Unstuffing a .sitx file under 7.5?

[MarkS]

I naively thought that StuffIt would unstuff StuffIt files. I need to access the files in a .sitx file and StuffIt 5.5 doesn't recognize it as a valid archive. Doing a little research, it appears that this file requires a later version of StuffIt that only works on OS 9. Naturally, I only have OS 7.5 available for my emulator...

How can I do this? The contents of the file is a graphics API and I need the resource files within it. I cannot use StuffIt for Windows since the resource fork is deleted. There are options of retaining the resource fork (extracting as a MacBinary, AppleDouble and something with NTSF), but ResEdit doesn't recognize that they have a resource fork when I use those options. I'm at a loss. I desperately need this to work.

 

[Charlieman]

Extract as MacBinary. Then use a Mac app on your emulator to convert the MacBinary encoded file into a real Mac file.

 

[protocol7]

And if you extract it as MacBinary it will also be decompressed automatically by HFVExplorer when you copy it onto your hfv file.

 

[MarkS]

Thanks, but that doesn't work. HFVExplorer says that the file header is corrupt (bad name).

 

[protocol7]

Well, you got further than I did. I installed the latest Stuffit Expander in Windows and can't find ANY options. My trusty old Stuffit 5.1 has the extract to MacBinary option but can't open those godforsaken sitx files.

 

[MarkS]

Well, you got further than I did. I installed the latest Stuffit Expander in Windows and can't find ANY options. My trusty old Stuffit 5.1 has the extract to MacBinary option but can't open those godforsaken sitx files.

Not expander, StuffIt Standard.

 

[Watchsmart]

MarkS:

I'm not sure if the procedure you are following is going to give you something usable in the emulated system. However... can you just skip HFVExplorer and get the MacBinary file into the hard disk using the "My Computer" thing?

Can the MacBinary file that you now have be extracted using an old Stuffit inside of the emulator?

 

[MarkS]

MarkS:
I'm not sure if the procedure you are following is going to give you something usable in the emulated system. However... can you just skip HFVExplorer and get the MacBinary file into the hard disk using the "My Computer" thing?

I cannot transfer directly from the Windows hard drive since the "drive" that HFVExplorer creates is actually a file. The only way to get anything onto that drive from within Windows is to use HFVExplorer. However, it tries to be helpful and checks the validity of the files. I do not need it or want it to do that and there doesn't seem to be any way around it.

Can the MacBinary file that you now have be extracted using an old Stuffit inside of the emulator?

Only under OS 9 and up with StuffIt 7.x and up (which requires OS 9). However, I do not have a ROM file that will support OS 9. I can install up to OS 8.1. If I'm not mistaken, StuffIt 7.x and up require a PPC Mac as well. The only PPC Mac emulators I can find seem to require Linux and have to be compiled. That is one thing I hate about Linux. While I am a developer, I want the applications I use to be pre-compiled. I do not want to use a command line interface to compile a program to use a GUI. It simply doesn't make sense. I may have to go that route, but i'm not certain that it will work.

This is more of a headache than it's worth. I don't know if I should be mad at Apple for creating and pushing the resource file concept or Alladin for creating a file format that cannot be used on earlier computers. Maybe both.

[EDIT]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone happen to know the format of the .sitx file? It may be worth my time to write my own extractor.

 

[protocol7]

I cannot transfer directly from the Windows hard drive since the "drive" that HFVExplorer creates is actually a file. The only way to get anything onto that drive from within Windows is to use HFVExplorer. However, it tries to be helpful and checks the validity of the files. I do not need it or want it to do that and there doesn't seem to be any way around it.

You can.

http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/basilisk_ii_setup#the_basilisk_ii_gui

If you don't have the same GUI just add or edit the prefs file to read:

extdrives CDE

(where CDE etc are the drive letters you want to be accessible inside the emulated mac)

The messy thing with this method is that it writes folders to the host drives to store resource forks. That's why I prefer to use HFVExplorer with SheepShaver.

 

[Watchsmart]

"The only PPC Mac emulators I can find seem to require Linux and have to be compiled."

How about SheepShaver? Here is the latest version for Windows: http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver

"However, I do not have a ROM file that will support OS 9."

If you already have basilisk set up, you can use that to (legally) get a PPC ROM for SheepShaver: http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver_roms With one of those ROMs you can use SheepShaver.

 

[protocol7]

Yup, Sheepshaver has been pre-compiled for Windows for a long time and works great.

As for my previous tip about getting direct access to the host hard drives, I left out one line in the prefs file:

enableextfs true

I don't use any GUI here with SheepShaver as the only changes I usually have to make are adding new iso/hfv files, so I simply edit the SheepShaver_prefs file in Notepad.

 

[MarkS]

Thanks for the tips. I finally got this to work under SheepShaver (what's with that name?) and OS 8.6. This has been incredibly frustrating. But it's done, I'm relieved, and after weeks of trying to open a single file, I can finally start my project... :approve:

Thanks again!

 

[protocol7]

Happy days!

SheepShaver is a pun on the name of the author's original Mac emulator for Amiga called ShapeShifter.