Carbon Lib

wild_eyed

im having a lot of problems with an old mac i bought, any programs i download just apear as type document, which means that i cant run them or anything, it the same for .sit files. stuffit expander doesnt regcognise them.

what is carbon lib?
where can i d/l it and me not having it how would it affect my machine?

luckat

Carbon Lib is a program used by very old feminists. If you want it, I have it; pm me and I'll send it to you.

dando80

I don't think that the files showing up as document type and not opening is anything to do with carbonlib. Most likely the type and creator fields have been screwed up somehow when downloading. This is a very common problem when downloading files on a pc and then copying them to a mac as all the meta information stored in the resource fork (for classic mac os anyway) is stripped away because it has no meaning in the pc world. It's kind of odd if it's happening on files that you downloaded on the mac though. If you have a program called resedit on the machine you can use it easily to change the type and creator back. You will find info on how to do this on the internet.

Otherwise you could search for utilities that do this for you. I have a few but i cannot recall their names right now.

wild_eyed

actually i downloaded the files on a pc, using limewire and burned them on the pc and then brought the burned cd full of apps to the mac.

dando80

If you open the stuffit files using resedit and go to file info in the menu and change the type and creator to SIT5 and SITD. I can't remember which is which but I'll check tonight. When you save changes the file will open correctly in expander. (If you get a message from resedit at the start about creating a resource fork, click yes or ok )

Here is the link for resedit: http://developer.apple.com/tools/ResEdit213.hqx

You should be able to get that onto the mac fine as it is hex encoded, just drop it on expander.

I have stuff at home for batch fixing files, I'll have it for you tomorrow :-)

Hugh_C

you couold also try reuilding the desltop. Hold down option-command (I think) while starting up, and say yes to the dialogue box.

It's ages since i used os 9 / 8 / whatever, so I might be wrong

dando80

Yes that might sort things out. I'll check out the correct key stroke combination and post later. Also, I was wrong with SIT5 , it should be SIT! instead. I'm trying to find the missing lan connector of my old powerbook. If i do I'll email (must bring to work! no floppy drive or modem in the machine)wild_eyed a couple of drag and drop files that automatically assign the correct properties to files dropped on them.

wild_eyed

ah man, thats sounds great, let me know, excellent.

dando80

Have found the network cable and will email you the files saturday night when im back in work. Send on your email address to dando80@eircom.net.

wild_eyed

just to let you people know, i found out how to rebuild the desktop and still no luck. i heard that maybe when i burned the files using windows that the mac files may become curropted or somthing in the process, any truth to this, i also heard that mac uses a different cdrom structure or sumthing which may also have led to bad files, any info on this?

dando80

Yo sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I tested this earlier on and IT DOES WORK. I'm making the outrageous assumption that you have Applescript installed but unless your mac is a total dinosaur altogether then it does. You will probably find the script editor in the Apple Extras->Applescript folder on your hard disk. If you can't then do a find for it.

When you find the script editor, launch it and type the following into the lower part of the window:


on open theSelectedItems
with timeout of 1800 seconds
tell application "Finder"
activate

set lastItem to the last item of theSelectedItems as text
repeat with thisItem in theSelectedItems

set file type of thisItem to "SITD"
set creator type of thisItem to "SIT!"

end repeat
end tell
end timeout
end open





Now go to the file menu and save this as an application on your desktop and give it a name like "Fix Stuffit Archive"

Now every corrupted sit file you drop on this application (you can drop more than one at a time) will be fixed with the right type/creator codes and will work with stuffit when dropped on expander. You should see the change pretty much straight away as the icon will change from that of a generic file to that of a stuffit archive.

You can use the same script to correct other types of files too. If you used "TEXT" for type and "ttxt" for creator, you would have a applet that linked all .txt files you dropped on it with simpletext.

Here are a couple of other useful type/creator pairs although the sit one above is the one you will use most often:


TYPE CREATOR DESCRIPTION
========+=============+=====================
aust + APPL + Stuffit self extracting archive
TEXT + BNHQ + Binhex file (hqx)
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +

Hope this sorts you out

dando80

Sorry the formatting came out a little funny there you shoul still be able to make it out though:


(CREATOR TYPE)

APPL aust Will fix self extracting stuffit archives
BNHQ TEXT Will fix binhex (hqx) files