How compress file from modern Mac into Compact Mac?

[rickyzhang]

This problem bothered me a lot. I want to transfer a collections of files from my modern Mac to compact Mac. 

It is painful to transfer it through floppy disk. So I use ethernet on my compact Mac and transfer a compressed file through ftp.

But Mac SE can't decompress the file in stuffit expander. I have try gzip, tar, hqx and sit. They all failed in SE. 

Can anyone give me some hints on how to transfer a collection of files easily from modern Mac/PC to compact Mac?

 

[Paralel]

It's unlikely you'll be able to use any utility on a modern Mac that will allow for decompression on a 68k Mac. You will either need to transfer the files directly to the SE, first encoding them into a BIN or HQX file so they survive the transfer process, without compressing them, or use an emulator to compress the files in a virtual 68k environment, which will allow you to successfully decompress them with the corresponding expander on the SE.

 

[Elfen]

In the old days, .sit compression by Alladin Software's Stuffit program was the compression used by Mac users. It also handled .bin and .hqx compression schemes. At the same time, PC DOS/Windows used .zip and a few others.

You can get StuffIt and Stuffit Expander for the older Macs, it will be able to handle .sit, .bin, .hqx, .zip and many other compression formats. In the minimum you would need .sit, .bin, hqx, and .zip compression formats which Stuffit and Stuffit Expander handles.

RickyZhang, which version of Stuffit did you used? You may need to get an older version that will run on a 68K and not PowerPC.

 

[massiverobot]

Your best bet is to go to Craigslist or Ebay and get an '040 based Macintosh. Use that as an intermediary. Using a SE alone is an almost impossible/impractical pursuit. You also need System 7 or above to run the SMI (self-mounting images) and or DiskCopy.

Of course you connect them together using Localtalk, and use your new '040 Mac running 7+ as a Fileshare... then you don't even need ethernet cards in everything.

I've done this to 'bootstap' my systems this year into something usable. I use a Quadra 840 that I picked up very cheaply. 

The bonus here is that most '040 macs will have built in ethernet (just get a transceiver). You will use that ethernet to connect to your Modern Mac(s). You would use something like FTP in this case- ftp from the '040 mac to your modern mac.

 

[rickyzhang]

It's unlikely you'll be able to use any utility on a modern Mac that will allow for decompression on a 68k Mac. You will either need to transfer the files directly to the SE, first encoding them into a BIN or HQX file so they survive the transfer process, without compressing them, or use an emulator to compress the files in a virtual 68k environment, which will allow you to successfully decompress them with the corresponding expander on the SE.

I tried the second method that compress collections file by dropstuff in mini vmac. But 68K Mac stuff expander can't decompress it.

MacBinary and BinHex can encode one file per time. It would be painful to decode them on another end.

@Elfen

I used stuffit 4.01 from mini vmac. It works for some sit files but not all sit files.

@massiverobot

BTW, I have added Ethernet in SE and host an ftp server in modern Mac. But I'm not sure what's your purpose of 040 based mac. Can you explain it more?

 

[massiverobot]

@massiverobot

BTW, I have added Ethernet in SE and host an ftp server in modern Mac. But I'm not sure what's your purpose of 040 based mac. Can you explain it more?

Sure, there are 3 reasons to add on '040/'030 mac to the mix.

1. Much much faster. It will decompress the files for you so you can copy them - uncompressed- to your SE via localtalk.

2. More RAM and disk - most 040s you will pick up will have 8+ megs and 200 Meg hd, making the decompression and storage much easier.

3. They are cheap. Get the cheapest you can find- you don't care about collect-ability just that it works.

Also, a suitably equipped '030 would work as well. You just want something that can run say 7.5.3 or 7.5.5 and do all the decompression for you.

Perhaps Ebay is not the answer- in that case, Craigslist. I see a LCIII near me for $40. Yeah, hmmm, the prices on Ebay are crazy.

 

[Cory5412]

Just as a quick note, linking to pirated software is against the forum rules.

Also, is there a particular reason you're using file compression to begin with? In my experience, compression is only really relevant if you are either moving a large group of extremely small files (more convenient to choose a single one-meg file than a few dozen few-kilobyte files, during an FTP transfer for example) or if you're grouping something.

Though, I'll be honest if you're using system 7 or newer it may make more sense to get Disk Copy 6, which is available online (also on macworld/macaddict CDs and on Apple's old software page) and use that for grouping.

Another thing you may do is set up netatalk, which in my experience over the several years I've been using it flawlessly allows system 7 and modern Mac OS X systems to transfer files.

 

[Elfen]

Thanks for the heads up. I apologize on mistake on the past post. It won't happen again.

 

[rickyzhang]

The Ethernet speed on my Asante is at 50Kbyte/s. I'm moving MPW 3.2 with a lot of small files. Using compression can reduce total file size from 16mb to 5mb.

I will look into disk copy. Using gzip messed up resource fork and data fork. Disk copy sounds a good solution.

I have fedora running netatalk. Can you tell me what client in system 7 can access AFS? TIA

 

[techknight]

I think Disk Copy images have compression as well. 

Worse comes to worse, just run Basilisk II on the modern machine and do a dropstuff in there, from the stuffit suite available in certain areas of the internet. 

Then convert it into an hqx from the emulation. Dump the file out of emulation onto the modern machine to be transferred. 

 

[Mk.558]

I am a big fan of CompactPro.

Lightweight, runs under System 4.1 or greater (requires a 512Ke or above), has a built-in BinHex encoder/decoder, and just...works.

Use Mini vMac or another emulator like Basilisk II to take the files, compress them, encode them via BinHex if you're using FTP, and push them over the wires.

Not all Disk Copy 6.1.2+ images are compressed. Some are, and only DC 6.1.2+ can open them. You need a 68020 or higher to convert or create a Read-Only Compressed disk images. Make coffee in the meantime -- I tried converted a DC 6.3.3 Read/Write image to Read-Only Compressed and it took about seven minutes.

 

[rickyzhang]

@technight

Disk Copy can't run in mini vMac. It may require to run in real metal. I will install it in my SE. But how can modern Mac create image for them?

For your last suggestion that compress it in mini vmac or Basilik, I have tried that already. The *.sit.hqx file can't decompress in SE. It seems stuck in scanning.

@MK.558

Compact Pro really takes time. It is still compressing in mini vMac even after my dinner. I should do it in Basilik II, instead. Let's see if it works or not later. In any case, thanks for your suggestion.

BTW, are there anyone using netatalk to share files with System 7.0.1? I can't find a AFS client in System 7.0.1

 

[Paralel]

@technight

Disk Copy can't run in mini vMac. It may require to run in real metal...

Absolutely incorrect. I run 6.3.3, 6.1.2, & 4.2 with no trouble whatsoever.

 

[rickyzhang]

Sorry, my bad. I should restart the system. I downloaded disk copy 6.3.3 from Apple legacy software site. It works only after restarting OS.

After trial and error for an hour, I figure out two different ways from virtual world to real metal:

1. Disk Copy 6.3.3

1. In Basilik II, use disk copy 6.3.3 add whole folders.

2. Then use MacBinary *inside* BasilikII, encode image files.

3. Back to mini vmac, use exportfl to export image bin files to modern Mac.

4. Ftp bin files from real mac into SE.

The second step that bin image file inside virtual world is the key step. It took me some time to figure out. I bin the image files in modern Mac. It failed brutally.

2. Compact Pro

1. In Basilik II, use Compact Pro compress whole folders as self extraction file. It took me a whole dinner time to compress in mini vMac. But the file size shrink down to only one fourth of the image files.

2. Then use MacBinary *inside* BasilikII, encode sea files.

3. Back to mini vmac, use exportfl to export sea bin files to modern Mac.

4. Ftp bin files from real mac into SE.

For my first question that compress file in modern Mac to compact Mac, I should mark the title as fixed. Thanks for all your help.

The last question is about AFS netatalk between modern Mac and compact Mac. I still can't figure it out by myself.

 

[Mk.558]

Seems a little tedious.

There is a speed control in Mini vMac? Control + S, then A. All out. Also Basilisk II should have a UNIX Root volume on a Mac, on a PC there is a directory browser with C, D, E et cetera drives.

Netatalk: In my signature.

 

[massiverobot]

Netatalk: In my signature.

This.... is a great page. I used it to build my netatalk server on Ubuntu 10.04 as a virtual machine on vMware ESXi (which is free).

 

[rickyzhang]

Netatalk: In my signature.

This is one of the most helpful signature I have ever seen. I will give a try next weekend.

 

[Mk.558]

Just be careful, the Netatalk ./configure string is not correct there. You can't use --enable-zeroconf until Netatalk 2.2, and you don't need --enable-ddp until Netatalk 2.2 which disabled DDP by default. Unless, of course, you are using Netatalk 2.2a1 through 2.2.5. (I had problems with Zeroconf. Don't use it unless you can figure out what's going on wrong with it.)

For Netatalk 2.1.6, use this:

./configure --enable-debian --sysconfdir=/etc --with-uams-path=/usr/lib/netatalk --with-ssl-dir=/usr/lib/

If you want to use CUPS for print jobs (I don't mention anything about printing, as I don't even have a printer and there's so many of them that it's not worth it for me) or Apple IIGS netbooting, then you can add the --enable-a2boot and/or --enable-cups flags.

Version 3.2 update, which might come out in about two months, will be substantially better. More content, too. ,