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From: johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: A tangible reason to use/support StuffIt.
Summary: Freeware translator modules for Classic and Deluxe!
Message-ID: <41298@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 10 Jan 91 01:48:50 GMT
Sender: usenet@ee.udel.edu
Organization: Univ. of Delaware, CCM
Lines: 40
Nntp-Posting-Host: oscar.ccm.udel.edu

One of the nice aspects of the new versions of StuffIt is a "modular"
structure that supports "Translators" for *other* file formats.
Translator modules contain just the information needed to accomplish
the format conversion;  StuffIt Classic or Deluxe provide the user 
interface.  

Far from being a symptom of "feature-itis", these modules can be 
included in StuffIt at the discretion of the user;  just drop the 
module into the "Translators" folder and the next time you run
StuffIt, the translation options appear magically in the "Other" menu.

Users who have previously relied on a host of stand-alone utilities 
for tasks like uu**code'ing, MacBinary (BinHex 5.0), DDexpanding, and 
Ascii<-->Binary conversions will be able to perform such tasks from
within a single application, with a consistent user interface.

I was glad to see that Aladdin used this modular format, and I am pleased
to see that the first public domain translator modules have recently been made
available on the commercial boards.  The first three modules are MacBinary, 
DDexpand, and Ascii<-->Binary.  UU**code, tar, and ".Z" (unix compression)
translators are coming "real soon now", I have been told.

I would like to put these up for anonymous ftp, but in the meantime 
I would be happy to send a StuffIt'd and binhexed copy by e-mail to 
anybody who is interested and can't wait.  These are only useful in 
conjunction with StuffIt Classic or Deluxe; so I plan to use StuffIt 
Classic's "Better" compression mode for the e-mail copies.  

For the anonymous ftp file I will observe net.convention and post in 
the standard StuffIt 1.5.1 format.  (If anyone has any suggestions as to 
the quickest way to get them up for ftp'ing, I would appreciate your input.)

The MacBinary and "Ascii<-->Binary" modules were written by Ray Lau; and
the DDexpand module is copyright Aladdin.  Thanks to Leonard Rosenthol
of Software Ventures for forwarding copies of the new translators and
pointing out to me that they work with the shareware StuffIt Classic 
as well as for the commercial StuffIt Deluxe!

-- Bill (johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu)
-- 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949