Shrink-Fit X for older Mac OS X systems

D Finnigan

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Mar 7, 2012, 1:39:36 PM3/7/12

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I thought I'd post to let others know: if you're still using an older
version of Mac OS X, such as 10.4 or 10.5, Mr. Sherlock has released a
version compiled to work on these systems. It is a 32-bit Universal binary.

If you haven't tried the program at all-- do! It is incredibly useful for
peeking at the contents of a SHK archive without having to open your
emulator or transfer the SHK to your IIgs.

http://osx.ksherlock.com/Shrink-Fit-X-10.4.zip

--
]DF$
Mac GUI Vault - A source for retro Apple II and
Macintosh computing.
http://macgui.com/vault/

Ken Gagne

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Mar 8, 2012, 11:04:24 AM3/8/12

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Great news! Thank you, sir.

For those of us running Snow Leopard or Lion, is there any reason
*not* to run this more compatible version of Shrink-Fit X?

-Ken

Egan Ford

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Mar 8, 2012, 12:55:15 PM3/8/12

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On 3/7/12 11:39 AM, D Finnigan wrote:
> I thought I'd post to let others know: if you're still using an older
> version of Mac OS X, such as 10.4 or 10.5, Mr. Sherlock has released a
> version compiled to work on these systems. It is a 32-bit Universal binary.
>
> If you haven't tried the program at all-- do! It is incredibly useful for
> peeking at the contents of a SHK archive without having to open your
> emulator or transfer the SHK to your IIgs.
>
> http://osx.ksherlock.com/Shrink-Fit-X-10.4.zip
>

I just use nulib from the command line. E.g. nulib v foo.shk. Any
others use nulib? Are there other CLI tools?

Hugh Hood

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Mar 10, 2012, 2:53:40 PM3/10/12

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> in article jjarq3$lmn$1...@news.xmission.com, Egan Ford at data...@gmail.com
> wrote on 3/8/12 11:55 AM:

>
> I just use nulib from the command line. E.g. nulib v foo.shk. Any
> others use nulib? Are there other CLI tools?

Egan,

While I've just started using Kelvin's Shrink-Fit X for OS X 10.4, I've used
Andy McFaddin's 'nulib2' for a number of years. (e.g. nulib2 -x foo.shk)

It is an update/rewrite of the 'nulib' you mentioned, with its last official
release (version 2.2) in 2007.

Andy did release a patch in 2009 to correct a problem 'unwrapping'
NON-archived files in a Binary II wrapper (.BNY) sent via ProTERM 3.1. IIRC,
there was an issue with an incorrect byte count in the last block on the
file. If someone has that issue, I'm sure Andy can supply the fix, or refer
you back to me if he's lost it.

I keep my Apple IIs serially connected to my Macs (Unix terminals) and send
files back and forth mostly with ProTERM 3.1. Apparently, I was the first to
mention this particular issue to him and to his credit he had it resolved
within a week.

{BTW, for archived/shrunk files (.SHK/.BXY) this issue does not occur}.

The only thing I wish nulib2 would do that it doesn't currently do is
preserve the ProDOS file type attributes (on a Mac using the 'AppleShare'
method of a 'pdos' creator code and a 'pTAA' file type) when 'unwrapping'
.BNY files. It does preserve the ProDOS attributes on .SHK/.BXY files, but
not for their un-shrunken brethren.

I'm not aware of any other CLI tools for shrunk files.

The non-CLI methods I've used (on a Mac) are the OS 9/Classic utility
'Shrink II' that Syndicomm still sells, and also 'TimeOut ShrinkIt' running
inside Mark Munz's Deja IIx AppleWorks emulator (for certain types of shrunk
files). And, of course, Bernie and Sweet 16 actually running ShrinkIt.

With regard to Shrink-Fit X, I know Kelvin had to jump through a number of
hoops to get Shrink-Fit X to build for the older OS's (10.4 and 10.5) and
I'm very appreciative for his efforts on Shrink-Fit X and also on ProFUSE.

The only thing I've asked Kelvin to add to Shrink-Fit X is the ability to
preserve the ProDOS attributes using the 'AppleShare' Creator Type/File Type
method.

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm big on preserving ProDOS attributes.
<grin>

Hugh Hood