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61 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
61 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
In the early days of the Macintosh, programs were small enough to fit
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on a single floppy. The MacOS of the time was simple enough that
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installation of new software on a Macintosh consisted of inserting the
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floppy with the new software and using drag and drop to copy the
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application from the floppy to your hard disk.
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As software grew and the MacOS became more complex, software
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developers began requiring users to run "installers" to install new
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software. These installers often used file compression so that more
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software could be put on fewer floppies. The increasing complexity of
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the MacOS also made the installation procedure more tricky, since
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certain files would need to be copied into the System Folder and the
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machine might need to be rebooted after the System Folder was
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modified. Installers did all the tricky work. Now, with software very
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large and the MacOS very complex, installers are common even with
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shareware and other software that you might download from the Internet
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or a bulletin board.
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Unfortunately, because of the complexity of the MacOS, some installers
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use intimate knowledge of the MacOS to work their wonders. This use of
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intimate knowledge makes it hard for emulators such as Executor to
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work properly with these rogue installers. In fact, the first release
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of Apple's own "Macintosh Application Environment" (MAE) couldn't run
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some versions of Apple's own installer -- the problem is that bad.
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Currently, installers based on that older version of Apple's Installer
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will fail under Executor. The most popular program that uses Apple's
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old installer is Word 5.
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With a little creativity, you can usually install these programs into
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Executor anyway. Here are some of the methods past users have used:
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I. Stuffit Expander, an extremely flexible freeware utility which is
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included with Executor, may be able to unpack the files just as the
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actual installer would. You can then move them into their proper
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places by hand. Often there will be a file or folder which will need
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to be moved into the System Folder. Executor users have successfully
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installed Microsoft Word using Stuffit Expander.
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II. Install the program on a real Macintosh, and move the installed
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program to Executor. You can do this file-by-file in a pinch, but
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it's usually quicker and easier to compress the installed program
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using Stuffit or Compact Pro. Don't forget to add to the archive
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anything which the installer might have put into the Macintosh's
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System Folder.
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Once you have the archive, you can move it to Executor and use
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Stuffit Expander to unpack it there. Again, anything which goes in
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the System Folder on a real Macintosh should also go in the System
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Folder under Executor.
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III. Install the program on a real Macintosh which is equipped with an
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external Macintosh hard drive. Disconnect the external drive and
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connect it to your PC. Use Executor to run the program from the
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external drive, or to copy it from there to your PC drive.
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ARDI has been making progress with installers, as has Apple. In
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general, newer installers are much more likely to work with Executor.
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