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Text File | 1993-12-03 | 5.0 KB | 109 lines | [TEXT/MSWD] |
- HOW TO DOWNLOAD THE REQUIRED TOOLS
-
- SETTING UP AOL
-
- I'm including this step to make SURE that the following steps
- will work well for you. Begin using AOL, but DON'T sign on.
- Pull down the "Members" menu and choose "Preferences."
- Click on "Downloading Preferences" and make SURE that there
- is a check mark next to both "Auto UnStuff Files" and "Delete
- StuffIt Files."
-
- Close the Preferences window and click "Sign On." As soon as
- you hear "Welcome!", we're ready to do some work.
-
- DOWNLOADING FILES
-
- While using AOL, pull down the "Go To" menu, and choose
- "Keyword." Type the word "Palmtop" (without the quotes) and
- hit the return key. You'll notice this brings you directly to
- where all of your Newton goodies dwell. This includes the
- "Palmtop Paperbacks" section, where you'll find many, many
- "ET" Etext files.
-
- You may want to download the prerequisite files, so click on
- "Palmtop Paperbacks." You'll see a list of available books, and
- you might have to keep clicking on the "More Files" button
- until you see a file called "NE How2CreateNewtonBooks Pt. 1"
- Click on "Download Now" and you should see a dialog box
- which is asking you where you want to save your file. Just hit
- the Return key, which tells AOL to save your file into the same
- folder as America Online. Its name will be "MAKE_NB1.SIT,"
- which is typical for a PC-format file. I have tried my best to
- make these articles accessible to the 40% of Newton owners
- who use PC-compatible computers, even if it inconveniences
- my fellow Mac users.
-
- After a while, the file transfer will be complete, and hopefully
- AOL's software will have decompressed the file and split it
- into its separate files.
-
- DOWNLOADING THE MAC-COMPATIBLE TOOLS
-
- I'm about to STRONGLY recommend that you download several
- shareware programs. They will save you VAST amounts of
- work, and they are worth paying for. They each come with
- instructions for payment. I didn't use Add/Strip for the first
- collection of books I created, and I would have cut my
- workload by 80% if I had done so.
-
- There are two tools you should download from America
- Online. One will de-compress the PC-format Etext .ZIP files
- you'll download from AOL, and the other one will filter them
- to make them read nicely on a Macintosh or Newton screen,
- with paragraphs that are attractive, quotes that are curly, and
- no funny characters to annoy you.
-
- Pull down the "Go to" menu and choose "Keyword." Type
- "QuickFinder" and hit Return on your keyboard. This section
- allows you to find ANY program or data file in the monstrous
- Mac program library. Make sure that the dot next to "All
- Dates" is black, and that there is an "x" next to "All Categories."
-
- Down at the bottom, there is a field that where you should
- now type "Add/Strip" and press Return. After a short delay,
- you will see a list of choices. Find the version of Add/Strip
- with the highest number (mine is currently version 3.03) and
- double-click on it. Click on the button "Download Now", wait a
- while, and when you hear "File's Done!", close that window and
- the next window. You should see the window that allows you
- to search for files. Hit the Delete key on your keyboard until
- the words "Add/Strip" are gone, type "ZipIt" and then hit
- Return. Download the newest version of ZipIt (mine is 1.2)
- and then Choose "Quit" under the file menu. When asked if
- you are sure, click on "Quit" to exit from AOL.
-
- If all goes well, you should have decompressed ZipIt and
- Add/Strip program and documentation files on your hard disk.
- Open up your America Online folder and make sure. Drag the
- "A/S NewtonBook Settings" file I've included with this article
- into the same folder as Add/Strip.
-
- HOW TO UNZIP FILES
-
- This step is only necessary if you have downloaded a book or
- other text file that has a name that ends with .ZIP. These ZIP
- files are compressed archives containing one or more files that
- have been compressed by a PC user, rather than a Mac user.
- ZipIt allows you to read the foreign ZIP files (which are quite
- plentiful in the world of bulletin boards) and extract the files
- contained within so that you can work with them on your
- Macintosh computer.
-
- If you are using System 7 on your Mac, just drag ZipIt onto
- your desktop, somewhere near the Trash can. If you spot a
- file that ends with .ZIP, just drag that file into ZipIt's icon. If
- you are using System 6, double-click on ZipIt and open the ZIP
- file manually.
-
- ZipIt will open up a window that may show only one file
- inside of the ZIP, or it may contain many, many files. I always
- use the same technique to decompress files from within a .ZIP
- file. I hold down the Command key on my keyboard (the one
- with the Apple on it) and briefly press the "A" key. This
- performs the "Select All" command. I then hold down the
- Command key and briefly press "E", which is the shortcut for
- the "Extract" command. Finally, I quit from the program,
- finding that whatever files were stored inside my ZIP file are
- now outside it in decompressed form.
-