copying files between the PC and the Macintosh

When copying files between PC & Mac, there are 3 very important parameters which can make your lives miserable or happy, depending on whether or not you understand them:

  1. PC file extension
  2. Mac file type
  3. Mac Creator

The PC file extension sort of acts like the Mac creator/type parameters. Most software that copies files between Macs and PC's allows you to associate a particular Mac file type/creator pair with a particular PC extension.

Important Mac file types:

  1. TIFF (this, in case it isn't obvious, is the file type for TIFF images)
  2. JPEG (this, in case it isn't obvious, is the file type for JPEG images)
  3. MEGA (this is the file type for MegaVision MEGA files, which are the undeveloped files captured by the S2)

Important Mac creators:

  1. 8BIM (this is the creator assigned to Photoshop)
  2. MVT2 (this is the creator assigned to MegaVision)

Important PC extensions:

  1. .TIF (the very common extension for TIFF files)
  2. .JPG (the very common extension for JPEG files)
  3. .MEG (the very uncommon extension for MEGA files)

For example, if you copy a file from the PC to the Mac that has a ".TIF" file extension , you can associate ".TIF" with the Mac file type "TIFF" and the Mac creator "8BIM" using the file translation software. If you then double click on the file icon in the Mac, it will open Photoshop. If you assign the creator "MVT2", Photoshoot software will open when you double click on the file icon.

So...the trick to making files read transparently between PC and MAC is to name them properly and set up the file translation software properly. Following are 2 examples of software dealing with MegaVision undeveloped "Mega" files.

EXAMPLE 1

MacOpener by DataViz

I have found this to be very good software that runs on the PC under Windows 3.1, 95, 98, and NT 4.0 and allows the PC to read, write, and format Mac disks.

  1. Select MacOpener/MacOpener Driver Preferences/Setup Extension Mapping/Add
  2. Type "MegaFile" into the "File Name" box.
  3. Type "MEGA" and "MVT2" into the "MAC Type/Creator" boxes. USE ALL CAPS
  4. Type "MEG" into the "PC Extension" box
  5. Click the "Both Directions" radio to determine when to use.

If you do the above, the file extension will automatically be added to the file when it is copied from the Mac to the PC, and the File Type/Creator will automatically be added to the file when it is copied from the PC to the Mac. Any Mega file which then goes from the Mac to the PC and back to the Mac can be opened by Photoshoot™. Using drag and drop, you can open groups of Mega files.

Similarly, you can make the Session Log file come back to the Mac as a text file and the thumbnail image file return to the Mac as a "TIFF" file, both with creator "MVT2". This will allow you to open sessions transparently as well as individual files that have been saved to the PC.

EXAMPLE 2

PC Exchange

PC Exchange is a Mac Control Panel program. Select Control Panels > PC Exchange under the Apple Menu and:

  1. Type "MEG" into the "PC Suffix" entry box
  2. Set the Application Program to Photoshoot
  3. Set the Document type to MEGA

This will allow files copied from the PC to the Mac with the file extension ".MEG" to be opened with Photoshoot.

NOTE: This will NOT add a file extension to Mega files copied from the Mac to the PC, so if you use PC Exchange, you will have to manually name the files with a ".MEG" file extension.

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