using Dropbox for file transfer?

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etkins
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using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by etkins »

I've been using Sheepshaver successfully for a few years now on a desktop, and I'm so happy to have my old OS 9 Mac Classic applications to use again.

I have one new question about furthering my use. Is there any way to get files - just documents, work files - in and out of Sheepshaver using Dropbox? Or is there any other way to use the web/cloud to get files in and out?
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adespoton
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Re: using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by adespoton »

I'm not sure that DropBox will work from OS 9; the SSL implementation is likely too old. That said, Classilla is pretty up to date, so it's possible you could use DropBox/etc. on it.

DropBox, of course, isn't all that secure, so ensure you encrypt your stuff before sharing it on there.

You could also run a Hotline/Web/whatever server on OS 9, and use any other system to pull the files off -- or use the shared folder.
etkins
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Re: using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by etkins »

Can you (or can anyone out there) provide some specifics in how to do this? I've got good skills, but I'm something of a noob when it comes to exploring and expanding my use of Sheepshaver.
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adespoton
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Re: using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by adespoton »

There's already a guide on here for setting up a Hotline server; as far as Classilla goes, it's got its own website, and you can just download and install it.

For encryption, PGP is likely the way to go: http://www.pgpi.org/products/pgp/versions/freeware/mac/ -- for older Mac OS installs, you'll need PGP 2.6.3; for newer ones (including 7.5.5), you can use PGP 6 or 7.

For using SheepShaver, you just have to treat it like a real computer, with the exception that you have a shared folder that can be used to pass files into/out of its environment. Remember that Mac files often contain two forks, and the resource fork can be lost when handled outside of an HFS volume on your host system.
Jorpho
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Re: using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by Jorpho »

etkins wrote:Is there any way to get files - just documents, work files - in and out of Sheepshaver using Dropbox?
What sort of files are you talking about? As suggested above, depending on what Macintosh program you are using, uploading files elsewhere might be problematic.

I wouldn't worry about Dropbox's security (or lack thereof); if all else fails you can probably just use a webmail provider like Google or Yahoo and attach your files to a draft E-mail message.
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adespoton
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Re: using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by adespoton »

Google Docs works great for file transfer/backup :)
TiddK
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Re: using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by TiddK »

I have all my old documents in a separate drive in Sheepshaver (about 35-40MB). I can't transfer individual files to Dropbox, but I have created a symlink from that drive in Shared to my Dropbox folder. It does mean every time I exit Sheepshaver the whole drive is updated in DB and it also means I can't access individual files in DB. However, it's a useful backup.
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adespoton
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Re: using Dropbox for file transfer?

Post by adespoton »

If you use a Mac host, you can create a SparseBundle image that saves the drive in "slices" -- so that only the data that's changed needs to be updated; most of the drive image is left alone. Both SheepShaver and BII support sparsebundles, at least on OS X. You can do the same thing with VirtualBox by using VMDK images sliced into 2GB portions. Mini vMac images are so small that it doesn't really matter, leaving PearPC images (3 or 6GB) as the holdout that doesn't support sliced image files.
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