From: ehanson@umbc5.umbc.edu (Mr. Erik Hanson; ARTS-SCI (UGRAD))
Newsgroups: fj.mail-lists.x-window
Subject: Re: GUIs Considered Harmful
Date: 10 Sep 92 02:04:51 GMT
Distribution: fj
Organization: Univ. of MD, Baltimore County

Date: 9 Sep 92 12:58:06 GMT
Message-Id: <1992Sep9.125806.25450@umbc3.umbc.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.computers,comp.human-factors,comp.windows.misc,comp.windows.news,comp.windows.x

In article <1992Sep5.064546.9687@b11.b11.ingr.com> billj@b11.b11.ingr.com (Bill Jones) writes:
>"Ken Rawlings" <krawling@banana.ucs.indiana.edu> writes:
>>       There are two relatively simple things that I want to do on a Mac that
>>I _still_ have no idea how to do, even after reading all of the info-mac
>>digests, and using Mac's extensively. 

>>        #2: See this file sitting on the Hard Drive? Execute it. No, I don't
>>            care that you think it's a "Document", just trust me and run the
>>            damn thing. This is a _real_ problem when you have a bunch of
>>            .hqx files, and have a copy of binhex4.bin that you downloaded
>>            with a PC(why didn't I download it on the mac? Those beautiful
>>            unstandard serial ports that I don't have a cable for and Apple
>>            wants an arm and a leg for a converter for, and ComputerLand 
>>            can't understand the question in the first place :-( )
>
>So, can you run an Excel data file on a PC without a copy of Excel somewhere.
>Of course not. Can you run a korn shell script without setting the permissions
>to be executable? No. Do you insist on being able to view a GIF file when
>you have no GIF viewer? Why do you expect the Mac to be any different?

I think Mr. Rawlings wants to execute an application that the Mac
thinks is a document. This is easy. [I haven't actually tried this
(I'm at work using MS-Windows, which I don't like too much), but
I can't imagine it not working.]

Get out ResEdit or any other program that can change a file's
type and/or creator. Change the type to "APPL" so that the Mac
thinks it is an application. Now it is an application, so just
double-click on it and it should launch.

Or, you could wait a while until FilterTop (a graphical piping/
file-conversion/file-manipulation program to be released into
the Mac world as FREEWARE by TopSoft, Inc., a non-profit group
like FreeSoft ecxept much cooler (we don't boycott the Mac, we
boycott everything else!! ;-)) is released. The original release
date was 9 days ago, but it has slipped a bit. I'd give you
the address for more information, but I don't know what it is
anymore, so you can send mail to me at erik@isis.ngs.noaa.gov
for more information.

FilterTop doesn't have a document <--> application conversion,
but a filter can be written in about ten minutes, and if I get
around to it, I'll write one. But there is a filter that converts
from one file type to another.


P.S. TopSoft doesn't really boycott any other systems. We're
     just Mac-specific right now. And we're always looking for
     new members. Drop me a line (to erik@isis.ngs.noaa.gov,
     not ehanson@umbc5.umbc.edu like the reply command will
     probably do, if you can help it) for more info.


Seeya!
Erk


Erik Hanson
erik@isis.ngs.noaa.gov
ehanson@umbc5.umbc.edu