UnUU is (another) tiny Macintosh utility that deals UU coded chunks sent to news groups. UnUU reassembles uu encoded chunks and decodes the file into a Macintosh (binary) file. UnUU will assign the resulting file a type and creator based on the suffix of the uu encoded file. UnUU is also able to open the decoded file with the appropriate application. All that with a simple drag and drop!
UnUU requires System 7 or later.
UnUU is fat binary (PPC & 68k). Requires a 68020 or latter.
UnUU is not memory greedy. You can lower the memory given to it. If it requires more memory than it has, it will try use temporary memory from the system, but you won't even see it, because that memory is released too quickly.
What is UnUU and why do I need it?
Internet Newsgroups only deal with 7 bit ASCII files (i.e., plain text files, the 8th bit of every byte is cleared). Many Macintosh files are binary files (i.e., the 8th bit of bytes are used). Therefore files sent to the news have to be converted in ASCII format.
UU coding is a means to code/decode your binary files into ASCII format, allowing you to send/receive files over the Internet. But beware ! UU coding was invented on an Unix system (wasn't it?). Since Macintosh files are more sophisticated than files of other file systems (they have a resource fork, which is a structured part), you can't UU code safely any Macintosh file.
UU coding only deals with the data fork of the file. Therefore, Macintosh files often loose information during an uu coding-decoding process. This is not very important for images that are coded entirely in the data fork, but this makes transferring applications impossible with UU coding. In any case, keep in mind that UU coded files lack:
- a file type and a creator application: that information can be guessed with the suffix of the file. A file which name ends with ".jpg" is very certainly a JPEG image file that can be opened with GraphicConverter╔
- the resource fork. Images will loose their previews, TeachText (now SimpleText) files will loose their enrichment, such the font information, color, size, etc. In many case this is not really important. If it is, then you must use a specific file format that doesn't use files resource fork.
A Macintosh specific coding called BinHex exists to code Macintosh files with no loss (those files are suffixed with .hqx). But since the coded file is Mac specific (as it has a resource fork), other systems won't be able to use it. Thus, BinHex is a Macintosh only tool. One can't use it to send files that are supposed to be used on non-Macintosh computers.
Some systems on the Internet are unable to transfer large files, so most of the time uu coded files are cut up into small chunks (usually 20-32k). So, for example a 90k picture you just scanned will look like this:
My Favorite Photo.jpg (the name of your file on your Mac)
|
My Favorite Photo.jpg.uu (The same file uu encoded in ASCII)
|
My favorite Photo.jpg.uu.01 (The same uu encoded file cut up into chunks)
My favorite Photo.jpg.uu.02
My favorite Photo.jpg.uu.03
You end up with a lot of work to do to recover those files.
First, you will have to stick the chunks together. You can use any text processor reassemble the file.
Then, you will have to look precisely in the archive and remove the extra lines included by news system.
After that, you will need an utility to uu decode the file back into its original binary format.
Finelly, you have to give the produced files a type and assign it a creator so that you'll be able to double-click on their icon to open them.
It's a pain: you (at least I) make mistakes, you spend time, and you're doing what your computer should do for you.
UnUU is here to do all that for you.
How to use UnUU
There are two ways of using UnUU. The first one is the "normal" use. The second one is for rare cases, when the first way won't work.
The simple way
Ñ put all the chunks in the same folder using view by icon (or small icon)
Ñ select the chunks one by one (by clicking on the first file and shift clicking on the next files) in the order you want UnUU to deal with them,
Ñ drag and drop them on UnUU,
Ñ the uu archive is reassembled and (if the "Decode" preference is set) uu decoded. UnUU will then assign a type and creator according to the suffix of the uu archive and try to open the file with the appropriate application (if the "Open created documents" preference is set).
WARNING ! If you use a list view (view by name, view by kind, etc...), the order used when selecting the chunks is ignored: the Finder will override the order of your selection and use the window's order.
You can send several jobs in a single drag and drop. Just order the files correctly.
You can also drag and drop them one by one.
The exact behavior of UnUU can be changed with the preference dialog box.
The intelligent way
If you press the option key while UnUU opens the files, it analyses them and memorizes references to the chunks it finds (up to a hundred). Then when you select the "Close files" command of the "File" menu, UnUU tries to put the pieces together in the right order.
It does this by trying to locate a "Subject:" line at the beginning the chunks (-if you have set the "Sort after the ╥Subject:╙ field" preference), or by looking at the name of the chunk. It then sorts the chunks alphabetically according to the "Subject:" line or the file name.
When closing the files, UnUU processes only the pieces that it thinks are in a correct order.
Preferences Menu
The settings that you are likely to change very often can be set easily with the preference dialog box.
You can tell UnUU to create the documents in the same folder as the processed files or in a specific folder.
You can tell UnUU what to do with the processed files :
Ñ Organize in - the processed files will be moved in a folder called "Done" (you can change this), inside a folder named after the created file.
Ñ Remove - the processed files will be deleted.
Ñ Trash - will move the processed files to the trash.
Ñ None - UnUU won't move the files.
Ñ UU Decode - will uu decode the file after it has reassembled its chunks. Otherwise, the produced file contains only the uu-code : you can check that way that the extra information has correctly been removed. Useful if you want to try to correct a possibly corrupted archive.
Ñ Open produced files - will attempt to open the resulting documents with an appropriate application.
Ñ Quit after opening with a drag'n drop - will quit UnUU after it has been launched by a drag and drop.
Ñ Sort after "Subject:" field - see "The Intelligent Way" above.
Ñ Rename processed files - the processed files will be renamed after the name of the produced file.
Don't forget to save those settings if you want to╔ If you only press the "Ok" button, the settings will only remain only until you quit UnUU.
You can alter the type and creator of the resulting file with respect to the suffix in the original uu encoded file (those must be EXACTLY four characters long to be meaningful). You can select those by giving an example, or (for the creator field), by showing the creator application you want.
You can also set whether UnUU will remove that suffix from the final file. The suffix field mustn't be more than four characters long without the period. Suffix will always be converted to lowercase.
Legal Stuff
There is no warranty of any kind, etc. It won't format your hard drive, but I can't garanty it will work correctly.
If UnUU doesn't make the job or if you don't like it, trash it. If you think there is a bug, keep the file that cause you the problem and tell me about it by e-mail.
Registering
UnUU is PostcardWare. If you use it, send me a postcard by snail mail. Though it's better than nothing, an email isn't enough.
Registered users of UnUU (the ones that sent a postcard) can be added to one of the following mailing lists :
- the information-only mailing list : you will receive information about each new release, bug fixes, etc. You'll still have to get the release at info-mac if you want to, but you'll know about it as soon as possible.
- the every-release mailing list : you will receive each new release directly by email, including the (very few) beta versions I release.
Tell me which list interests you on the postcard and you'll be added to the list (don't forget to write your email address!). Don't expect to be added to either list if you sent an email instead of a postcard !
If you're a shareware author, maybe you'll want to grant me a license for your software ?
UnUU and its accompanying documents have been checked for viruses (with Disinfectant 3.6) before being up loaded to online services.
You can distribute UnUU provided you don't modify it in any way and that you keep this notice and the History file with it.
DO NOT INCLUDE UnUU ON ANY COMMERCIAL CD-ROMS WHATSOEVER!!! The only exceptions are CD-ROMS that come with magazines or Info-Mac CD-ROMs.
UnUU has been used for months on several machines. I am not aware of any bug. If you happen to know about an incompatibility, please let me know. I'll see what I can do.
Georges-Edouard Berenger,
berenger@dialup.francenet.fr
PS: Don't forget the postcard if you use it ! It's my only salary for the hours I spend on UnUU.
