The Online World resources handbook
by Odd de Presno
http://home.eunet.no/~presno/index.html
HINTS FOR MACINTOSH USERS
=========================
Items covered:
1. Reading ASCII text on your Macintosh.
2. Dealing with .ZIP compressed files.
3. Problem: Double spacing between lines
4. The easy way out. . . .
1. Reading ASCII text on your Macintosh
---------------------------------------
One user sent in the following request:
Odd, I have read your posting on the mailing list server at Nodak
regarding your book in electronic form 'The Online World shareware
book'. I noticed that it is available via FTP in MS-DOS compressed form
and in ASCII form. As a Mac user who has technical difficulties in
transferring between formats, etc, is it possible to get a Mac MS
Word version?
This is a summary of what experienced Macintosh users suggested:
* ASCII files can be read by any Mac word processor. Sometimes
that import process is invisible to the user... sometimes it
requires choosing a special box on the screen... it all depends
on which version is being used. In any case... it's supposed
to be fairly simple.
Example: MS Word. You first start the MS Word program and then
import the text file.
MS Word for Windows will let you save the ASCII file that you
read in as a MacIntosh MS Word 4.0/5.0 file.
* You can read DOS files directly on the Macintosh with PC
Exchange, an Apple control panel program, readily available.
* A software package called MACLINK PLUS 6.0 on the MacIntosh can
convert many types of files MAC to IBM and vice-versa
(including MS Word).
* Copy the ASCII text file to a 3 1/2" IBM diskette (in 1.4 Mg
sections if necessary). Use one of the new MacIntoshes with
a SuperDrive that reads IBM diskettes and then have MS Word for
MAC read the file.
* If you only have a MacIntosh Plus or MAC without a SuperDrive,
then use a MacIntosh/IBM program called LAPLINK MAC, using a
cable to connect the serial ports on both the MAC and IBM. This
program shows the MacIntosh drives as if they were IBM
directories on the IBM PC, then just do a simple copy of your
ASCII file.
* If this user can FTP using ASCII instead of Binary to his Mac,
then he should have no problems with the file. What he'll need to
do is;
(NOTE: This is assuming they're FTPing directly to their MAC.)
>> FTP the ASCII version using the ASCII format instead of the BINARY.
>> Open up MS_Word and use the FILE OPEN command.
>> then do a SAVE AS command to save it in a Word Format.
The only problem with this is they will probably have to do
some formatting to get page/margins information to line up
correctly.
* If they use the MAC to connect to a mainframe account. They'll
need to do the following
>> FTP the ASCII Version to their mainframe account, by using the
>> ASCII instead of the BINARY commands.
>> Download the file from their Mainframe Account as an ASCII File.
>> Open up MS_Word and use the FILE OPEN command.
>> then do a SAVE AS command to save it in a Word Format.
If they need to know the difference between ASCII and BINARY
Commands during FTP then they will need to contact their support
people do get the specifics of their FTP Software.
* Lars H. Andersen in Iceland recommends the PlainText freeware text
editor, an "auto-wordwrapping text editor that handles big files and
little files with equal facility. There is no limit to the length or
number lines that a file can have. PlainText incorporates a useful set
of conversion features for converting between DOS, Unix, and Mac text
file conventions, stripping linefeeds and control characters, searching
for and stripping lines containing certain patterns, changing straight
to curly quotes and back, and more." Version 1.6 was archived as
[plain-text-16.hqx; 238K]. Available through the Internet. Made by
Mel Park
University of Tennessee, Memphis
mpark@nb.utmem.edu
2. Dealing with .ZIP compressed files
-------------------------------------
ZIP files can be unzipped by UnZip 2.0.1 (and a lot of other
unzippers). But of course, if the unzipped file is in DOS format
there may be difficulties.
If the file is compressed as a bin-hex, then any of the Macintosh
compression programs will convert and then uncompress ready for Mac
Word to open.
Susan Farrell wrote:
I use a program called Fetch (available from University of Michigan and other
Mac software archives) to do the ftp part. It is not necessary, but so much
simpler. Then I get the ASCII (uncompressed, if possible), which the Mac
treats like TXT (plain text). Open MS Word, then try to open the file. It will
ask what kind of translation you want. Choose TEXT. Viola!
Peter E. Sand wrote:
I use SitComm (a *full* service commercial communication program for the
Mac). SitComm translates just about everything, or at least everything
that I have come across.
Where to find the UnZip program:
You will find it in many libraries on the net. Just check that the
file name has not changed due to it having been replaced by a more
recent version. Here is one option:
ftp to mac.archive.umich.edu to retrieve unzip2.01.cpt.hqx
from the /mac/util/compression/ directory.
Here are some other pointers:
mac.archive.umich.edu:/mac/util/compression/zipit1.2.cpt.hqx
ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip/MAC/mac-unzip-51.hqx
From: Jean Pierre Wilmotte
I've got UnZip 2.0.1 and ZipIt 1.2.6 eventually. Through a path a little
different from the one mentioned by Odd (different e.a. because I found it
before reading his post with Subject: Unzip):
with gopher on Merit Macintosh Archive's mirror in Switzerland:
gopher: src.doc.ic.ac.uk
port : 70
path : /0-Most-Packages/mac-umich/util/compression
Actually, these 2 packages can be fetched by ftp and gopher, from Merit
Software Archives (at Merit or any mirror of Merit) in
.../<...mac...>/util/compression
Both UnZip and ZipIt did work. I liked ZipIt better (less hassel and a
decompressed file finer than with UnZip - but maybe I misused UnZip?).
Note that I still think that all this is a little bit confusing for the
newbies who subscribed to TOW because they are newbees who hope to be
guided smoothly to the Internet!
3. Problem: Double spacing between lines
----------------------------------------
A Mac user in Belgium had problems retrieving online.txt. He expected 'single-
spaced text with double spacing between paragraphs', but the single-spaced
text became double spaced.
Larry W. Daubert (U.S.A.) wrote:
I suspect the problem is the difference in the definition of "new-line".
Unix and I believe Macintosh use = new-line. MS-DOS uses
. The double space between lines could be done
in MS-DOS by .
There are utilities around in freeware that convert end_of_line characters.
They simply do a pattern match on the string and substitute for the new
string. All current releases of workstation Unix include a dos2unix and a
unix2dos command. I believe the latest versions of Macintosh have the same
kind of thing. Once the file is converted, its done until it has to go back
to the "other" host.
Tony Barry in Australia wrote:
Macs have no problem. They can write DOS files directly and convert the
different end of line character strings of Unix or DOS with utilities like
BBEdit. FTP tools like Xferit or Fetch can transmit text file to other ftp
sites and convert the end of line character automatically on the basis of
the OS of the site concerned. So far in shifting to and fro many text files
from vax, Unix and PC hosts I have never had to worry about the cr/lf , cr,
lf differeng convertions between operating system. The software has always
taken care of it for me.
Another user had a different view:
Using BBEdit to "cut lines containing (space), then paste them back" is
positively dangerous. It will leave you without all the lines that do
*not* contain a space, namely, many headlines!!! So I again ftped the
zipped file, unzipped, converted to Mac text, and loaded the result into
an EasyView folder. EasyView is a great way of reading it on the Mac.
Chuck Schneider (U.S.A.) wrote this:
To save hassle, the Mac user should use a non-proportional font,
widen the margins and decrease the font size so that the hard
coded linefeeds remain within the margins.
Otherwise, some sort of a search/replace routine will be necessary
to get rid of all the unnecessary hard-returns.
This is a suggestion from user GlennB7490@aol.com:
Needs:
1-Your word processor. ( That thing that shows the double-spaced text that
should be single-spaced.)
2- BBEditLite, a shareware text editor available on many Mac sites.
Procedure:
1-Curse all pc's for not working as well as Macs.
2-Cut, do not Copy, a relatively small portion of the offending document from
the word processor's display and Paste it into BBEdit. (BBEdit only holds a
small amout of text. Don't overload it.)
3-Select "Cut Lines Containing..." from the Extensions menu of BBEdit.
4-Press the spacebar once, then press the "Cut" button in that window.
5-Watch the text in the BBEdit window as it disappears.
6-Stop worrying. Trust me.
7-Press "Paste" in the BBEdit Edit menu.
8-Say "Wow" as the now single-spaced text appears in the BBEdit window.
9-Cut and Paste the text back into the original document on your wp.
10-Cut, do not Copy, the next portion of double-spaced text text from your wp
and repeat steps until all the double-spaced text is replaced with
single-spaced stuff.
11-Repeat Step 1.
12-Repeat three times:"I'll never buy a computer that uses Messy-DOS".
You're Welcome.
4. The easy way out. . . .
--------------------------
Have the handbook sent to you on a 1.44 MB Macintosh diskette. See the
file TOW REGISTER for details.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have anything to add to the hints in this file, please email me at
presno@eunet.no .
This is the TOW.MAC file. The most recent version of this file can be
retrieved by email from LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU . Put the following
command in the text of your mail:
GET TOW.MAC
You can also get it at ftp://listserv.nodak.edu/public/TOW/TOW.MAC
For more information about The Online World resources handbook, add the line
GET TOW.MASTER
Thanks,
Odd
960528op