recover filetype
entityfree (3332) 77 posts |
where is it explained how to recover the filetype after copying from windows? it seems i read how to get that from the fileinfo digits at the end of the timestamp. or is that lost if changes are made? the forum search is not very advanced it seems, maybe we are supposed to read the whole forum. |
Rick Murray (539) 13392 posts |
In general, you don’t. Windows makes a mess of RISC OS file types, so stuff should be unpacked within RISC OS… nowhere else. That said, there are conventions. Files called !Boot and !Run are “Obey” files. Ones with Sprite in the name (Sprites, ! Sprites22, etc) are “Sprite”. Files called “Templates” will be “Template” (&FEC I think), and “Messages” will be text (&FFF). This leaves the file called !RunImage. It’ll either be “BASIC” or “Absolute”. You’ll need to drop it into Edit and see if it looks like a BASIC program or a C one. A quick trick is to go to the end and press PageUp a few times to see if there are any messages in the program about the C Library being to old, etc. There may be modules as well, but by this point you’d be better off doing stuff directly in RISC OS. Maybe the reason why nothing much turned up when you searched is because using Windows to tell with RISC OS files is like commuting to work in a submarine. Doable if you are willing to put a lot of effort and money into it, but for 99.9% of us, utterly useless… The timestamp and file type are metadata, that is to say that this information is not a part of either the filename or the file itself (it’s a bit like resource forks in Apple’s HFS), and anything that does not fully understand such a concept (Windows, Unix) will lose this information. That is because the file type replaces the load/execute addresses, so without knowledge of these… |
Steve Pampling (1551) 7925 posts |
Filetypes tend to be mangled by windows as the metadata used by RO is treated differently in the windows world. The trick is to keep files inside archives and only open those archives in RO. However, if you have windows mangled filetypes click the menu (middle) mouse button over the file and use the option there to set the filetype. You will find it handy to read the User Guide – there’s the old version and the new version note the that the newer version is “a work in process” |
Chris Evans (457) 1614 posts |
You can use SparkPlug to uncompress most files on RISC OS! You need this version: EDIT: Or SparkFS as was recommended to you in another thread. |
Martin Avison (27) 1417 posts |
I would strongly suggest that SparkPlug should not be used, and SparkFS used instead, as SparkPlug can cause problems. David Pilling wrote to me a couple of years ago…
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Rick Murray (539) 13392 posts |
Martin – while what you say is true, there’s the problem that there’s no self extracting version of SparkFS which leaves us with the problem of needing an unarchiver to unarchive the unarchiver… |
Martin Avison (27) 1417 posts |
What is the fourth entry on https://www.riscosopen.org/content/downloads/common then? :-)) |
Chris Evans (457) 1614 posts |
Martin: Yes SparkFS is the better choice. |
Rick Murray (539) 13392 posts |
And there I was looking in the logical place – David’s website. :-/ |
Martin Avison (27) 1417 posts |
Indeed. And that was where I first looked when I saw your post… largely because as well as suggesting he remove SparkPlug I also suggested to David that SparkFSRO should be there. Then I found it again closer to here. |