Uncook Those Problem Downloads
Problems with Downloads?
Unfortunately most net servers for Apple II
http pages are not set up to
supply correct MIME type information for popular Apple II file types
such as
.shk, .sdk, .dsk, .bxy, etc.. As a result, downloads from these pages
may be
corrupted for users of some browsers.
Note: Right-clicking on the item to download will not circumvent the
problem.
This will let you choose to download a file taken to be a Text MIME
type rather
than have it dumped to your display (good to know). However,
it will not avoid
Text mode corruption.
If you are getting text-corrupted downloads
of .shk, .sdk, .dsk, and other
Apple binary files, one indicator will be that your downloaded file
is several
too many bytes larger than the original on the download site. A cure
which
usually seems to work is to employ the PC utility Uncook after downloading
.shk, etc. files from an http page. (Uncook was 'discovered' by GS
Ed, manager
of the ACN Florida site). Uncook usually succeeds in ridding
a file of Text
mode corruption.
Using Uncook
After you've downloaded Uncook.zip, uncompress
it using WinZIP or a
similar utility. The best place for the file Uncook95.exe is in the
directory
to which you usually download Apple files. (This saves you the bother
of
browsing for the files you want to fix with Uncook.)
To use Uncook, you double-click on the name
in the window which lists
Uncook95.exe. (Or, you can set up a shortcut to Uncook95.exe on your
Windows
desktop.) The Uncook window will pop up.
Under "Mode", select "Generate new files".
Then, click on "File" and
"Open" to get to a file selection window. In this window, Set "Files
of type"
to "All" and click on the file to uncook. Finally, you click the "Uncook"
button. Uncook will open a box to tell you the file is uncooked and
that the
name is "Copy of ..." whatever the original file is named.
The reason you pick "Generate new files" is
to avoid changing your
downloaded copy. Uncook has a bug which lets it "fix" files even if
they are
okay. When it does this, it produces a copy which is usually 1-3 bytes
shorter.
If your uncooked copy is only a byte or two smaller than the original,
the odds
are that the original is okay. In most cases, though, if you have problems
with
downloads from an http site, then Uncook will fix the messed up downloads.
Rubywand