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Csa2 FAQs-on-Ground ref: Csa2FLUTILS.txt rev132 March 2009File Utilities 001- What are "binscii" files and how are they used? 002- What are .SHK files and how do I use them? 003- How do I get ShrinkIt or GS-ShrinkIt going on my Apple II? 004- How do I deal with the $00 type Apple II files I get on my Mac? 005- Can I work with .zip files on my Apple II? 006- What are DSK, NIB, 2MG, HDV,... disk image files & how do I use them? 007- Where can I get ShrinkIt, binscii, DSK2FILE, ASIMOV, etc.? 008- I have downloaded files in "gz" format? How do I use them? 009- Which programs can change ProDOS filetype? 010- What is Copy II Plus and where can I get it? 011- How do I use Copy II Plus to create and convert IMG files? 012- How do I set write protection for an emulator disk image? 013- How can I create a disk image from a ShrinkIt .sdk file? 014- How can I convert a .po image to/from a .dsk or .do image? 015- What do file name extensions mean and how do I access the files? 016- How do I tell what kind of file this is? 017- How can I create new .dsk, .nib, etc. disk images? 018- How can I convert .dsk image .nib image? 019- How can I convert Diskcopy images to diskette or to other formats? 020- How can I move files to/from .dsk and .2MG disk images? 021- How can I unfork forked files on my Apple II?From: Rubywand001- What are "binscii" files and how are they used? The term "binscii" comes from combining "binary" with "ASCII". A file in binscii form has been changed so that it can be transmitted as text to/from net servers and services which do not handle pure binary transfers. Today, practically all servers can handle pure binary transfers; so, binscii is no longer in popular use. However, quite a few old A2 files are still in binscii form and binscii is used for files uploaded to comp.binaries.apple2. To convert binscii'd files to their un-biniscii'd form, you can use a program named "BINSCII" or, on a GS, the New Desk Accessory named "GScii". These programs can, also, create binscii files.Note: Binscii is in no way related to Binary II. Binscii changes the entire file into Text. Binary II is just a small block of bytes tacked onto the front of a file, mainly to identify the file's filetype.----------------------------002- What are ShrinkIt (.SHK) files and how do I use them? ShrinkIt files are the Apple II world's answer to .ZIP files in PC-ville. An .SHK file is a file which contains one or more files which are almost always in compressed form. Usually, they are produced by GS-ShrinkIt (also called "GSHK" or "ShrinkIt-GS") or the Balloon NDA, or by 8-bit ShrinkIt. Some .SHK files are produced by Macs; these may not always be compatible with A2 ShrinkIt programs. An .SHK file can be unshrinked by ShrinkIt even if it shows up on the Apple II with a TXT or BIN filetype and even if the name does not end with ".SHK" or ".shk". If a ShrinkIt file does not show up as available for unshrinking, you can toggle an "All files" option to see the file and then select it. If an .SHK file has a Binary II header, ShrinkIt will automatically remove it and assign the correct filetype. (Of course, this will usually be SHK.) Other kinds of ShrinkIt files include .SEA and .SDK. An Apple II .SEA file is a IIgs executable self-extracting archive-- i.e. you can click it on the GS Finder and it will unShrink. There are also Mac .SEA files and these are not GS-compatible. A ShrinkIt whole-disk archive is an .SHK file which is usually labeled ".SDK" to show that it is a Shrinked diskette. An .SDK file can archive a 3.5" diskette (both sides) or 5.25" diskette (one side). Most are archives of 5.25" DOS 3.3 diskettes produced by 8-bit ShrinkIt. A whole-disk ShrinkIt archive retains all data bytes on a diskette, including files, Catalog/Directory sectors, empty tracks, and DOS if present. An .sdk file of a DOS 3.3 5.25" disk created by 8-bit ShrinkIt also preserves volume number-- important for some games and utilities which depend upon volume numbers to identify disks. (5.25" whole-disk archives created by GS-ShrinkIt do not preserve volume number.) 8-bit/IIe ShrinkIt can be used to fully unshrink any Apple II .SHK file _except_ .SHK files which contain files with GS/OS resource forks and .SEA files. For this reason, 8-bit ShrinkIt should not be used to unshrink .SHK file archives containing GS programs unless you know that none of the contained files has a resource fork. GS-ShrinkIt can handle nearly all kinds of Apple II .SHK and .SDK files. It will not handle shrinked 5.25" DOS 3.3 .SDK files created by 8-bit ShrinkIt. In fact, most users automatically use 8-bit ShrinkIt to create and unshrink .SDK files of old 5.25" wares. (Balloon does not currently support whole-disk archives.) Naturally, things are somewhat more crowded on 64K Apple II's. On these machines, the functions are separated. SHRINK creates .SHK files and UNSHRINK unshrinks them. On a PC, the utility NuLib (v3.24) lets you view contents and unshrink most kinds of .SHK files. (There is a handy option to unshrink and convert Apple II text files to PC text format.) It will not unshrink IIgs files with resource forks. Here is a simple one-line batch (text) file program for easily viewing the contents of .shk files you download to a PC (just double-click on the file name):c:\nulib\nulib v %1 moreThe above is for NuLib.exe located in folder c:\nulib . Save the text as nulibv.bat in c:\nulib and tell Windows to use c:\nulib\nulibv.bat as the 'application to perform action' for doing an Open. (You do this by selecting View--Options in the My Computer window and editing the file type info for .shk files.) NuLib can also convert 5.25" .SDK files into .PO (ProDOS order) disk images which can be used by Apple II emulators. This works for .SDK files produced by 8-bit ShrinkIt but not for those produced by GS-ShrinkIt. The unshrinking process is very speedy and the size of a compressed ShrinkIt file is, often, around half that of the original files it contains. This makes .SHK files very handy for archiving your software. And, since a ShrinkIt file also preserves filetype information of contained files, ShrinkIt has become the preferred format for uploading and storing Apple II files on the internet.----------------------------003- How do I get ShrinkIt or GS-ShrinkIt going on my Apple II?Getting GS-ShrinkIt v1.1 If you do not already have Balloon or an earlier version of GS-ShrinkIt, there are several ways to get GS-ShrinkIt going once a file is downloaded and transferred to your IIgs. Here are the two easiest ways:A. The Self-Extracting (.sea) version A IIgs .sea file is a IIgs application which self-extracts the file contents when executed from the usual Finder desktop display. Since the file gshk.sea will, most likely, arrive as a Text type file, you will need to change the file's filetype to $B3 (S16) before it can be executed. Several utilities can change ProDOS filetype. If you do not have one, you can download tchange.bin and follow the directions* in tchange_info.txt to get it going on your Apple II. You can find GS-ShrinkIt in an .SEA file (e.g. gshk.sea) and tchange.bin on several archive sites. (See Q&A 007 below.)B. The Shrinked Disk (.sdk) version GSUTILS.sdk is a shrinked whole-disk file which can be unshrinked to 800k 3.5" diskette using 8-bit ShrinkIt (or GS-ShrinkIt). If booted, this diskette starts a bare-bones System 6.0.1 and launches GS-ShrinkIt. Besides GS-ShrinkIt, also on the disk (in .SHK files) are the ZLINK shareware telecom utility and ASIMOV for converting .dsk files. Coolwriter (for reading Text) is on the disk as a non-shrinked file. All of these can be copied to hard disk or to other diskettes. GSUTILS.sdk is available on Ground in the useful.stuff/ folder mentioned above. The 8-bit ShrinkIt in a self-extracting version can be found in the same folder.Getting SHRINK and UNSHRINK (for 64k Apples) SHRINK and UNSHRINK permit 64k Apple II users to work with .SHK files. These files are usually maintained in non-shrinked form. You can find them on several sites. (See Q&A 007 below.) To get these utilities going on your Apple II, download SHRINK, UNSHRINK, and SHRINK2PLUS.TXT (e.g. as separeate files or on a .dsk disk image). Once the files are transferred to your Apple II, follow the directions* in SHRINK2PLUS.TXT.*Note: If you download an Apple II file to a PC and transfer to a Mac and get filetype $00 ("Unknown"), the process described in the directions will not work when the $00 file is moved to your Apple II. One solution is a Mac utility to set filetype to $04 (TXT). See ProTYPE info in the next Q&A below.----------------------------Getting 8-bit ShrinkItFrom: Beverly Cadieux The easiest way to get the current (3.4) version of 8-bit ShrinkIt going is via the self-extracting archive, SHRINK.EXE.o- Download the file, (transfer to your Apple II if necessary,) and get into AppleSoft BASIC (run BASIC.SYSTEM and get to the AppleSoft "]" prompt).o- Be sure to set the ProDOS PREFIX to the location of SHRINK.EXE on your Apple II. For example, if it is in the main directory of volume HD1, you would enterPREFIX /HD1o- Now, enter -SHRINK.EXE (that's a dash, then the file name):-SHRINK.EXE Shrinkit will self-extract, along with a documentation file. (ShrinkIt v3.4 consists of two files. One is a small start file which may be named "Shrinkit.System", "ShrinkitST.sys", or something similar. The other is the main program file which must be named "Shrinkit".) You can find SHRINK.EXE in Ground's useful.stuff/ folder (See Q&A 007 below).____________________________From: Randy Shackelford004- How do I deal with the $00 type Apple II files I get on my Mac? Some II users like to download Apple II files to a PC and transfer them to a Mac for eventual transfer to Apple II ProDOS diskettes. Unfortunately, under most circumstances, PC Exchange writes files onto ProDOS disks as extended typeless ($00) files which are difficult to work with on the Apple II. What you need is to get hold of a Mac application named "ProTYPE". You drag 'n drop the files on ProTYPE, then copy 'em to the floppy. The files will work then.____________________________From: Rubywand005- Can I work with .zip files on my Apple II? The GS can unZIP .zip files via PMPunZip by Paul Parkhurst.----------------------------From: Supertimer Tony Marques wrote Angel, the fastest unzipping utility for the Apple II. It can create .zip files, but only one file per archive.----------------------------From: Jim Pendarvis To zip a file using Angel, highlight the file to zip and press OpenApple-Z. You'll get a file named ZIPDFILE.ZIP. If you then select another file to zip, it will overwrite the first one. (Don't forget to set your destination directory first. That is the hardest thing to remember about using Angel.)____________________________From: Rubywand, Orgone Accumulator, Greg E. Nelson, Eric Shepherd, Roger Johnstone006- What are DSK, PO, DO, HDV, NIB, and 2MG "disk image" files and how do I use them? A "disk image" is typically a file containing every data byte on a diskette-- i.e. Catalog tracks, files, DOS (if present) etc.. One kind of disk image, NIB, tries to preserve all disk information (e.g. sector headers, sync bytes, etc.). Apple II emulators running on a PC, Mac, etc. treat disk image files like diskettes. Disk image files are also a handy way to archive Apple II disks on hard disk and to maintain wares on ftp and other download sites.DSK's (.dsk, .do, .po and .hdv files) DSK (usually .dsk) files are disk image files used by popular Apple II emulators like AppleWin to run A2 wares on the PC or Mac. Usually, they are images of Apple 5.25" game, utility, etc. diskettes. A standard 5.25" DSK file is 143,360 bytes in length:1 side x 35 Tracks/side x 16 Sectors/Trk x 256 Bytes/Sec = 143,360 Bytes.DSK files of 800k 3.5" disks are much less common. Data in a DSK disk image file can be arranged in the sector order used by DOS 3.3 or in the sector order used by ProDOS. The filename suffixes relate chiefly to how data is arranged in the file:.dsk- technically, this may be an image which has its data in DOS 3.3 or ProDOS order. (The emulator program is supposed to check a .dsk file to determine the ordering used.) It has become standard practice to use the .dsk suffix for only DOS 3.3 order files..do- an image which is in DOS 3.3 order. This suffix is seldom used today. DOS 3.3 order image file names usually end with ".dsk"..po- an image which is in ProDOS order. If an image is in ProDOS order, its name should end with ".po" (not ".dsk") to avoid confusion..hdv- typically an image 800k (819,200 bytes) or greater in size in ProDOS order. The image is intended for use as a virtual hard disk by various Apple II and IIgs emulators (e.g. Apple Oasis). The IIgs program ASIMOV2 can create .hdv files (select "Raw image"). The file name should end with ".hdv".Note: data order does not relate to whether a disk image is a DOS 3.3 or ProDOS disk. In fact, nearly all 5.25" disk image files (of both DOS 3.3 and ProDOS disks) are in DOS 3.3 order; and, DOS 3.3 order is the default setting for image creation programs like DSK2FILE and ASIMOV and the transfer/creation program ADT. On a PC, NuLib can create disk images from 8-bit ShrinkIt whole-disk (.sdk) files (but not from .sdk files which were produced by GS-ShrinkIt). These images will be in ProDOS order. You can convert a .po disk image to a DOS 3.3 order .dsk by using a disk copier like Disk Muncher on an emulator to copy from the .po image to a .dsk image. On ftp sites, DSK files are usually in a ZIPped form to conserve space. For example, on the Asimov site, narfgames.dsk.gz is a DSK file of the narfgames disk which has been g-zip compressed. Other archive sites may use standard ZIP compression and the file name might be "narfgame.zip" or "narfgame_dsk.zip". On a PC, WinZIP will uncompress g-zipped and ZIPped DSK files. A DSK file can be converted to actual diskette form on an Apple II using DSK2FILE or (GS-only) ASIMOV. If a 5.25" .dsk disk image file is transferred to your Apple II using ADT (or ADTgs for IIgs), it is automatically converted and written to 5.25" diskette. For more about ADT and ADTgs see Telecom-1. Most 5.25" DSK (.dsk and .do) files are of a DOS 3.3 or some related DOS disk. The target diskette should be INITed for DOS 3.3. (or, it can be formatted using Copy II Plus, etc.) and you should use the default DSK2FILE or ASIMOV "DOS 3.3 Order" setting. If a disk image file has a .po suffix, use the DSK2FILE or ASIMOV "ProDOS Order" setting.Note: In most cases it is okay to use either a DOS 3.3 or ProDOS formatted diskette as the target (and; the target disk does not need to be empty of any files). However, ProDOS formatting uses a default Volume Number of 1, which is different from the DOS 3.3 default of 254. Since ProDOS stuff does not care about Volume numbering and DOS 3.3 stuff may, the target disk should generally be one INITed with the default Volume Number-- e.g. INIT HELLO . Here is a quickie step-by-step guide for getting a 5.25" DSK disk image file into useable form:1. Download the file in binary mode from an ftp archive site via ftp:// ...2. If file length is not 143,360, use WinZIP or equivalent to unZip it.3. Transfer the DSK file to your GS via Mac diskette or a NULL modem transfer. One way or another, the file needs to end up on a ProDOS diskette or ProDOS hard disk volume on the GS.4. If you are using DSK2FILE, jot down the complete path name of the DSK file (e.g. /RAM5/NARFGAMES.DSK ) because DSK2FILE will ask you to type it in.5. Insert the formatted 5.25" target diskette into Drive 1 (Slot 6). This diskette needs to be 16-sector formatted. Plain DOS 3.3 formatting with the default Volume number is, generally, best and easiest. (You can boot a DOS 3.3 or Prontodos disk and do an INIT HELLO to format a 5.25" diskette.)6. Start DSK2FILE or ASIMOV. Normally, you will accept the defaults (5.25", DOS 3.3 order). If you know the DSK is a ProDOS image in ProDOS order-- like the file name ends with ".PO", select "ProDOS Order". (ProDOS disk images are, fairly often, in DOS order to make them more universally transferable.)7. Select the "Image file ---> Diskette" option, follow prompts, and you should end up with a good diskette. (If everything seemed to go well but the disk does not work, try repeating the process using the other "Order" option.) DSK2FILE and ASIMOV can, also, create disk image (.dsk or .po) files. Similarly, using ADT to transfer a 5.25" disk automatically creates a .dsk disk image on the PC. The source disk can be for a game, etc. so long as the diskette is not copy protected.Note: DOS 3.3 products which depend upon Volume numbering to identify diskettes will normally not work in disk image form on an Apple II emulator because Volume number information is embedded in non-data parts of a disk and is not included in a standard .dsk disk image file.NIB (.nib) Some copy protected diskettes can be converted to another kind of disk image called "NIB". Saltine's Super Transcopy (SST) incorporates bit copy routines to attempt to produce a nibblized disk image of a 5.25" diskette. On your Apple II, SST reads the disk bytes from half a disk and stores that data on a whole normal disk. Then it does the same for the second half. These two disks can be converted to .dsk disk images and moved to a PC or Mac. There, the .dsk images are merged into a NIB image using SST running on an emulator. If successful, you have a .nib file which can be used like a diskette on popular Apple II emulators. (For one or two older emulators, .nib files are the only useable images.) The standard length of a .nib file is 232,960 bytes-- much larger than a DSK. However, since .nib files include sector address header and other non-data 'embedded' diskette information, they can be used to image many protected disks. Naturally, a .nib file preserves DOS 3.3 volume numbering. This allows programs which use volume numbers to identify their disks to run on emulators. Many disks with no copy protection are in .nib form instead of .dsk because the game, etc. which uses the disks needs to check volume numbering.2MG (.2mg; sometimes .2img) Today, more and more IIgs software is being converted to 2MG disk image format used on XGS and other IIgs emulators. These are .dsk or .nib images with a prefix (usually 64 bytes) which includes information about size, format, sector ordering, volume number, locked/unlocked, etc.. 2MG files may also have a Comment and/or extra file information added following the disk image data. The format can accommodate disk images ranging from 5.25" diskette up through hard disk. For 2MG format details, see _2MG_Info.txt . The usual length of an 800k .2MG image (with no Comment or extra data) is 819,264 bytes*. You can use ASIMOV2 to convert .2MG files back to diskette form as well as for creating .2MG files from 800k diskettes. The utility Imgutnew.exe can be used to convert most available Diskcopy images to 2MG format on PC.*See ... Size Note: Transferring to 3.5" disk (at bottom of this page)____________________________From: Rubywand007- Where can I get ShrinkIt, Shrink (64k), Unshrink (64k), GS-ShrinkIt, binscii, GScii, BISCIT, TCHANGE, DSK2FILE, ASIMOV, PMPunZip, Angel, FileManager, 2qwk!, GZPK, Disk Muncher, Copy II Plus, NuLib, Balloon, DskIn & DskOut, Saltine's Super Transcopy (SST), FishWings, UnforkIt, XTRAX, StuffIt Expander, Diskcopy, Clone, Imgutnew.exe, DiskDup+, ProTYPE, MECC Copy, BlockWarden, BlockWork, ProDOSifier, DISK2FDI, CiderPress, ProDOS File Navigator, FID and Apple Commander? For links, see Csa21MAIN4: Get It- Links to popular software packages.----------------------------008- I have downloaded a bunch of files for the Apple II lately that are in a