx file opens in stuffit. You may require the latest stuffit expander which
is a free download from the Alddin sie www.aladdinsys.com. Launch the
application and open your file from within expander. This will work

Allan Cairns wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am a long time PC user who recently picked up an old PowerMac 7200/90
> running OS 7.6.1 out of curiosity. The Mac has no modem (old corporate
> machine) but I would like to install some shareware/freeware from the net on
> it. I have been trying to do this by 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!
>
> I have thought of several possible solutions/workarounds in a desperate
> attempt to avoid buying a modem. 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! I also thought maybe zipping the files up
> and using Stuffit to expand may get around the problem. The other possible
> was the existence of utilities to change the file type?
>
> Your thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Allan Cairns
> axcairns@hotmail.com

Ah yes been there done that....
A nifty little site you may find interesting is:
http://www.accesscom.com/~gamba/pc2mac.html
It details all the swings and roundabouts of transferring files from your PC
to your mac,
including making system boot disks straight from your pc. ( check
www.bootdisk.com )

Regards,

Mark

PS. Glad to see another leaving the shackles of wintel.....



Allan Cairns <axcairns@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0l7y7.1771$Yy5.123299@ozemail.com.au...
> Hi,
>
> I am a long time PC user who recently picked up an old PowerMac 7200/90
> running OS 7.6.1 out of curiosity. The Mac has no modem (old corporate
> machine) but I would like to install some shareware/freeware from the net
on
> it. I have been trying to do this by 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!
>
> I have thought of several possible solutions/workarounds in a desperate
> attempt to avoid buying a modem. 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! I also thought maybe zipping the files up
> and using Stuffit to expand may get around the problem. The other possible
> was the existence of utilities to change the file type?
>
> Your thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Allan Cairns
> axcairns@hotmail.com

By dropping the file onto it, you "stuffed" it..... open Stuffit and then open 
the hqx file with it, there will be an 'extract' command somewhere.... this 
should unstuff the hqx file.....
Kip


In article <tIvB7.439$Fi4.23403@ozemail.com.au>,
 "Allan Cairns" <axcairns@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Me again.
> 
> I apologise for my ongoing ignorance - I acquired a cd with Stuffit Expander
> on it. I then dropped the hqx file onto it and it popped out a file with the
> extension .sit which it described as a Stuffit Document. Now I don't know
> what to do with THAT!
> 
> I apologise if this was covered in an earlier response to my original note -
> I only received the cd today and I don't have the old replies (had to
> rebuild my PC yesterday!).
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Allan

Me again.

I apologise for my ongoing ignorance - I acquired a cd with Stuffit Expander
on it. I then dropped the hqx file onto it and it popped out a file with the
extension .sit which it described as a Stuffit Document. Now I don't know
what to do with THAT!

I apologise if this was covered in an earlier response to my original note -
I only received the cd today and I don't have the old replies (had to
rebuild my PC yesterday!).

Cheers,

Allan

Got it now!

I had to, having installed Stuffit, configure PC Exchange and retransfer the
hqx files from my PC. This had the desired effect of expanding BOTH the
outer hqx layer and the inner SIT layer. With the files from my initial
futile efforts Stuffit didn't recognise the inner SIT layer as a Stuffit
Archive.

Thanks,

Allan