MAC Users, I Need Your Help.

I plan to release a Poser freebie early next month. I have heard things that suggest that a normal PC type installation, where a zip file is extracted in the main Poser folder, installing files to the appropriate folders,  can cause problems on a MAC. Possibly even trash the Runtime folder. I know nothing about the Mackintosh OS (OS's ?). Can someone please tell me what installation instructions I can give to MAC users, so that the files install safely? Any links to tutorials on this?

I remember seeing a tool acts the same way as Windows does on extracting zip files. I suggest that you should ask this question on the Macintosh forum.

I'm assuming that you're talking about your MM32 freebie and here is what I did to install it manually:

1. Extract the zip files of the freebie.
2. In the freebie folder, I go to the pose folder and move the mirrormags32 folder into my Runtime-library-pose folder.

That's basically it.

-Lee

I got a Mac to test my stuff on. I found that copying files into my Mac Poser installation folder by individual folder got very old very fast. Why on Earth the Mac OS will not allow directories to merge but insists on the new trashing the old is completely beyond me.

Macs do come with a utility called "Ditto" there is a GUI version available somewhere (Google search) that is supposed to alleviate the problem. Unfortunately I could never get it to work. To keep my sanity and probably the life expectancy of the Mac I wrote a Python script to do the job. I now have a two button click to install Poser zip files. (Browse for zip, click "OK")

I've made it freely available at http://www.philc.net/unzip.htm

If that helps, have at it, if not, no worries.

Attached Link: dittoGui download

I use dittoGui, written by the Bracey clan down under. It's a very neat and simple utility where you drag the source runtime folder onto one little box, and the target runtime folder to the other, and press the 'Ditto' button. It does just what the Windows drag and drop copy does (including replacing any files by the same name that already exist).

You can do it from the OS X command line, but dittoGui is much easier.

Izi

It also unzips archive folders, apparently, but I have never tried that, since I store all my products' source files as a complete Runtime.

It comes with a Paypal button. US$8 (currently) gets rid of that!

@ mtone,

Thanks mtone. I didn't realise there was a MAC forum here. I will post the question there. Sounds like Phil's script is goning to be the best solution, but I might as wall canvas all the options, and perhaps learn something whilst I'm about it.

@ PhilC,

Thanks Phil. It sounds like you have done a great service for Poser MAC users. I'll definitely include a link to your page on "start_unzip.py" in the documentation. And thanks for clarifying that the MAC does indeed overwrite, rather than merge. I was not sure.

@ IsaoShi,

Thanks IsaoShi. I will look into dittoGui.

 
As a matter of interest, I was testing a product for another vendor, and I tried placing the zip file next to an existing Runtime folder and extracting it. Results: it did not overwrite the existing Runtime folder and contents, nor merge into it - it created a new folder called Runtime-1 and put everything in there. Not much use.

This was using Stuffit Expander that comes with OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

Yes I got the duplicate Runtime 1's also. About as much use as a chocolate fire screen :)

it's mac, les.  MAC is an acronym for media access control.  copying the files
from an external device to the drive in use will obviate any over-writing, but
they never tell OS X users that.

p.s. I just put any new runtime in the downloads folder or on an external drive. 
I'd rather have dozens of runtimes than one huge one (all one's eggs in one basket).

Hmmm, it's not really important, but that's an entirely different MAC, Miss Nancy, not related to Macintosh at all. Or did you know that? 

MAC (Media Access Control) is a data communication protocol sub-layer. It gives its name to the MAC-Address, the fixed address of every network interface card.

Another MAC is the Migration Authorisation Code, a code that an ISP gives you to move your DSL service to another ISP.

Damned TLAs.

WOT... sorry!

I have been running poser since version 1, so 1,2,3,4,5 and 7.
I have been running it on a mac from os 7, 7.5, 8, 9, to osx 10.4.9
I have never had any problems with zip file or runtime instulations
in osx mac has it's own unzip program a widget that just unpacks it

post poser 5 uses png files so if you have rsr file you use RSRCONV
If you are still running poser 4 or Poser Pro you're in mac os 9 at best
and then you use MACONVERTER

Don't worry about it, just don't make it a .exe

Don't know if this has already been mentioned. If so, disregard.

Let say your runtime is a geometry folder and a character folder. Let's say that your distribution has a geometry folder, a character folder and a hair folder.

In Windows, the geometry and character folders are consolidated with the existing folders and the hair folder is added. In MacOS, the geometry and character folders OVERWRITE the existing folders and the hair folder is added. It has been maddening to adjust to this.

Quote - it's mac, les.  MAC is an acronym for media access control.

Well I say its a big MAC, and I want mine with fries and a Coke!!! :tt2:

Thanks to all for the help and advice . The original advice to Mac (not MAC or mac ) users was:

"MAC users may need to install differently" :blink:

Thanks to your help, it has grown into a small HTML page. I include it below. If you feel it needs any corrections, additions or deletions, or you just don't like my atrocious spelling, punctuation, grammar, web style, or haircut. Let me know and I will try to fix it.

Advice on installing MirrorMags32 to Mackintosh Systems

I'm not a Mack user. This is the advice I have gathered from asking around. It does not come from personal experience. If in doubt, consult the documentation for your operating system, and any other relevant software, or ask someone who is familiar with installing to a Mac.

Doing a PC type install by extracting the zip file in your main Poser folder (or other place) may result in serious loss of data on Macintosh systems. Extracting the files and folders in the zip may overwrite the files and folders in your "Runtime" folder, rather than merging them as would happen in a PC.

Doing a safe installation on a Mac will depend on the methods you use, and the software you use to extract from the "MirrorMags32.zip" file.

PhilC has come up with a Poser Python script that can safely extract zip files to your Poser installation on a Mac. The script is to be run from within Poser. Below is a link to a page on PhilC's site where you can download the Python script. The page also contains a link to a tutorial on how to safely install the script itself.

unzip by PhilC
Python Script to install ZIP files into Poser
( Mac:- Poser 7 only, PC:- Poser 6 & Poser 7 ).

I'm sure there are other methods and software that you could use. You will probably know much more about this stuff than me. If you have a method that you have successfully used in the past to do similar installations, and you feel confidant in it, by all means use that method. I have heard that "dittoGui" can be used on a Mac to merge, rather than overwrite folders, and that "Stuffit Standard (the full version) Has a preferences setting that will allow the new and existing runtimes to be merged.".

Note that the author will take no responsibility for any loss, damage, or other inconvenience caused by the installation or use of Mirrormags32 (MM32).

More general information on the installation, and a list of included files, can be found in the "Install.txt", brief instructions on a PC install can also be found in the
"MM32 QuickStart.html", that file also contains the information needed to to start using MM32.

OK, so it's "Macintosh", not "Mackintosh".
Told you my spelling is c..p !

It's confident, not confidant also...; but I like your haircut.
:lol:

(:

Thanks Whazizname.  Les looks in mirror, combs hair, smiles

Well, the problem is the way OSX replaces a folder if you drop a folder of the same name on top of it. If you expect it to merge, you will be highly disappointed:O I never even knew windows could do that (and I was a windows user since 3.1)...so, I certainly don't miss it being gone with OS X. There are actually very good reasons it happens that way- Mac is cheating by using special folder hierarchies to provide package-like functionality for Applications and a handful of other magic things. If the merge occurred like it apparently does in windows, you would have to delete your app first, and then drop the new on in place.

I don't like StuffIt...lots of annoyances in that little app. For unarchiving, I use BetterZip (http://macitbetter.com/) which has many great little time saving features. It remembers the last several directories (or is that OS X that does that...not sure) so, I can work through several new installations in just a couple of minutes. It basically works the same as winzip.

I would look around for a tutorial on installing poser content with Macs and just point your users to that. The odds are pretty good that folks using your product will have already installed zips before, and won't actually need instructions on how to use them, but, in the event they haven't, you can rely on the community to get it exactly right without having to worry them with warnings like "Doing a PC type install by extracting the zip file in your main Poser folder (or other place) may result in serious loss of data on Macintosh systems"

Thanks mamba-negra.

I see your point. Most people who use Poser on a Mac will know this stuff already. But as the PC installation instructions I provided would apparently lead to disastrous consequences on a Mac, I did not want to be responsible for someone following them blindly and trashing their Runtime folder.

I can recognise how my present advice could be seen as either anxiety producing, or patronising, depending on the users level of experience. But I would rather be safe than sorry. I am hampered in providing really good advice by the fact that I don't know what the f..k I am talking about when it comes to a Mac install. All I can do is to pass on what I have learned in this thread, with as little distortion as possible. If I can find a link to a tutorial I will include that link, if it seems like a good tutorial I might even scrap my advice and just point them to the tutorial. I was hoping that someone might know of such a tutorial, but no one has suggested one so far.

A tutorial; from the Macintosh forum here: http://www.renderosity.com/news.php?viewStory=13273 (:

I'm sure that tutorial was written with the best of intentions,but I believe that it was not created by a Mac user.Perhaps written by someone more comfortable in dos

for it suggests an assumed complication with anything foreign to one's own understanding

and reflects an insulation into Poser 1, 2, 3, 4, or Poser pro, running in an out dated operating system (OS 7 to OS 9.2)

not used by the majority of Mac users since 1999 when the largest hard drives available were 12 gigs or so.

In addition, since Mac started using intel prosessors in 2005 with their G5 machines running Leopard (OSX 10.5), you can no longer run "classic" Mac applications like Poser 4.

In any event.

Installing Poser Runtime content is very simple on a Mac running OSX

But you still have to be careful because most content was written by Windows users

with even some of DAZ3D's installers at times installing the wrong folder or forgetting the png images.  

To install zipped files into Poser 5 and above without doing it by hand

you need a installer utility

I use RSRConv:

http://braintrigger.com/software/RSRConv/

but I read you could use:

dittoGUI

http://web.mac.com/ilikecomputing/SoftwareDev/Downloads/Entries/2006/3/14_dittoGUI.html

And I'm sure there is more out there, or there's Phil's python script for installing content while running Poser 6 and above

So, here is a simpler explaining on how to install zipped files into a Poser runtime folder.

1} Install your installer utility into your applications folder.

1. drag and drop that installer's icon onto your Dock to create a constantly available alias for that application.

2. download a zip file and unzip it by double clicking on it (BOMArchiveHelper is the default unzip application in OSX).

3. look inside this newly created folder to see what you have downloaded (png or rsr files or both)

4. drag and drop this new folder onto the alias of your installer program on you Dock. This will launch that installer

5. with RSRConv as your installer, it opens up and asked you if you want to convert, merge, or both. Hit "both" if you are unsure. It with then let you navigate to what ever runtime folder you wish to install your new content into. This selected runtime folder will also be the default folder for the next time you use RSRConv to install content.

6. That's it. you can do this while you are running Poser and the new content will show up in you Poser library, but that's not recommended.

====================

Mac has a very user friendly operating system. You load a CD, a DVD, a floppy disk, Zip Disk, etc..., it shows up on your desktop as just another harddrive and you can see what's in it. You don't need to go hunting with an application to see the content of that disk. I would also say most Mac users run or can run VitualPC or other Window shells to run Windows just in case you you need to install a poser exe file created by those that insist that their products are only for Windows users.

Thanks for the input everyone.

In the end, the information I included was more or less as I laid out above.

MM32 is now in public release, hosted at sharecg. You can find a link to it in ** my Free Stuff**.