Help for a noob with dmg's and zips

B

bcap

Registered
Hi there,

I'm a complete noob with MacOSX (with Macs in general in fact), so thanks in advance for your patience... ;) I'm using MacOSX 10.1.5, and installed the latest updates.

I need to send a zipped folder to a PC, so I thought I could do it (the zipping) via a command line with Terminal. I know more about Unix than MacOS anyway, so I looked in Help for Terminal, which brought me to a link "Open Terminal". But when I click it, nothing happens. Any idea why ? How should I launch it ?

BTW, I can't open .dmg files either. I had to launch the MacOS9 version to install an application, since when I double-click a .dmg file, I get a message telling there's no application available to open the file. I'm sure it used to work though...

Maybe both problems are linked ?? :confused:

Please help !
 
You can find the terminal application in /Applications/Utilities. I'd suggest you drag it into your dock, so you've always got it handy.

DMG files should open with Disk Copy, which is also in Applications/Utilities.

If I were you, I would check that your Utilities folder is still there!

If they are, check that the apps are associated with the file. Select the DMG file, and choose File > Show Info. In the Info window there should be a pane labelled 'open with' which will let you select the app for that file type.
 
Oh, and as for zipping up files for use on a PC, Aladdin make a shareware program called DropStuff that includes a program called DropZip. As the name suggests, you drop a file or folder onto it to zip it up.

As you are familiar with Unix, though, you'll find that the gzip command works just as you'd expect. type "man gzip" into the terminal if you aren't too sure.
 
You were right, the Application directory had been moved to... the Recycler ! I got no idea how this could happen, but I'm not the only one to access this computer, so who knows. Too bad the system didn't tell me he couldn't find an application ANYMORE... and that Sherlock won't look into the Recycler. I guess I'm a bit too used to WinXP... ;)

Anyway, everything seems to be back to normal. For the Zip file, I found an installed MacZip, which looks like an oldie but is free and seems to work fine.

Thanks a lot for your answers, and happy new year !
 
BTW, nothing terrible but the Print Center application won't go back from the Recycler/Utilities to the Applications/Utilities directory (I'm not "authorized"). No problem putting it into a Desktop/Utilities directory though...

Any idea why ?
 
I hate to nitpick, but it's the "Trash," not recycler. Bear in mind that they don't act the same way. You can throw a whole folder in the Trash, and it will stay a folder. In Windows, it dumps the folder's contents in there, and doesn't keep the folder strutucture.... at least it didn't used to.... but I digress...

The Utilities folder probably doesn't have the right ownership settings. To change them, do this:
1: Click once on the Utilities folder to select it
2: Choose "Get Info" from the File menu
3: Click the triangle by "Ownership and permissions"
4: click the lock icon, and enter your user password
5: The settings should be:
Owner: system
access: Read & Write
Group: admin
Access: read & write
Others: Read Only

Hope this helps
 
I'm surprised that the Mac doesn't recycle. This from a machine designed by hippies! :-)

BTW, bcap, there is a freeware Zip program (creates and unzips), a Classic program I believe, but it works fine in OS X. I'm not at my home machine, so I can't remember the exact filename. But search for it on Versiontracker or download.com if you want a GUI front end. There may be several. There may even be an OS X native version. Haven't looked that hard.

Doug
 
adambyte> No offense about the "Recycler", I got a French MacOS so it's just a matter of translation (and known reference maybe ;).
Concerning the Applications directory, ownership and permissions are already as you say. Rebooting didn't help either. Thanks for the advice, I learnt something anyway.

dktrickey>MacZip worked nice, so I think I'll stick with it.

Thanks for your help guys !
 
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