>Alot of the files begging to be downloaded are binhex encoded and my mac
>software that I have can't decode them. Being the dapper, recourceful
>young lad that I am, I went to the /download tools section to get me some
>DL tools. Yee hawr. The Catch 22--all of the DL tools for decoding
>binhex stuff have been .hqx-ed themselves!!! Go buearacuracy, go!!! Goes
>anybody know where I can reach Joseph Heller? Aaaargh.
The Info-Mac archives get around this problem by putting two useful
programs - BinHex and StuffIt Expander, both of which can de-binhex
files - in MacBinary format. Go to sumex (sumex-aim.stanford.edu) or
your nearest mirror if sumex is busy (mine for instance is
ftp.ucs.ubc.ca in /pub/mac/info-mac/) and cd to the cmp directory.
There should be two files there in MacBinary - BinHex4.0 and StuffIt
Expander. They end in ".bin" instead of ".hqx". When you download
them, assuming your communications software understands MacBinary,
they'll magically appear on your desktop. Chicken or egg problem
solved!
Of course if your comms package doesn't know MacBinary then you're
still SOL. Oh, well. Ask a friend.
- Neil K.