getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

About unsupported SheepShaver configurations, like COI (Chubby Bunny), SheepShaver Wrapper, etc.

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dickplotz
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getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by dickplotz »

I've been successfully using MacDraw 1.9.5 to edit MacDraw files within Chubby Bunny SheepShaver. But I've just found that some of my MacDraw files lost their identification as MacDraw files when I copied them onto my Intel Mac. They don't show up in the open dialog in MacDraw, of course. When I Get Info outside Chubby Bunny, they are identified as Terminal files rather than MacDraw files, like most of my MacDraw files. I tried going to the info window for one of the correctly identified files and using Open With... and Change All, but that didn't fix the others. I tried selecting MacDraw in Open With... in the info window for one of the wrongly identified files, but it was grayed out, even when I tried Enable All Applications.

How can I edit the creator and filetype information for the wrongly identified files so they will open in MacDraw? I assume that's what's needed.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Classic Mac files do not loose their specific Mac properties like resource fork and type/creator data when copied onto a Intel Mac. Where did the files come from, how did you copy the files to your Intel Mac, and how did you copy them to/into the emulated machine?
dickplotz
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by dickplotz »

The files (genealogical charts) came from a Motorola Mac, I think by USB drive and sneaker net, though it's been a while since I did it so I'm not sure. They all open properly on the old Mac. I got them into the emulator by moving the entire enclosing folder into the shared folder on the Intel Mac. It's possible that the files had already lost the creator and filetype information on the old Mac, since not all the MacDraw files have MacDraw icons there...but they all open as MacDraw files by double-clicking, which I wouldn't expect to happen if they had lost their creator and filetype information.

I'm going to try to recopy the missing files and see if they copy correctly next time. I'll post about the result.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

1. Make sure all used drives are HFS or HFS+ formatted. USB flash drives usually come FAT formatted. They must be re-formatted in HFS+ format to be able to transfer classic Mac files intact.

2. When transferred to the shared folder, best copy the files inside the emulated machine from the 'Unix' volume to one of the other volumes that are disk images on the OSX side. While on the 'Unix' disk, files do not always behave as expected.

(Note that in MacOS the desktop is not a single location as in OSX. When files are moved directly from a volume onto the desktop in MacOS, those files are still on that volume and not copied to another volume.)
enriqueg
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by enriqueg »

Why don't you get all the files into a disk image or .zip/.sit/.bin file, then transfer that file to the Intel Mac and open it inside SheepShaver?
dickplotz
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by dickplotz »

That's exactly what I've done from the beginning. At some point they lose their identity as far as MacDraw is concerned. I'm conducting experiments to see if I can find out where that's happening. Ronald suggested that simply residing in the Unix (shared) folder might corrupt that information. That would be unfortunate, since that's a way to keep them available both within and outside SheepShaver. But if I have to remove them from the shared folder and move them around in order to preserve their identity, that's what I'll do. I can't think of any way to make them available to both environments without having them in the Unix folder. I tried putting an alias in the Unix folder, but it couldn't find the external file.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

The Unix disk/shared folder is mainly for transferring files between host and guest system. The files do not loose their Mac properties on the Unix disk, but often those properties cannot be used there. That is why it is better to copy the files inside SheepShaver from the Unix disk to a different volume (disk). Sometimes document files can be used from both sides in the shared folder, but applications will usually not work when on the Unix disk.

Aliases in the shared folder do not work. A Unix-style symlink (symbolic link) on the OSX side will work, but that is something for expert users and the limitations of the Unix disk will still be the same.

Edit:

Note that:
1. All used disks, including USB flash drives, must be HFS or HFS+ (Macintosh standard or Macintosh extended) formatted to keep classic Mac files intact.
2. Archive formats used in MacOSX (like the default zip compression) cannot be expanded in MacOS with Mac properties preserved.
Last edited by Ronald P. Regensburg on Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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uyjulian
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by uyjulian »

Try this:
Compress the file using a supported format, move it to Mac OS X using disk images or "Unix", unzip it.
Did it work?
dickplotz
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Re: getting MacDraw to recognize MacDraw files

Post by dickplotz »

Yes, that's what I've been doing from the start. Upon unzipping, all MacDraw files have the proper identification. Then later (after quitting and restarting SheepShaver and with the passage of some days), without having been moved, some of the files have lost their identification. I think if I store the files compressed and then unzip them in OS X when I need to use them, it will work every time. But that's kludgy. If I have to do it, I will, but if there's a way to store them so they're directly available to MacDraw in SheepShaver and at the same time directly available to the Finder in OS X and retain their identification as MacDraw files, that would be highly preferable.
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