If your only experience with emulators is Soft-PC or Soft-Windows
making a Mac emulate a PC, please check out a demo of Executor [see
Q1.18 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?'] to see just how quickly Executor does the reverse.
Question 1.2. How can I get more information about
Executor?
This FAQ contains much information, but it is pale when compared to a
demo of Executor [see Q1.18 `Where can I pick up the Executor demos?']. Beyond the demo, almost all the publicly available information on Executor is found in our WWW
pages http://www.ardi.com.
Question 1.3. On which platforms is Executor
available?
Executor/DOS (E/D) is an implementation that runs under DOS, Windows
3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 and OS/2. Executor/NEXTSTEP (E/NS) is
an implementation that runs under NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP, both on
original NeXT hardware and Intel-based hardware running NEXTSTEP.
Executor/Linux (E/L) is an implementation that runs under Linux, with
ELF libc5 and glibc versions for both X-Windows and SVGAlib.
Executor/Linux currently runs only on 80x86 based PCs (i.e. no support for the Alpha,
PPC or SPARC yet). When Apple ships Rhapsody for Intel platforms they
will not have a Macintosh compatibility solution for that platform,
but we may ship Executor/Rhapsody for that platform.
Question 1.4. How much does Executor cost?
Per-unit License Fees (pricing) Prices will be valid through October 31, 1998 Prices include free electronic minor-version (2.x) updates You must be a *full-time* student (elementary through post-doc) at an educational institution to qualify for the Student discount. ARDI reserves the right to determine which institutions qualify as educational institutions for the purposes of Educational and Student discounts. Executor for Windows Commercial 1 $150 2 - 5 $135 6 - 11 $125 12 - 24 $100 25 - 49 $85 50 - 99 $75 100 - 199 $50 single site unlimited $10,000 Educational 1 $150 2 - 5 $135 6 - 11 $100 12 - 24 $80 25 - 38 $65 single site unlimited $2,500 Students 1 $65 Executor for Linux Commercial 1 $75 2 - 5 $65 6 - 11 $60 12 - 24 $50 25 - 49 $40 50 - 99 $35 100 - 199 $25 single site unlimited $5,000 Educational 1 $75 2 - 5 $65 6 - 11 $50 12 - 24 $40 25 - 41 $30 single site unlimited $1,250 Students 1 $35
+1 888 BUY ARDI (toll free; for orders only)
+1 505 766 9115 (for tech support)
+1 505 766 5153 FAX
info@ardi.com (dumb robot server) general information
questions@ardi.com specific questions and tech support
bugs@ardi.com bug reports
sales@ardi.com information about ordering
Question 1.6. How do I order Executor?
Before you order, please read and understand Executor's current
limitations [see Q1.13 `What limitations does Executor 2 have?']. You can use our web pages to get Executor's price and even to place the order itself.
You can also order directly from ARDI by means other than the WWW pages. An alternative is to get Executor's current price (via the web or by calling or FAXing us) and mail us a check [see Q1.5 `Who makes Executor?'], FAX us (+1 505 766 5153) credit card information (VISA, MasterCard or EuroCard only) or call us up (+1 888 BUY ARDI -- toll-free number for orders only) so we can take down your credit card information.
We accept domestic purchase orders from most universities and most large companies. We no longer accept non-U.S. purchase orders without accompanying payment and we reserve the right to refuse U.S. purchase orders as we see fit.
NOTE: All checks and money orders must be payable in U.S. funds and be written from a U.S. bank.
Here's an order form:
Name ______________________ Name on Card ______________________
Organization ______________________ Visa or MC ______________________
Street Address ______________________ Card Number ______________________
Street Address ______________________ Expiration Date ___________________
City ______________________ E-mail Address ____________________
State ______________________ FAX Number _______________________
Postal Code ______________________ Phone Number ______________________
Educational
Country ______________________ Affiliation _______________________
Number of Cost (see table for
Description Quantity Machines Each quantity discounts)
Executor CD
*Windows / Student _____ x _____ x ____ = _____
*Windows / Educational _____ x _____ x ____ = _____
Windows / Everyone else _____ x _____ x ____ = _____
*Linux / Student _____ x _____ x ____ = _____
*Linux / Educational _____ x _____ x ____ = _____
Linux / Everyone else _____ x _____ x ____ = _____
*Requires proof of qualification
International Shipping (US $20) may be needed if the
destination address is outside the United States. We ship
Global Priority (free) when we can. Is International
Shipping OK if necessary? _____
Sales Tax needed if destination is in New Mexico _____
Total _____
/pub/SynPaper available on ftp.ardi.com describes how we can run mc68040 code so quickly on an 80x86.
SynPaper compares a few different systems and shows that a 90 MHz
Pentium runs almost as fast as a 50 MHz 68040.
Graphics performance depends on which version of Executor you have,
and what type of video card you have. Executor runs fastest when it
can grab the frame buffer and write directly to it. One of our
testing machines is a 66 MHz DX2 with a built-in VLB video card and in
256 color mode it displays graphics at about the same speed as our 25
MHz 68040 based Quadra 610 for some common operations and at about
half speed for less common operations. Entry level Pentiums with VESA
2 drivers are much faster.
Question 1.9. Does Executor require ROMs or System Files from
Apple?
No. Executor re-implements from scratch a subset of the routines that
make up Apple's Macintosh Operating System and Toolbox.
Question 1.10. What version of the Macintosh operating system does
Executor emulate?
Executor knows how to emulate most of System 7.0, but the default
version that Executor reports to applications is System 6.0.7, because
some bad programs make calls to undocumented System 7.0 traps if we
acknowledge that we've implemented System 7.0. Each time a different
application is run under Executor, Executor checks an application
specific configuration file for application specific settings. Many
of the configuration files adjust the System to 7.0.
You can manually adjust the system version. Start Executor and call
up the Preferences Panel with Cmd-shift-5 [see
Q1.19 `Where are the Cmd (Clover) and Option keys?']. Set the System to 7 and click OK (don't save yet; these are just the
Browser settings). Now start your application, call up the
Preferences Panel again, and save it with the System 7 setting. After
that, Executor will automatically invoke System 7 support when you run
that application.
Question 1.11. How long has Executor been in
development?
Work began in July of 1986.
Question 1.12. What techniques were used to rewrite the OS and
Toolbox?
Entirely clean-room techniques. That is to say none of the Apple ROMs
or Apple System File were ever disassembled. Instead ROMlib (the
section of Executor that emulates the OS and Toolbox) was written from
the manuals "Inside Macintosh", and Tech. notes. That isn't
sufficient to get the degree of compatibility that we need, so tests
were written and run on Macs to see what a real Mac would do. In
addition, we run applications under Executor and when they deviate
from how they would behave on a Mac, we take a look at what is going
on and fix Executor accordingly.
Question 1.13. What limitations does Executor 2
have?
Because the OS and Toolbox have been rewritten from scratch, Executor
2 has limitations, including no serial port access, no modem use, no
AppleTalk, primitive sound, limited System 7 support, no INITs, no
CDEVs and no Internationalization.
Executor can read and write 1.44 MB Mac formatted floppy disks, but due to limitations in PC hardware, can't read or write 800 KB floppy disks.
In the lab we have limited serial port access and we're working on
improving sound.
Question 1.14. Why not just use the Apple
ROMS?
Since Executor has limited compatibility due to ARDI rewriting the
Macintosh system services, wouldn't it be possible to make Executor
more compatible by using Apple's ROMs, either licensing them from
Apple or requiring the end-user to obtain ROMs? Shapeshifter (a
Macintosh emulator for the Amiga does) requires end-users to obtain
ROMs, and it is more compatible than Executor.
Apple doesn't license the 68k Mac ROMs, nor do they license MacOS in any form to anyone who has a software only product.
We have approached Apple and requested the ability to license MacOS and been rebuffed. We will continue to try -- a combination of ARDI and Apple code would be beneficial for both companies. However, since Apple remains intransigent, we're approaching the stage in development where ARDI could use "clean-room/dirty-room" reverse engineering so that in the future, many components from MacOS can be installed on top of Executor, once the end user buys a copy of System 7.5.x.
Requiring end-users to purchase ROMs just wouldn't work. ARDI's goal isn't to sell small copies of Executor to the limited audience that can legitimately procure Macintosh ROMs. Although it has some limitations, Executor 2 works right out of the box, with nothing else to purchase. Requiring ROMs may be fine for Shapeshifter, but it will not work for Executor's target audience.
Executor 2 already supports the vast majority of System 6 and System 7.0 features. The features that have been added to MacOS beyond System 7.0 (like QuickTime) are often available as extensions, so when a future version of Executor supports extensions, it will be possible for people to use them to add functionality to Executor.
There have been many "Mac emulators" that use software from
Apple, including Liken, Shapeshifter, Amax, the Magic Sac and QUIX's
"ports" of the MacOS to NeXT computers and PREP machines. Such retrofitting
work isn't particularly hard when compared to the reverse-engineering
that we've done. It's also not particularly useful because the
target audience for all those products has been significantly smaller
than the target audience for Executor 2, and Executor 2 isn't ARDI's
final product. The target audience for Executor 3, which will have
more features and more compatibility is significantly larger still.
Question 1.15. If I have 800 KB floppies, what can I
do?
Very little. It is not ARDI's fault and there's nothing we can do
about it, but the way that Apple squeezed 800 KB onto floppies when
PCs were only getting 720 KB on floppies was to write more data on the
floppy tracks far from the center than on the tracks near the center.
This was clever, but extremely incompatible.
There are ways to squeeze more information onto PC floppy drives than PCs usually use. However, these methods cannot be used to write or even read 800 KB Macintosh formatted floppies.
Luckily, very little is supplied on 800 KB floppies anymore, but if you have some, you're almost definitely going to need the use of a Macintosh somewhere to copy the contents onto "HD" 1.4 MB formatted floppies (PCs and Macs use the same low-level format for 1.4 MB floppies).
One Executor Enthusiast suggested using Kinko's public Macs for this purpose, and this description was given:
1. Moving 800 KB Mac Files onto 1.44 MB Mac disks. The easiest thing that I have found when working on a real Mac is to preformat the Mac disks to 1.44 MB. Insert the 1.44 MB disk and eject it with (Cmd-E). Then insert the 800 KB mac disk. Drag the icon of the 800 KB disk over the 1.44 MB disk. All the files will be transferred as will the file names. The Mactools fastcopy program can also copy between densities. 2. Kinko's Public Machines. Kinko's public Macs are equipped with a program known as "Desk Tracy" which is designed to stop people from pirating Kinko's software from the hard disk. The problem is that when you are copying files between your own disks the program will still trigger if the file has a namesake on the Kinko's machine. What you will need to do is get a Kinko's employee to shut the program off, which is obviously a discretionary call with them. I didn't have a problem and have done it twice, but we obviously will be using different Kinko's.
We are in the process of cataloging what we have tested. The catalog,
which is not yet complete is available on our WWW pages:
http://www.ardi.com/compatibiliy/
Question 1.17. What percentage of applications will run under
Executor?
This is another question that is tough to answer. As our
compatibility database grows, our approximation will become more
accurate.
A very rough estimate is that Executor will run somewhere
between 60% and 80% of Macintosh programs which don't run into one of
its known limitations (see Q1.13 `What limitations does Executor 2 have?'). If you're interested in a particular Macintosh program, your best bet is to check the
compatibility database on our WWW pages:
http://www.ardi.com/compatibiliy/
Question 1.18. Where can I pick up the Executor
demos?
The downloading page of our WWW site (http://www.ardi.com/download.html) will give you a choice of ftp sites. You can also use direct ftp to
ftp.ardi.com. When you connect to ftp.ardi.com it will give you a current list of
sites which are mirroring ftp.ardi.com.
Question 1.19. Where are the Cmd (Clover) and Option
keys?
On a PC keyboard, Executor uses the left "Alt" key as a Cmd
key and the right "Alt" key as the Option key.
Question 1.20. Is Executor shareware?
NO. Executor is a commercial program.
We do make demo versions which have some significant functionality
removed from them. The demo versions are the only versions that
should be found on bulletin boards or FTP sites. If you find a
non-limited version of Executor available to download, it was put
there illegally and it is illegal to use it.
Question 1.21. How do the demo versions differ from the full
versions?
The commercial version is distributed on CD-ROM and can not be
redistributed. The demo version, which can be redistributed under
certain circumstances, has a few limitations.
The demo will only run for 30 days. In addition, all pages printed
from the demo version will have "Demo" written on them. The
demo version of Executor will read Macintosh formatted floppies and hard
drives but will not allow you to write to or format them. The
remaining difference between the demo version and the commercial
version of Executor is that Command-Key equivalents will not work in
this demo version.
Question 1.22. What's next?
One big thing that we're working on is our "Win32" port of
Executor. Executor/Win32 is a native windows application for Windows 95 and
Windows NT. Much of the Win32 port has already been done, and a demo
version of Executor/Win32 is available from our web site.
Beyond Executor 2, we want to make Executor compatible with Apple's MacOS distributions, so you'll be able to purchase a copy of Apple's MacOS, install it on top of Executor and get even more compatibility and features. This will be done incrementally at the same time that we work on ports to other platforms. The Executor mailing list (and its reflection in comp.emulators.mac.executor) is a good source of information about what we're currently doing.
Our plans for post-Executor 2 work are subject to change. We try very
hard to spend development time on the right mix of implementing
features or fixing bugs that according to our existing customers
desires and also making modifications to Executor to make it more
widely appealing.
Question 1.23. Does Executor have networking
support?
Currently, no. Some Networking support may be included in Executor 3,
but we do not yet have an estimated date of completion for Executor 3.
The first platform to have networking support built in will probably
be Linux. NOTE: networking support will most likely first be an
implementation of Open Transport and/or MacTCP, followed by EtherTalk.
Supporting AppleTalk over serial lines is unlikely to happen due to
differences in PC and Mac hardware.
Question 1.24. How do you install Fonts and Desk Accessories
(DAs)?
You just drag them into the hot-band and our browser will do the right
thing. However, we only support bit-mapped fonts, not Type 1 or
TrueType fonts. In addition, there is a bug which causes the hot-band
to forget which desk accessories have been loaded, which then makes it
impossible to remove desk accessories.
Question 1.25. Will Desk Accessories work under
Executor?
Currently Desk Accessory support is very weak; most will not run.
When we add support for extensions, we'll also go back and fix some
desk accessory bugs.
Question 1.26. Does Executor run xxx?
We are providing a database of what works and what doesn't on our WWW
pages: http://www.ardi.com/compatibility/ The database is not complete, but it covers most of the applications people ask about
most often.
Question 1.27. What's the best way to keep informed about
Executor?
Join the Executor Interest mailing list. Send a message to
executor-request@ardi.com. The message body should say:
subscribe
We try to post important events to the net, and send new release
information via U.S. mail to our current customers, but the Executor
mailing list is where we post news about our experimental versions and
where you can send mail to talk with other people who are using
Executor.
If you'd rather get the Executor Interest information in a daily digest form, send the same subscribe message to
executor-digest-request@ardi.com, instead of executor-request@ardi.com.
To remove yourself from either mailing list, send a message to the address that you used to subscribe, saying:
unsubscribe
This will work only if you send the unsubscribe message from the same
account that you used to send the subscribe message. You can also
send a message of "help" to majordomo@ardi.com and more information about how to use it will be e-mailed to you. If you are
still having trouble, you can send e-mail to
majordomo-owner@ardi.com and that will be processed by a human, although it may take a few days for the human to get around to to
your request.
Even after you have unsubscribed to the list, you will continue to get any messages that were posted to the list before you unsubscribed but were not actually sent immediately, but once you have unsubscribed, any new messages that come in will not be sent to you.
The Executor mailing list is currently unmoderated and usually has
several messages a day posted to it. There is a separate mailing list
that only ARDI employees can post to and is used only to announce new
Executor things (experimental releases, major bugs, etc.). It works
just like the other two mailing lists, in that you send
"subscribe" e-mail to a special address to be added to the list. The address you
send to is executor-announce-request@ardi.com.
If you have access to usenet, there's also
comp.emulators.mac.executor, the usenet newsgroup devoted to Executor. In fact, the Executor mailing
list used to be gatewayed to comp.emulators.mac.executor, but the
volume of off-topic posts was too great to continue the gateway.
Question 1.28. What's the Executor Interest mailing
list?
See Q1.27 `What's the best way to keep informed about
Executor?'.
Question 1.29. Why shouldn't I send e-mail to
ctm@ardi.com?
Cliff gets tons of e-mail. E-mail sent to any of the generic ARDI
addresses: info@ardi.com , questions@ardi.com , bugs@ardi.com is answered much more punctually.
Question 1.30. What is an HFV file?
Executor has the ability to store an entire Macintosh
"volume" (i.e. filesystem corresponding to a disk drive or a partition within a
disk drive) in a DOS or UNIX file. Under DOS, this feature is very
handy because there is no way to have files with long names and upper
and lower case characters in their names unless you use an HFV file.
See Q1.42 `What is makehfv?'.
In general, HFV files should have filenames that end in
".hfv".
Question 1.31. What is an image file?
Some Macintosh sites contain image files that are exact byte copies of
an HFV volume with a few bytes of header information prepended to
them. Starting with release 2.0j [out in Mid June], Executor will
allow you to use image files just like HFVs, although they should have
the suffix ".ima" instead of ".hfv".
Question 1.32. Can I launch applications directly from the command
line?
Yes. If an application resides within a UNIX or DOS filesystem, you
can specify the name of the application, and documents that you would
like the application to open when it starts up, on the command line.
Applications that reside in HFV files are specified using colons to
delimit the pathname, e.g. "executor MyVolume:directory:application".
Question 1.33. I installed a font in Executor, but I still can't
print in it. What's the deal?
You have to install the same font in Ghostscript. Otherwise,
Ghostscript will use the default Helvetica font since it can't find
the one you want. Don't forget to add the paths to the fonts into
your fonts pfb file.
Question 1.34. What are all the command line
switches?
If you type "executor -help" it will list all the command
line switches it knows about and give a brief description of what they do.
You can capture the help text to a file by typing "executor -help
> helpfile", then you can look at helpfile with your favorite
editor.
Here is a list of the most useful switches:
The "desperate" switch for DOS will start Executor in minimalist mode. This is useful when trying to track down a problem which is preventing Executor from running.
The "size" switch lets you set the screen size. Executor/Linux under X also understands the standard "geometry" switch.
The "nobrowser" switch prevents Executor from trying to run the file browser upon startup. Sometimes this is a handy to start an application a little more quickly and other times it can be useful if the browser save file gets corrupted and the browser refuses to run.
The switches "bpp" and "refresh" affect how the screen is emulated. The number of bits per pixel that the program running under Executor sees is specified by bpp. If bpp is set to 1, then there are only two "colors" (black and white) available. If it is set to 8, then 256 colors are available. For Executor/DOS, you need a SVGA board with a VESA compatible driver to get 8 bits per pixel and screen sizes larger than 640x480.
The switches applzone, syszone and stack control how much memory is allocated to the application, the system, and the application stack. The memory switch assigns a certain amount of memory to to Executor and lets Executor choose how it should be divided. In general, if you have more than 4 MB, you should override the default and allow Executor to use more memory. All four of these switches can understand values expressed with m (for MB) or k (for kilobytes).
For X windows users, privatecmap specifies that Executor should use a private colormap. This is the fastest graphics mode and gives you the most accurate colors, but at the expense of radically changed colors in your other windows whenever the cursor is in the Executor window, and radically changed colors in the Executor window whenever the cursor is outside of it. Because this is annoying, this mode is not the default. When not in this mode, the pixels in Executor's internal frame buffer are converted to the nearest X colors before being drawn to the screen.
Here is an example of some of those switches:
executor -applzone 4m -size 800x600
That would allocate 4 MB of memory for the application's use and
set the screen size to 800 pixels wide and 600 pixels tall.
Question 1.35. Are there other parameters I can adjust? [aka
"Preferences Panel"]
Yes, when Executor is running, you can hold down Cmd-Shift-5 and get a
preferences panel. That panel will let you adjust various settings,
similar to, but not as slick, as a Macintosh Control Panel. If you Save a
preferences panel configuration, the values are saved for the particular
application you are running at the time. This is handy, because some games need to be
run in 16 colors mode, so you can have Executor do that automatically.
Question 1.36. Can I have Executor use more than 8 MB for the
application zone?
You can use up to 64 MB for the applzone.
Question 1.37. An application I'm trying crashes. What should I
do?
Perhaps the most common avoidable cause of crashes is insufficient
memory for the emulated application. You can fix this by increasing
the "applzone" parameter. For example, many programs which
normally die quickly will work with "executor -applzone 4m" (which
allocates 4 MB of space for the emulated application; see the list of command line
switches and their meanings elsewhere in this document).
DOS NOTE: If you run "executor -info", it will tell you how much DPMI memory is available and how much memory is being used by the applzone, syszone and stack. If there is less DPMI memory available than the sum of the applzone, syszone and stack memory requirements, then Executor will page between DPMI memory and a special "paging" disk file. This paging slows you down and also consumes disk space. It is possible to manually override the applzone, syszone and stack defaults with smaller values, but when you do so, you run the risk of not having enough memory for an application to run. Unfortunately, Macintosh programs are often not polite at all when they do not have enough memory. The Lemmings demo is an example of such a program; if you run that program on a real Mac and only give it 1200k of memory, weird errors will occur. Doing the same under Executor will also yield weird errors.
If Executor needs to make a paging file, and there is not enough disk space to create one, you will get an error message during Executor's startup. If you have the environment variable "TEMP" set, then Executor will try to place its paging file there, so if TEMP is set to point to a small RAM disk, or a disk that is nearly filled, Executor may run out of memory too easily.
Some programs are unhappy with Executor's limited sound support, and crash. You can turn on the "pretend sound" option before running the application in question and see if this helps. In addition, some programs have menu items, or preference check boxes that can be used to disable sound. It is always recommended that you disable sound from within a program in addition to using the Executor sound preferences, if you have to disable sound.
One example of a program that will have problems with sound is "Ultimate Solitaire". If you do not disable sound from within Ultimate Solitaire, the game will play fine, until you win. At that point it will tell Executor to start playing a sound and request that Executor notify it when the sound is done playing. If sound is off, this will result in Ultimate Solitaire hanging after you win a game.
Some programs also save preferences in a file, and if something bad happens to that file, the program can then get confused and will not run properly. Occasionally this happens to Microsoft Word, and you need to use the browser to delete the file "Word Preferences" from your "System Folder".
Although it should not happen, even our file browser keeps a file
around that can cause trouble if it becomes corrupt. That file is
"godata.sav". It stores which folders you have open and the
contents of your "hot-band". If that file gets corrupt, the file
browser may not run. In the rare case that the browser won't run, you can use the
"-nobrowser" switch when you start Executor to bypass the
browser, but to get the browser back you'll need to either delete
"godata.sav" somehow or replace exsystem.hfv with one from the original
distribution.
Question 1.38. May I bundle the DEMO version of Executor on a
CD-ROM?
The short answer is "yes".
You are able to freely copy and distribute demo versions of Executor, as long as you follow the restrictions set forth in Executor's license panel. Please run the demo version of Executor and choose "About Executor..." to see the restrictions that you must follow.
A suggestion: contact us to make sure you have the latest version of
Executor. We can tell you if a new release is imminent.
Question 1.39. Why do some applications claim I don't have an
FPU?
The problem is probably that the applications you are trying to use
try to directly manipulate the FPU unit that some Macintoshes have.
The key words are "directly manipulate". Apple warned software makers to not directly manipulate the FPU, but to instead use their numerics library ("SANE" Standard Apple Numerics Environment). Programs that don't use SANE, but directly manipulate the FPU run faster on Macs that have FPUs, but don't run at all on Macs that don't have FPUs. If that is actually the source of your problems, then such programs also wouldn't run on Apple machines like the Quadra 605. This limitation is also present on Apple's PowerPC based Macs.
One workaround for this problem is an "INIT" called
"SoftFPU". SoftFPU will make a Mac without a co-processor work as though there is
one there, however the floating point computation will be done very
slowly. However, SoftFPU can't be used with Executor until Executor
supports INITs.
Question 1.40. Can Executor run Japanese system
software?
Executor 2 can't. Executor 3 won't be able to unless such a project
is specifically funded from an outside source.
Question 1.41. Why does Compact Pro have trouble with multi-volume
archives?
Executor takes a short cut that causes trouble for some programs;
Compact Pro is one of them. The problem is that a real Macintosh can
keep track of volumes that are not physically in the drive. That is
why Macintoshes sometimes tell you to put one disk in their floppy
drive, then they eject it and ask for another one, then eject it and
ask for the first one. Executor currently isn't so clever. When a
disk is ejected, Executor forgets about it. Few programs count on the
behavior of a real Mac, but those that do currently won't work with
Executor.
In Compact Pro's case you can just copy all of the pieces of the archive to your hard disk, then open the last piece from the hard disk and everything will work properly. This workaround requires more hard disk space than you'd need if you could just read the pieces off a succession of floppies.
Since this difference affects very few programs, it's not as high
priority as adding other new features.
Question 1.42. What is makehfv?
The program makehfv (formerly called mkvol) allows you to create
virtual Macintosh volumes [see Q1.30 `What is an HFV file?']. It is now part of all Executor distributions, although it is more useful under DOS than
under Linux.
To use makehfv you need to pick a name for the new HFV file, a name
for the Macintosh volume that your new HFV file will represent and the
number of kilobytes or megabytes that you want the HFV file to use.
Here's an example that creates a file named
"bigtest.hfv" that will appear in Executor as "BigTest" and will have 10
MB of space in it.
makehfv bigtest.hfv BigTest 10m
Executor/DOS will automatically see HFV files if they are placed in
the same directory as executor.exe, which is usually
C:EXECUTOR and their names have the suffix ".hfv".
Executor/Linux will automatically see HFV files if they are placed in
the same directory as ExecutorVolume (NOTE:
not in ExecutorVolume itself), which is usually
/usr/local/lib/executor and their names have the suffix ".hfv".
If you're using DOS or Windows, if you use a compressed filesystem or
if you plan to make a compressed archive containing an HFV file,
you'll want to use the "-zeros" command line option to
makehfv. That tells makehfv to explicitly write zeros in the new hfv which takes a
little more time but makes the resulting HFV file much more
compressible.
Question 1.43. How can I create my own HFV
files?
See Q1.42 `What is makehfv?'.
Question 1.44. How can I use Mac software from the
internet?
Our web pages will soon have a detailed walk-through for people who
want to use the web to pick up Mac software to use under Executor.
The remainder of this question is for people using FTP.
Find a site that legitimately has Mac software for use. There is a Macintosh FAQ that lists many sites -- here are some of them:
liquify.isca.uiowa.edu : /mac/infomac (USA) wuarchive.wustl.edu : /systems/mac/info-mac (USA) ftp.technion.ac.il : /pub/unsupported/mac (Israel) ftp.sunset.se : /pub/mac (Sweden) src.doc.ic.ac.uk : /packages/info-mac (UK) ftp.is.co.za : /info-mac (South Africa) Before transferring a large application, you might want to see what the requirements of that application are, most sites have a collection of small notes about applications that you can look at first.
Use BINARY mode to transfer the files that you want to use. Files whose names end in ".hqx" are usually the easiest to handle.
Under DOS, you need to make an HFV file [see Q1.42 `What is makehfv?'] that will be large enough to hold the files as you've downloaded them and also hold the files after they've been expanded. Once you've made the HFV file, copy all the files you've downloaded into it, then follow the remaining directions.
Under all operating systems, your next step is to run StuffIt Expander and use the "Expand..." menu item from the "File" menu to open each of the files you've downloaded. In general, especially when dealing with files whose names end in ".hqx", StuffIt Expander will do the right thing. However, some sites do not store files in ".hqx" format, and StuffIt Expander may fail. Remember, under DOS, you must do the StuffIt Expansion inside an HFV file.
If StuffIt Expander fails, you can try using the Get Info option of
Executor's browser to change the creator and type information of the
file. If you believe the downloaded file in question is a StuffIt
Archive, you can change the type and creator each to "SIT!"
and then try StuffIt Expander again. If you believe the downloaded file is a
Compact Pro archive, you can change the creator to "CPCT"
and the type to "PACT" and then try StuffIt Expander again. Similarly,
you can use creator "BnHq" and type "TEXT" if you think that
the file is a MacBinary file. StuffIt Expander 4.0 should be much better at
automatically determining what format an archive is in.
Question 1.45. How can I use Mac software from Bulletin
Boards?
In general, follow the procedure in Q1.44 `How can I use Mac software from the internet?' -- know the limitations of what Executor can run, transfer in binary mode and use
StuffIt Expander to unpack the files you download. Just like with
files downloaded from the internet, sometimes you'll need to change
the file type and creator, first.
Question 1.46. How can I use Mac software from
AOL?
AOL sometimes (about half the time) uses a format that StuffIt
Expander under Executor has trouble with. For DOS/Windows users, use
this workaround. Get a copy of unstuff.exe (available on AOL
compressed as unsitins.exe) and use the -mb tag to convert your
downloaded files to MacBinary format before ever moving them into
Executor. E.g.:
unstuff -mb somefile.sit
Then start up Executor and use BinHex's Download --> Application function to convert the file to an application and move it into an Executor volume simultaneously.
Note that if the file can be unstuffed in the usual manner, then
trying to use this workaround will break it. It's usually best,
therefore, to try normal unstuffing first.
Question 1.47. Why do files which aren't text files look like text
files?
Macintosh files have File Type and File Creator information stored in
their directory entries on a Macintosh filesystem. These two pieces
of information are often lost when the file is put onto a PC.
Executor's default is to assume that a file is a text file. If the
file is not a text file you'll have to change the File Creator and
File Type.
To change a file's Creator and Type information, run Browser, select the file's icon, and choose Get Info from Browser's File menu. Then change File Creator and File Type to the appropriate codes from the filetype.txt list in the docs directory of your Executor CD.
NOTE: in addition to having Type and Creator information, Macintosh
files also often have information in the "Resource Fork"
portion of the file. That information is also often lost when a file is
transferred to a PC, so it's possible that changing the Type and
Creator information will not be sufficient to allow you to use a Mac
file on a PC under Executor unless you use some sort of archiving
program (e.g. StuffIt, Compact Pro) to make sure all the Mac
information is stored in the "Data Fork" of the file.
Question 1.48. How does your Browser show file
size?
Listing mode will show you the combined size of a file's resource and
data fork. There is currently no way to determine the size of a
folder.
Question 1.49. How does your Browser show free
space?
Select the volume, then choose "Get Info" from the File
menu.
Question 1.50. Why do some installers not
work?
Currently there is one major class of application installer that is
known not to work with Executor. Installers based on Apple's old
Installer do not work. An example is Microsoft Word 5's installer.
Some installers require that you use Cmd-shift-5 and set the system
version to 7 and turn on the "Pretend" options before
they'll work properly.
Question 1.51. What is Speedometer?
Speedometer is a shareware application that we have included with
Executor for demonstrational purposes. We have done so with
permission of Speedometer's author, Scott Berfield. It benchmarks
Macintoshes (and PCs running Executor) to find out how quickly their
CPU, graphics, floating point and disk subsystems work. The current
version of Speedometer is Speedometer 4.x, but that uses a timing
mechanism that Executor currently doesn't support. Speedometer 3.23
can give you a rough approximation of how quickly your PC is emulating
a Mac. Remember, Speedometer is shareware, and ARDI has not paid the
shareware fee for you. If you repeatedly use Speedometer, please
register it with Scott.
Speedometer will show you that Executor is a very efficient emulator.
Please note, ARDI has not put special hooks into Executor to recognize
Speedometer's code and bypass it; Speedometer is treated just like any
other application when run under Executor. Yes, it would be possible
for us to cheat and make Speedometer return values that are higher
than you could expect to see in real life, but we don't do that sort
of thing.
Question 1.52. How can I get a screen dump of
Executor?
Just type Cmd-Shift-3, just like on a Mac. The difference is that the
screen shot will be in TIFF format (uncompressed, for now) and will be
written in the directory that contains executor.exe under DOS, or in
/tmp under Linux.
- 21 April 1998