From: gids.rs@sasktel.net   
      
   > I can't thank you enough for sending me copies Mark Lim's CiderXPress,   
   > NuShrinkItX, QuickViewDHGR, and SCIIBinX utilities. [Apple II   
   > utilities for use on a Mac]   
      
   No problem. More than happy to return the favor after you sent me your Proterm   
   upgrades   
      
      
   > I've tried three of them with Mojave (10.14.6) and can tell that Mark   
   > put a *bunch* of effort into them, although he credits Andy McFadden   
   > with the heavy lifting.   
      
   Amazing how they work on the newer OSes considering he developed these on   
   MacOS 10.5   
      
      
   > The icons and user interface are top quality, and he even wrote both   
   > SpotLight and QuickLook plugins for them.   
   >   
   > The UnShrinkItX application seems to work particularly well, and   
   > includes the ability to change the contents of archives, including   
   > adding or deleting files, and changing file attributes. It also allows   
   > one to make a new archive. These are things that Kelvin's ShrinkFitX   
   > doesn't do, as it is primarily an unarchiver.   
      
   > CiderXPress, although it looks great and works for many things, still   
   > seems to need a little work. For example, it will create a new Apple II   
   > ProDOS disk image, but seems not to format it, and thus won't allow one   
   > to copy files to it. I had it crash on me several times in a row.   
      
   For most things I have pretty good work-arounds. The disk images I already   
   have pre-made empty formatted 800 kb and 32 Mb disk images. On the Mac, I just   
   right-click on the disk image and duplicate it. Rename the copy, then   
   dbl-click on the copy for    
   immediate use in CiderXPress. Which I think is faster than having to navigate   
   the menus in CiderXPress to create the images.   
      
      
   > But, it does open existing disk images and allow a number of operations   
   > on them, so it's close. Very close.   
      
   Yeah, at the time I didn't know enough yet to know what extras to ask for.   
      
      
   > And, I think I prefer Mark's CiderXPress and NuShrinkItX Quick Look   
   > plugins for quickly viewing the contents of Apple II disk images and   
   > archives over the Quick Look plugin that Gerard Putter includes with   
   > Virtual II. The Apple II graphics viewer Quick Look plugin is nice, too,   
   > although it's tough for a plugin to identify Apple II graphics because   
   > so many of them were merely saved as BIN/$06 type files, without an   
   > extension appended to the filename.   
   >   
   > I haven't tried SCIIBinX since it's been a while since I've used any of   
   > those type files.   
      
   This one is awesome and is hundreds of times faster than opening each .bsq   
   file in GSOS. I dragged hundreds of files to the window and it unsqueezed them   
   all in seconds.   
      
      
   > When Mark was writing these several years ago, he asked me to be a beta   
   > tester (like you) but at the time I didn't have a Mac that would run   
   > them. I wish I had, though, as I certainly would have enjoyed testing   
   > them and offering a few suggestions.   
      
   I offered him a donation so he would keep updating. But he refused. It is just   
   something he wanted to do.   
      
      
   > Have you corresponded with Mark since he wrote these? I'd like to see if   
   > perhaps he had worked any more on them or would release updated builds   
   > of them publicly.   
      
   I got the jist at the time he just wanted to have something working, but after   
   that he didn't have much interest in keeping up with it.   
      
      
   > If not for your help as a result of this newsgroup, I still wouldn't   
   > have seen them. Much obliged, sir.   
      
   For me, this is one of the more advanced newsgroups that I like to participate   
   in with the smartest programmers hanging out here. I am probably at the bottom   
   of the totem pole with anything to offer, so I am happy to help when I can.   
   And I appreciate all    
   the posts you have done about printing. Those are really good reads.   
      
      
   > The last email address I had for Mark had a yahoo Singapore domain.   
      
   I lost his information when I had a computer crash back then. I backed up   
   anything important including his software, but unfortunately not his emails.   
      
      
   > > The one nice thing that ShrinkitX does is it can view the text within   
   > > TXT, AWP, AWGS and forked text documents. Disappointingly, he did   
   > > not include this ability in CiderXPress. The ability to copy from   
   > > one CiderXPress disk image to another works goods, but have to drag   
   > > the files out of a ShrinkItX window to a folder, then back to a   
   > > CiderXPress window to copy files out of a ShrinkIt file.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)