Re: Getting files from a pc => mac => IIGS and/or a IIe

Greg Buchner wrote: 
In article <qd6dnXHcucu3BAveRVn-pA@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
 "Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@xxxxxxx> wrote:


Since the Mac only handles I/O, but never moves the floppy
file into a Mac filesystem, it doesn't get a fork in the first place.


Common misconception. The Mac doesn't always automatically add a resource fork to any file it touches.

When Mac OS is adding a resource fork in this situation is when the file is being copied from an HFS/HFS+ volume to a ProDOS volume. Mac OS adds the resource fork to retain all the Mac filesystem info like Filetype and Creator. 

Since I always copied files from a PC disk to the Mac hard disk,
then copied the files to the ProDOS disk, I *always* got a fork added.
(I only had one 3.5" floppy drive.)  So I came by my misconception
honestly.  ;-)

Frankly, avoiding forks with a Mac is non-intuitive--as are forks
themselves, since so few file systems use them.  The concept of
associating meta-data with a file is a good one, but it becomes
quite intrusive on the Mac, particularly when it is only trying
to "preserve" attributes that it invented when the non-forked file
was copied to the Mac in the first place.  It seems like it would
have been a good idea to add a "non-essential" attribute to forks,
or at least a "fork free" attribute to a (ProDOS or PC) volume.  ;-)

BTW, I know that ProDOS was extended to *allow* forks, but allowing
a volume attribute to specify "no forks, please" would have been
a much more convenient implementation.

If you, on the Mac end, change the Creator to PDOS and the Filetype to BINA (I think) or TEXT, the file should be able to be copied onto a ProDOS floppy without adding a resource fork. 

Clearly pretty low on the usability index...  ;-)

You should also be able to copy a file over localtalk without a resource fork being added if you just copy the file from an PC floppy disk to the Mac volume. 

That, of course, was the original recommendation--keep the Mac
filesystem out of the loop.

-michael

Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."
.

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