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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Unix Executable File

cbothma - Jul 15, 2005 - 10:41 am

I've just started using OSX on a laptop. My 'old' computer was using OS8.6. I created a lot of Pagemaker 6.5 files on the old system, and when, using a flash drive, I try to copy them to my new computer, it doesn't read them but says they're Unix Executable Files.

I have OS9.6 installed and a copy of my Pagemaker 6.5 on the new mac. It works fine if I create a PM file using my new mac, but as soon as I copy something from my old machine I get the UEF message.

Strangely enough, I have backups of PM files I made several years ago (including PM6 files) and i can read the files fine (even the PM6 files!!) if I read directly from the backup CD on my new mac. However, if I copy files from the same CD to my old machine and then use a flash to transfer them to my 'new' MAC, they become unreadable.

Can you help? I've subsequently made changes to my backups on my old machine and I need to save these changes on CD and also give them to a client(my old machine's CD writer is shot - I was hoping to use the one on the new mac).

I've been using Mac's all my working life (going on 20 years now) but I'm starting to get very frustrated.

Christine

skapp - Jul 15, 2005 - 5:29 pm

Do you have OS 8.6 installed on the same volume as OS X? Is Pagemaker (6.x) installed on the same volume as an OS X version? Are you copying these files to a flash drive formatted FAT32 or HFS+?

Jeremie - Jul 15, 2005 - 10:05 pm

Well I cant hold on to your question because I do not know how to help you, but I can tell you the reason it thinks that it is a unix executable is because since Pagemaker extensions have probably changed since 6.5 and the unix terminal prolly has an extension called .pm that is why it thinks this

It is not a system error it is just an all too common error when popular programs like Pagemaker change their extensions as they develop new versions

That is your problem explained, but unfortunatley i do not know how to fix this so I have to send it back to the open pool.

Sorry,
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Jeremie Bell

cbothma - Jul 16, 2005 - 3:45 am

Hi Steven

I'm using 2 seperate macs - the one has OS8.6 installed and the other has OSX installed (as well as OS9.6 which I had put in so that I could read my older Pagemaker files).

Can anyone help? The only reason I went the OSX route is because I was assured that I would be able to still read my old files.

Another quirky thing I've come across is that if I create a new Pagemaker file on my OS8.6 computer and transfer it via flash to the OSX laptop, it can be read, but my older files that I copied to the OS8.6 mac and then transferred to the OSX laptop via flash can't be read. If I read the cd directly into the OSX then I have no problems reading the files. It seems that something is happening between copying the cd files to the OS8.6 computer and copying onto the flash. I don't think it is a problem with the flash as I have been able to transfer new PM files to the laptop.

Christine

gsahli - Sep 19, 2006 - 10:39 am

Christine - skapp was right on the mark when he was asking about the format of your Flash Drive. Nearly all of them are formatted "FAT," which is an older, but convenient PC format for exchanging files PC to Mac. The problem is this - Macs and PCs handle "File type and creator" (ie, knowing what files are associated with which program) differently. OS 8-9 saved files with a second part of the file called the resource fork, and in that were the codes (File trype and creator) to associate files with programs. OS X still has File type and creator codes, but they store it in an invisible second file instead of the resource fork. When you copy files from OS 8-9 to the Flash Drive, the resource fork is lost (same for that info if copied from OS X). Now, when you copy the file to OS X, the Type and Creator info is missing. You can fix this file by file in OS X by single-clicking the file to highlight, then doing Show info (command-i) and setting the "Open With" section.
You can avoid the problem by finding out the 3-character file ending/extension that Windows uses to associate files with Pagemaker, and always saving files with that. (I don't use Pagemaker, but nearly all cross-platform programs can recognize their 3-char extension.) For example, does .PM6 work?

Please ask questions if I've missed something here.

gsahli - Sep 19, 2006 - 10:48 am

When I said does .PM6 work, I wasn't specific enough. You can add this onto the file name on OS 8-9 before copying to the Flash Drave and then to OS X. OS X should recognize the file (if I'm right that .PM6 is a valid file name extension).

On the other hand, you can also just change the name of files already on OS X, and the name change (with extension) will cause OS X to recognize them as Pagemaker files.

Hope this helps.