Newbie 2 Mac: How decode HQX file?
Eric Merth
I'm a long time DOS/UNIX user, now using Macs extensively. I
am suffering from culture shock!
Can some good person explain to me what are HQX files? Also
how can I decode a .HQX into an executable or what-have-you?
I downloaded several useful looking files from Simtel20 on
wuarchive, and I got binhex 5.0, but binhex just creates
generic documents out of the HQX's!
I could really use some advice!
Thanks in advance,
-EWM
Ken Anderson
>Hello to the world of Mac!
>I'm a long time DOS/UNIX user, now using Macs extensively. I
>am suffering from culture shock!
Hello, hope you enjoy your stay...
>Can some good person explain to me what are HQX files? Also
>how can I decode a .HQX into an executable or what-have-you?
Yes, a .hqx file is the result of converting an 8-bit ASCII file into a
7-bit ASCII file. This is useful for sending the file via communication
lines.
>I downloaded several useful looking files from Simtel20 on
>wuarchive, and I got binhex 5.0, but binhex just creates
>generic documents out of the HQX's!
>I could really use some advice!
Try getting a hold of Stuffit Expander 3.5.1. Its freeware and should do the
trick. You can make it do a lot more by also getting DropStuff with Expander
Enhancer. The rub here is that the latter is shareware, but well worth the
price.
You can find both at the standard mac anonymous ftp sites and their mirrors,
like sumex-aim.stanford.edu, and mac.archive.umich.edu.
Good luck,
Ken
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Ken Anderson Ken_An...@acm.org U.C. Irvine-
- "A knowledge of C is probably better than nothing." -- J.G.P. Barnes -
- Finger kand...@ics.uci.edu for PGP Public Key -
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Rod Cerkoney
: Hello to the world of Mac!
Welcome!
: Can some good person explain to me what are HQX files? Also
: how can I decode a .HQX into an executable or what-have-you?
HQX files are "ASCIIfied" mac files, TEXT or BINARY. Similar but not
equal to UUENCODED files in the UNIX/MS-DOS world. Some mac text files
require this conversion because: A Mac file contains two parts, or
FORKS. The Resourse fork and the Data fork. Briefly the Resourse fork
will contain things like font information, icons...etc. The Data fork
contains data, code (?) ... etc.
: I downloaded several useful looking files from Simtel20 on
: wuarchive, and I got binhex 5.0, but binhex just creates
: generic documents out of the HQX's!
After a file is deHQXed it sometimes needs a second convertion into
a Mac file. 1st the simple case:
If the file you are tring to recover is a data file produced by a
program such as Excel or WordPerfect; you need the application to
read it. And, when that application is installed, the Finder's
database of icons is updated allowing the display of your document's
icon on the desktop.
2nd case:
If the program is some kind of program or a colection of data
documents, the file resulting from the deHQX process is typically
named with something ending in SIT, CPT or SEA. SEA's are easy, they
are Self Extracting Archieve. Double clicking should run the program
& extract the file. Analogous to *.EXE files produced by PKZIP & LHA
in the DOS world. SIT and CPT file are produced buy the two most
popular compression/archiver programs in the MAC world: Stuffit and
Compact Pro, respectively. Both are shareware and Stuffit comes in a
commercial version as well. Personally I prefer Stuffit, it can
HQXify & deHQXify and extract file for CPT archives. Running either
Stuffit or Compact Pro should allow you to inteact with you deHQXed
file & turn them into Mac file. The DOS analog is running LHA or
UNZIP on *LHZ or *ZIP files.
Finally, Compact Pro & Stuffit are availble in SEA format from various
BBS & FTP sites. When you download them into the MAC be sure you use a
terminal emulator capable of MacBinary downloads, Zterm is one example.
MacBinary downloads preserves the DATA/RESOURCE fork structure of the
SEA allowing it to be run as a program. Hope this helps. If you continue
to have trouble or have a question to clear up a point, drop me a line.
Good Luck!
--
Regards,
Rod Cerkoney
_____________________________________________ /\
Rod Cerkoney /~~\
Hewlett Packard / \
3404 East Harmony Rd. / \
Fort Collins, CO 80525 /\ / \
/ \/ \ /\
r...@fc.hp.com / \ \ / \
_____________________________________________/ \ \/ \__
Eugene_Gierson
wrote:
> how can I decode a .HQX
You need to get DropStuff 3.5.1, and
Stuffit Expander 3.5.1.
One is shareware. The other is freeware.
They, used together, will make .hqx files readable.
***Sent by the only FC offline reader, Bulk Rate, from
Eugene_...@lamg.com***
RT
wrote:
> how can I decode a .HQX
That's easy. First, download your hqx-ed file. Next, place it on your desktop
folder. Then, block out .hqx and press delete. Wala, you're done. Your file
is officially de-hqx-ed. I know you want to give my all your gratitude so I'll
say you're welcome in advance. You're welcome!
Tim Collins
> RT
> eabu...@rigel.oac.uci.edu
Cleaver? NO!
Funny? NO!
Now back to the original poster.....
The .hqx extension signifies that the file hase been "BinHex'ed".
BinHex is an encoding similar to, but not the same as UUEncoding
(which you have probably come accross). BinHexed files are ASCII text,
and should have type "TEXT" (if you don't know what that means then
you probably don't need to know!). A copy of BinHex 4.0 or BinHex
5.0 will decode .hqx files. However, only BinHex 4.0 will encode
BinHex (confusing? Yes!) (FYI BinHex 5.0 produces files in a variation
of the MacBinary format... but that's another story!)
Once you have a working copy of BinHex, then I strongly suggest that
you obtain a copy of the StuffIt Expander (you'll need BinHex first,
because StuffIt Expander will invariably come BinHex'ed!!)
With StuffIt Expander you will be able to decode BinHex, extract
StuffIt archives, and expand Compact Pro (formerly Compactor)
archives.
StuffIt Expander is freeware. (N.B. NOT public domain!)
If you want to extend Expander's capabilities, get the DropStuff with
StuffIt Expander Enhancer. The "Expander Enhancer" will enable the
StuffIt Expander application to do more things, while the "Drop Stuff"
application will enable to make StuffIt Archives of your own.
DropStuff with Expander Enhancer is shareware, and so you have to pay
$30 (???) to use it after a certain length of time (15 days?).
Me? I have and use StuffIt Expander, but have not gone for the
Expander Enhancer. I might in the future.
All the best!
Tim.
P.S. For more information concerning archives, compression formats,
and the like, get the FAQ, or the mac.ftp.list both of which are
posted periodically to this newsgroup (the FAQ is posted in about 4
parts... )
P.P.S. I wish Apple would make a successor to the (ageing) BinHex 4.0
application... and distribute it *free* with every new machine, and
post it to thier ftp site!!!
--
Timothy L D Collins | phy...@gps.leeds.ac.uk
Physics Dept. | phy...@phys-irc.novell.leeds.ac.uk
University of Leeds, |
Leeds. | "Opinions expressed are just that: opinions!"
Patrick Hoepfner
(Tim Collins) wrote:
> RT (eabu...@rigel.oac.uci.edu) wrote:
> > In message ID <38jq4c$o...@quartz.ucs.ualberta.ca> on 10/25/94, Eric
> > Merth wrote:
> >
> > > how can I decode a .HQX
> Once you have a working copy of BinHex, then I strongly suggest that
> you obtain a copy of the StuffIt Expander (you'll need BinHex first,
> because StuffIt Expander will invariably come BinHex'ed!!)
No so. Many places that have BinHexed copies of StuffIt Expander have a
binary version right next to it.
-->It is available from your favorite Info-Mac mirror site as:
/info-mac/cmp/stuffit-expander-351.bin
/info-mac/cmp/stuffit-expander-351.hqx
-->Or the University of Texas:
ftp://ftp.utexas.edu/pub/mac/compression/stuffit-expander-351.bin
ftp://ftp.utexas.edu/pub/mac/compression/stuffit-expander-351.hqx
The version ending with the ".bin" is in MacBinary format. If you
transfer it to a non-Mac, copy it as binary. When you transfer it to the
Mac, transfer it as MacBinary (not Binary).
For methods of decoding a BinHex file on a Unix or VMS machine (and
speeding the transfer to the Mac) check out the comp.sys.mac.comm FAQ
file. It can be found in the "comp.sys.mac.comm" news group or in the
"news.answers" news group or at one of the following FTP sites:
ftp://grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr/pub/faq/
ftp://ftp.germany.eu.net/pub/newsarchive/news.answers/
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/
ftp://mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/faq/
ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers/
From an Info-Mac mirror site it can be found as:
/info-mac/info/comm/csm-communications-faq.txt
-- Pat --------------------------------------> hoep...@haiti.gsfc.nasa.gov