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- NOTE: This file was written by an Executor user to help other Executor
- users solve common problems. ARDI has edited it slightly, but left it
- essentially unchanged. Enjoy!
-
- Version 2.
- Updated December 20th, 1995
- Executor/DOS experimental (pre-beta) version 1.99p8
-
- GETTING STARTED WITH EXECUTOR
- -----------------------------
-
- "A bug is an undocumented feature.
- A bug becomes a feature by documenting it."
-
- The author of this document had no previous knowledge about Macintosh
- software and architecture before buying Executor. PC experience in
- abundance but totally blank about the Mac world. Executor was bought
- to fill this hole and fully lived up to its expectations.
-
- Although Executor can be used without any previous Macintosh knowledge
- (proof that this unique selling point for a Mac still holds true)
- there are some facts that would have helped the author. Some of these
- are described below; perhaps they will help you.
-
- The original Macintosh was introduced in 1984 with the now famous 1984
- Big Brother advertisements. It was followed by an enormous range of
- machines. The original Motorola 68000 processor (comparable to an
- 8086) was followed by the 68020 (eq. 80286), 68030 (386DX) and 68040
- (486SX/DX). Last year Apple shifted its machines to RISC architecture
- and now uses a Motorola/IBM developed PowerPC processor. Apple has
- implemented an emulator within its operating system so that all 680x0
- applications still can be run on a PowerPC.
- Executor emulates a 68LC040, which is a 68040 without a floating point
- processor (the "LC" stands for "low cost").
-
- (An interesting sidenote: ARDI's 68LC040 emulator for the PC is faster
- than Apple's 68LC040 emulator for PowerPC's. Mat Hostetter, part of ARDI's
- team, wrote the emulator and really should bring it to the market as a
- separate product.)
-
- Most of the Mac's success was not caused by its hardware but by its
- software. The Mac was one of the very first systems using a Graphical
- User Interface. It is this GUI that Executor emulates.
-
- The Macintosh operating system comes with the strange name of
- 'System'. It has had a number of releases comparable to MS-DOS; it is
- now in its 7th life and like a cat, it was its last; future versions
- are called MacOS. Although System 7 added a lot of new features,
- Executor fully emulates a Mac running System 6.0.7. In the current
- experimental versions (1.99x) of Executor, some emulation of System 7
- functionality is included. It is ARDI's intention to make it possible some
- day that you will be able to use Apple's System 7.5 on top of Executor.
-
- Like Windows, System supports applications by giving them an
- environment to run in. Interaction between the user and System is done
- with a program called Finder; comparable to Program Manager within
- Windows. It is Finder that generates the metaphors of folders,
- desktop, trash can and others. It is Finder that starts
- applications. With Finder the user can rename, copy and delete files
- and folders.
-
- The original Finder enabled the user to run one application at the
- time, MultiFinder, introduced with System 6, made it possible to start
- several applications. Executor is a single-program-at-a-time type of
- emulator.
-
- Apple is known for its furious legal attempts to protect the look-and-feel
- of its products (and lost most cases). Therefore ARDI has developed its own
- Finder substitute, called Browser (ARDI once suggested 'Loser') which is
- integrated with Executor. In previous versions of Executor, the HFS_XFer
- program, was used to copy, delete and rename files and folders.
-
- System needs a harddisk with a number of pre-defined folders, one of
- which is the System Folder. In it you will find a file called 'System'
- which contains most of the Mac's operating System. On a real Mac also
- the file 'Finder' will be found in this folder. The System Folder is
- present on Executor's file system and there you will find Browser.
- Executor by default loads Browser when you start Executor; if you don't
- want that start Executor with the -nobrowser option.
-
- ARDI's System file is not compatible with Apple's. If you try to use
- a Macintosh and replace Apple's System file with ARDI's, your
- Macintosh will crash. If you try to run Executor using Apple's System
- file instead of ARDI's, Executor will crash.
-
- This implies that although Executor emulates a Mac very well the first
- impression is that it looks different because it lacks the important
- Finder interface. Instead Executor either pops up a dialogue box that you
- can use to tell it which program to start (-nobrowser), or it presents
- the Finder substitute Browser. There are a number of ways to disable Finder
- on a real Mac too, which saves a little memory.
-
- Browser has a band under the menu bar with icons of commonly used
- applications and directories and other objects. This band is known as
- the "hot band". You can drag objects into and out of this band. When you
- double click on a directory or volume, a window with icons for all the files
- in the directory will appear. You can drag files from one window to another
- to move or copy them. To delete a file, you must select it and choose
- delete; there is no trash can.
-
- Double clicking runs an application. The band has six buttons on it
- which allow you to choose which kind of objects are displayed in the
- hot band (applications, documents, volumes, directories, fonts, or
- desk accesories). Also the capability to format disks is included.
- Executor cannot format a totally unformatted disk, but it can imprint
- a blank Macintosh filesystem on a high-density disk which already
- contains a low-level Mac or PC format.
-
- In a separate chapter below, you will find a more detailed description
- of Browser.
-
- Since the Mac is meant to be used for graphical applications it uses a
- number of scalable fonts. These are stored in the 'System' file using
- a tool called FONT/DA Mover when using System 6. Under System 7 one
- can just copy a font in the System Folder and it will be recognised.
- FONT/DA Mover is Apple copyrighted software. With Browser one can
- simply drag a font to the font "hot band", restart Executor and it will
- appear within applications. (The necessity to restart of Executor will
- be gone in future versions.)
-
- On a Mac, files are arranged in folders, the equivalent of MS-DOS
- directories. Folders can be nested and contain icons for programs
- and/or data files. A remarkable feature of Finder is the alias. An
- alias is a copy of an application's icon that can be used to create
- groups of objects. It is Apple's first effort towards object
- orientation. Changing the properties of an icon also changes them of
- the alias, contrary to within Windows (even within Windows 95!).
-
- Since Executor comes without Finder, and doesn't recognize aliases, it
- might occur that you open a folder on a floppy or CD-ROM finding
- nothing in it. On a Mac there might have been aliases in those
- folders.
-
- A difference that a Windows user notices is that on a Mac the menu is
- always on the topline of the display where in Windows the active menu
- is always within the current window. A Windows desktop with a number
- of applications running shows a lot of menus which can lead to
- confusion. Windows indicates the current menu by giving it a different
- colour. On a Mac selecting a window automatically makes its associated
- menu appear on the topline. Since Executor can only run one
- application at a time this should not be much of a problem.
-
- RUNNING SOFTWARE WITH EXECUTOR
- ------------------------------
-
- Now that you have installed Executor on your system and you have
- verified that it runs, you are ready to start some of the demo
- software that comes with Executor. These are freeware, shareware or
- fully working demos of commercial packages. The files are located in
- the EXDEMOS.HFV DOS volume and appear after installation in an
- Executor volume in the 'demos' and 'games' folders. Also Executor
- comes with some useful utilities included in the EXSYSTEM.HFV DOS
- volume that appear in the 'utils' folder on your System drive.
-
- After you have started some of these programs you probably want to do
- something useful with Executor. This means getting hold of the
- software that you need and properly installing it.
-
- Before you start installing software there are a couple of issues that
- have to be understood. First you need to have set aside a volume that
- can hold the files you need. Such a volume can be created with MAKEHFV
- as stated in the appropriate section of this manual. Remember that
- unless you to tell Executor otherwise, your newly created volume has
- to have a filename ending with ".hfv" and has to be placed in the same
- directory as the other ".hfv" files are (the default is
- \EXECUTOR.
-
- The program that creates the new volume is called "makehfv" (make
- hfv). It takes three arguments, the name of the DOS file that the
- volume will reside in, the name of the volume as it will be seen by
- any program running under Executor and the size in bytes that the
- volume will take up. The suffixes "k" and "m" can be used to specify
- the size in kilobytes (1024 byte chunks) or megabytes (1024 * 1024 =
- 1048576 byte chunks).
-
- For example, to create a 10 megabyte volume, in the DOS file
- newvol.hfv, with the internal name NewVolume, you would execute this
- command:
-
- C:\EXECUTOR> makehfv newvol.hfv NewVolume 10m
-
- When you next start Executor and cycle through your available drives
- by clicking the 'DRIVE' button you will have an empty volume called
- NewVolume ready to take your files.
-
- Also remember that Executor is a complex piece of software. ARDI has
- beta-tested this product thoroughly but the enormous diversity of PC
- hardware coupled with the complexity of emulating a totally different
- system on top of this hardware means that crashes are possible. When
- Executor or your PC dies, unpredictable things might happen. It is
- recommended that so-called write-behind-cacheing be disabled when you
- use Executor. Most systems nowadays use Microsoft's SMARTDRV which has
- write-behind-cacheing turned off by default only when you use MS-DOS
- 6.2 If you have another MS-DOS version or when you have turned it on
- please change the line that starts SMARTDRV to :
-
- SMARTDRV C
-
- instead of
-
- SMARTDRV C+
-
- As always, it is best to back up your data frequently.
-
-
- GETTING HOLD OF SOFTWARE
- ------------------------
-
- Apple's Macintosh is the second most widespread architecture in the
- world. Software for the Mac is as freely available as for the PC
- platform. There are however a few distinctions. Commercial software
- tends to be more expensive and sometimes updated versions arrive later
- than their MS-Windows counterparts. It used to be the other way around
- but this is the way it is.
-
- An important issue to note here is that Executor, due to constraints
- in PC hardware, can only read Macintosh HD (SuperDrive) floppy-disks
- and Macintosh formatted CD-ROMs (more on CD-ROMs later on). SuperDrive
- floppy disks are physically identical to PC HD diskettes (all of them
- have a second hole on the other side of the write-protect notch). As
- on the PC they have a capacity of 1.4 Mb.
-
- These disks share the same "low-level" format, but have a different
- "filesystem format" than they do on a PC. i.e. the physical format is
- the same as on a PC; it is just the logical format that differs.
-
- Macintosh commercial software is available from most shops. If you
- have no possibility to use a 'real' Macintosh then be sure that the
- disks you get are HD ones. Otherwise let the dealer convert them.
-
- Since not all software will run under Executor it is advisable to
- arrange with your dealer to test the software first.
-
- Especially look for explicit statements whether the software needs
- System 7. If an application *requires* System 7, then it is unlikely
- to work under the current implementation (1.99x) of Executor. At this
- moment most of the work of System 7 emulation has been done but the
- bottle-neck are Apple extensions like QuickTime and Apple Events.
-
- Good software for the Macintosh can be found with most magazines
- (again verify that they come with HD disks), on all commercial
- networks and on the Internet.
-
- When you want to use software on a Macintosh CD-ROM, your CD-ROM drive
- will appear automatically within Executor if your CD-ROM controlling
- software conforms to Microsoft's MSCDEX or Adaptec's ASPI standard.
-
- When you insert a Macintosh formatted HD floppy or CD-ROM these will
- be automatically recognised when you start Executor. If you insert
- them when Executor has already started, you must press
- Shift-left-Alt-2 before they will be seen.
-
- Due to size constraints on a floppy, most of the time the software on
- it will be in a compressed format. This is comparable to the way it is
- done on the PC where ZIP, ARC, ARJ and LZH are some of the used
- extensions to denote a compressed file. Amazingly the number of
- different compression systems used on Macs is as large as on the PC
- and all of them are different between the two platforms. Yes, there is
- a ZIP utility for the Mac but no available software seems to be
- compressed with it.
-
- Although the naming convention for Mac files is much less constraining
- than the one we are familiar with on the PC (name of 8 characters and
- an extension of 3), most of the time the name of a compressed file
- ends with a decimal point followed by a three character extension.
-
- Mind that the name of a Mac file when found on a system that has a
- more constraining naming convention (like MS-DOS) might not be able to
- tell you what sort of format it is in. However, when you transform it
- to Mac format (more on this later) its name will explain more. For
- instance you might find a file called ACMECALC.BIN on CompuServe
- which, when it ends up on your Executor volume, suddenly gets called
- 'Acme Super Calculator.sea'.
-
- The most used compression systems and their extensions are:
-
- .pit ; PackIt compressed file
- .sit ; Stuffit compressed file
- .cpt ; Compact Pro compressed file
- .dde ; DiskDoubler compressed file
- .sea ; One of the above but self-extracting
-
- For the first four files you will need the mentioned shareware
- programs to extract (decompress) them. The full Stuffit package can
- also handle the other formats. Compact Pro is found in the 'utils'
- folder on your System disk. Stuffit is excellent shareware and there
- is a freeware Stuffit Expander program that as its name suggests can
- only expand a compressed file (expanding again being another word for
- decompress, foo). DiskDoubler is less used than the others, mainly
- because it is commercial software. There is a free expander though.
-
- A .sea file basically consists of a compressed file with an integrated
- expander. When you start an .sea file it will expand itself
- automatically.
-
- Of the mentioned decompressors there are a number of different
- versions to be found; not all of these work with Executor. Also some
- self-extracting compressed files tend to kill Executor. When this
- happens there is a simple but effective trick. Try to get hold of a
- utility called 'DeSEA'. It does what its name implies; it turns a .sea
- file in a .sit,.pit or .cpt file that then can be decompressed using
- one of the mentioned tools.
-
- Excellent information on the various compression schemes, .hqx and
- BinHex formats can be found in a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
- document on datacommunication, available via anonymous ftp on the
- Internet from:
-
- site : sumex-aim.stanford.edu
- file : /info-mac/comm/info/comp-sys-mac-comm-faq.txt
-
- When the file is decompressed, you are ready to roll. Mind that a lot
- of software that comes on CDs take the capacity of a CD to the maximum
- by using audio and video clips (called QuickTime). These cannot be
- used in Executor. A program with such a restriction will probably
- complain that you need System 7; the version of the Mac's operating
- system that supports video.
-
-
- GETTING SOFTWARE USING YOUR PC
- ------------------------------
-
- The above is all well but you might be tempted to get software for
- Executor by downloading files from bulletin boards and/or networks
- like CompuServe, America Online or the Internet. This is possible
- though a bit more complicated since the PC is not a Mac (you might
- have noticed this; ARDI lives because of it).
-
- In the PC world every file on your harddisk comes as one logical
- collection of bytes, with a start, a middle and an end. On the Mac
- every file has two components (honest!), these are called the
- data-fork and the resource-fork. The data-fork contains the data that
- is unformatted, or at least not formatted in a way that the actual
- Macintosh OS itself understands. The resource-fork contains data that
- is formatted in a way that the Macintosh OS understands and hence can
- be used to specify parameters for various Macintosh OS routines, for
- instance icons. Every file has both a data-fork and a resource-fork
- although either, (or even both) can be empty.
-
- To enable distribution of Macintosh files on a non-Macintosh medium
- like most bulletin-boards, a number of people, Apple amongst them,
- found a way to combine the two forks in one file. Two of these systems
- are known as BinHex. BinHex 4 is often known as "HQX" and it combines
- both forks into a single ASCII file. BinHex 5 is often known as
- "MacBinary" and it combines both forks into a single BINARY file.
-
- Since Executor at this moment does not support serial I/O all
- downloading of Mac files has to be done using your favourite PC
- communication program and your PC modem. Downloaded files will thus
- appear on your PC's harddisk.
-
- If the file's description from where you downloaded it or its name on
- your PC's harddisk indicates that is in HQX format (for instance
- because its name contains the .hqx extension) there is an extra step
- to take.
-
- A file with the .hqx extension has been constructed using version 4.0
- of BinHex. This program enables binary files to be transported on
- networks that otherwise would have problems with them by translating
- them in 7-bit ASCII text. You can try this by using your favourite DOS
- editor on such a file; it will contain seemingly endless lists of
- numbers; the human-readable equivalent of machine-code.
-
- The supplied BinHex 5.0 program converts a.hqx file automatically to
- its original format. There is also an excellent shareware program
- called DeHQX that also gives a lot of information in the process.
-
- To get a file converted so that it appears on an Executor Mac volume,
- start the program BinHex in the 'utils' folder on your System disk. In
- its file menu you will find a Download -> Application choice. It will
- pop-up a dialogue box where you can specify the file on your PC volume
- after which it will ask you where to store the result. When all goes
- well you will find some form of Mac file on the destination
- disk.
-
- If a file is not HQX'ed, BinHex effectively only copies the file and creates
- the two forks from the one file. To find out whether BinHex needs to take
- the extra step it looks for the phrase :
-
- (This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)
-
- at the beginning of the file.
-
- CompuServe has its own Macintosh File Finder that enables you to find
- your favourite Mac file amongst the odd 20,000 it stores. On the
- Internet a lot of Mac software can be found. Look for the SimTel ftp
- archives. Another good archive is the HENSA archive of Lancaster
- University, UK.
-
- To summarise; when you have downloaded a Mac file it will appear to be
- a normal PC file on your PC. Run BinHex to write it to an Executor
- volume. BinHex will automatically de-HQX the file. If required run a
- de-compression program.
-
- If Executor 'touches' a file on a PC volume it immediately creates a
- pseudo resource fork for that file which is a separate file with a
- percent-sign as its first character. This can confuse BinHex and other
- programs, and a 'touched' file might not be shown anymore, unless you
- turn off the "TEXT filter" within the 'File' menu of BinHex 5.0, so
- that all files are displayed instead of just "TEXT" ones.
- In such a case simply delete the resource-fork file.
-
- This problem is actually a result of a bug in Executor and hopefully
- the bug will be fixed soon.
-
- A special word on text files. When you download a text file that was
- produced on a Mac you will experience that a number of DOS editors
- have problems with the fact that the Mac only uses a LF character at
- the end of every line, where the PC uses a CR, LF pair. Luckily the
- MS-DOS EDIT command can read both formats. When you open a Mac style
- text document, change one character and then write it back, EDIT will
- convert it to PC text format. There exists a shareware/freeware MS-DOS
- program called MAC2PC80.EXE that does this all automatically.
-
- If you do not want to store a compressed text file on an Executor
- volume but want to read it using a PC editor then there are shareware
- PC programs, like UNSTUFF.EXE (free!) that can decompress such a file
- on the PC. Aladdin Systems (makers of StuffIt) have now released a very
- nice Windows version of Stuffit Expander that handles almost every
- Macintosh file format.
-
- Apart from files being BinHex'ed and/or compressed, more complex
- programs come in the form of an 'Installer'; a program that installs
- the software so that it is automatically copied to the proper
- folders. An installer most of the time also decompresses its
- components and scatters them around in for instance your System
- Folder.
-
- The problem here is that most of the time installers are complex
- programs that might confuse Executor. Many installers were written by
- Apple and have special information about the insides of Macintoshes
- that the authors of Executor did not have (Executor was written using
- "clean room" techniques -- no Apple ROMs or System files were
- disassembled). In such a case you will have to install the program on
- a real Mac and then transfer the installed program to an Executor
- volume. Afterward, if it is not publicly redistributable, delete the
- program from the Mac. It is illegal not to.
-
- On the issue of files in your System Folder; this folder acts as the
- notorious WIN.INI file under Windows, i.e. it is regarded as every
- application's liberty to litter it. A separate folder 'Preferences'
- most of the time holds files that store items like your highest score
- in your favourite game. Since Executor's System drive is limited in
- size it pays to occasionally delete unwanted files from the System
- Folder. Be careful with the file 'Printer' though. This file is
- required for printing in Executor.
-
- Note: The size of Executor's System drive is not really limited in size.
- If you run out of space you have to create a second, larger System
- volume with MAKEHFV. Do not call the DOS volume EXSYSTEM.HFV but
- choose a different name like EXSYS1.HFV making sure that its
- logical volume name remains System.
- The proper MAKEHFV command line would be :
-
- MAKEHFV EXSYS1.HFV System 2M
-
- to create a 2 Mb. System drive. Copy all files from the first
- drive to the second drive using Browser. Be careful; both
- drives are called System - the empty one should be the
- destination. When everything has been copied delete EXSYSTEM.HFV
- and rename EXSYS1.HFV to EXSYSTEM.HFV.
-
- Transferring a file from a Mac to Executor larger than can be fitted
- on one floppy is not so easy. Try compressing it first. If it still
- doesn't fit you can use a serial cable and transfer it using two
- terminal programs, or try to get your hands on a program that cuts
- archives in parts. (StuffIt Lite 3.x can do this.)
-
-
- FILE CREATORS AND FILE TYPES
- ----------------------------
-
- On a PC an application most of the time uses the 3-character extension
- of files to denote that it created them. For instance an application
- named ACMECALC might create files with an .ACM extension. Also the
- extension might indicate the type of file like .TXT denoting a text
- file. This way of doing things has lead to a lot of confusion since
- nobody is regulating the list of used extensions, and three letters
- doesn't lend itself to enough logical combinations.
-
- On the Mac the above is regulated. The Mac uses a system where every
- file has a 4-character 'creator' and a 4-character 'type'. These are
- distributed by Apple - a list can be obtained of valid ones. (This
- does not mean that everybody follows the rules of course.) The creator
- field is used twofold. Firstly it tells a Mac's Finder what
- application to load when the user double-clicks the icon of a
- data-file. Secondly it enables an application to only show files in
- dialogue boxes that it can handle.
-
- Normally you do not have to worry about the above, but sometimes a
- file that you think belongs to a certain application cannot be opened
- by it. The adventurous can then change the type and or creator using
- a tool like File Kit or from within Browser. From the number of available
- programs that can change types and creators we might conclude that the
- confusion on the Mac platform as to which file belongs to who is as
- confusing as it is on PCs.
-
-
- USEFUL PROGRAMS
- ---------------
-
- Apart from the already mentioned utilities there are a couple more
- that you probably might want to look for. Get a simple text processor
- like UpWord to edit an occasional file or use the supplied Tex-Edit
- program. To view the contents of most word-processor documents get Quill.
-
- To make sure that the files you download are not virus-ridden get
- Disinfectant. There are only an odd twenty viruses around but still
- you might be unlucky. Because Executor has slightly different
- "internals" than a Macintosh does, it is slightly less susceptible to
- virus infection than a real Mac but better not take chances.
-
- Easy Errors tells you what an error number generated by an application
- actually means. (Who ever said a Mac was userfriendly?)
-
- Get File Kit to have a look at file attributes like creation date and
- length.
-
- Shareware and/or freeware programming languages are not that freely
- available as on the PC. There are a number of freeware 'C' compilers,
- ChipMunk Basic 3.21 is a simple Basic interpreter.
-
- HyperCard from Claris runs fairly well, but some stacks will not work
- under HyperCard under Executor. Supercard created stacks also usually
- work, although some aspects of Supercard's use of color can confuse
- the experimental versions of Executor that support color.
-
- If you want to learn how to program a Mac be prepared for a shock. To
- fully understand how the Mac works you need to master a large and very
- expensive series of books from Apple, called Inside Macintosh. Apple
- has released a CD version of these books though.
-
- Just like the Windows environment just knowing a programming language
- is not enough to write a nice looking application. On a Mac one needs
- to master the equivalent of the Windows API, called the Toolbox.
-
-
- LIMITATIONS ON WHAT WILL RUN UNDER EXECUTOR
- -------------------------------------------
-
- On a real Mac there is a large number of ways to interact with the
- machine. Apart from starting normal programs, there are
-
- - Desk Accessories; these are handy programs that can be found
- in the Apple Menu.
-
- - Extensions; these extend the Mac's Operating System, for
- instance for video.
-
- - Control Panels; enable a Mac user to control various settings
- of his/her system.
-
- - Inits; small programs that a Mac loads for special
- devices and/or functionality.
-
- Apart from some Desk Accessories, Executor at this moment cannot run any
- of the above.
-
-
- TRANSFERRING DATA BETWEEN MAC APPLICATIONS AND DOS COUNTERPARTS
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
-
- You can manipulate data within applications on both platforms if they
- can read the applicable format, i.e. a Word for Windows 5.x document
- can be edited using Word 5 with Executor.
-
- If you let an application produce print output then Executor puts it
- in a file EXECOUTx.PS within the directory where you started Executor.
- The 'x' is a number from 0-9. This output is a proper PostScript file that
- can be printed on a printer that supports PostScript. Otherwise you can use
- the freeware package GhostScript to view or print them under MS-DOS.
-
-
- Browser
- -------
-
- Recent 1.99x experimental pre-beta versions come with ARDI's Finder
- substitute, called Browser. When you normally start Executor (i.e.
- without the -nobrowser) option, Executor will automatically load Browser
- and will return to Browser when you exit an application.
-
- Browser presents the following:
-
- - a normal Macintosh style menu
- - 6 pictograms
- - 2 buttons
- - a 'hot-band' containing icons
-
- From the menu you can for instance create folders, print files or
- eject a disk. CLicking on the pictograms selects the appropriate
- 'hot-band'. There are 'hot-bands' for drives, applications, fonts,
- DAs, folders and text files. The button 'Sort', sorts the current
- 'hot-band' and 'Help' gives a short explanation of the various
- 'hot-bands'.
-
- A word about disk drives here. Executor will try to figure out what drives
- are available when it loads. In a standard setup, the drives 'hot-band' will
- show the System: drive, your .HFV volumes and your c:/ drive. If you have
- a CD-ROM player available it will show up as a d:/ if MSCDEX is running.
-
- On a Macintosh the sense hardware detects that a removable drive is
- inserted and its icon will show up automatically. This is different from the
- PC architecture. This means that Executor does not detect automatically when
- you insert a Mac CD-ROM or diskette. To have Executor detect such a medium
- select 'Check for disk' from the 'File' menu within Browser, or press
- Alt-Shift-2. If the medium is recognized it will show up on the drives
- 'hot-band'. Also you have to manually eject a drive from the 'File' menu.
-
- Be careful not to phyiscally eject a floppy when Executor is not finished
- with it; buffers might not be flushed. Always use 'Eject' or Alt-Shift-2.
-
- It is possible to drag DAs to the DA 'hot-band' and have Executor put them
- in the Apple menu. Not all DAs work however. Be careful to have a copy of
- your EXSYSTEM.HFV file. Some DAs crash Executor and weird things
- might happen.
-
- Browser can format Macintosh 1.44 Mb. diskettes. For this to work properly
- first check that 'Direct Disk Access' is selected. (Press Alt-Shift-5 to
- select the Preferences Panel.)
-
- Bibliography
- ------------
-
- Suggested further reading if you want to know more.
-
- Title Author Content
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Insanely Great Steven Levy History of the Mac
-
- Technical Introduction Apple THE Source
- to the Macintosh Family
-
- comp.sys.mac.comm FAQ D.L. Oppenheimer Everything on
- datacommunication,
- compression and
- file formats.
-
- Executor's FAQ ARDI When all else fails
-
- All company names and products mentioned are copyrighted and trademarks
- of their respective owners.
-
-
- Feel free to contact me : Ernst J. Oud
- Compuserve : 100265,3601
- Internet : ernstoud@euronet.nl
-