Software Installation & Hybrid CDs

[gbaatard]

Hi all,

Not quite sure what forum to post this in - I'm still rather new to the whole scene. Sorry if it's in the wrong place.

Anyhow. I'm making a CD to distribute copies of EndNote (a referencing/citation application) to university students.

The CD needs to work on both Macs and PCs - OS X and Win 2000/XP in particular, but compatibility for older OS's would be good. For this purpose, I'm hoping to create a Hybrid CD. Pretty sure I've sorted that part out (on my windows machine - i dont have much access to a Mac currently)

The CD is to contain an XHTML interface which introduces the program and has a few demonstrations (quicktime movies) and a guide (pdf)... That's done and i cant see it causing any more problems.

The CD contains installers for QuickTime and Adobe Reader, for both Windows and Mac OS's.

The CD also needs to contain copies of EndNote 9 for both operating systems.

Here's where the problem comes in: I've got the Mac installer CD for EndNote. It's HFS+ formatted, and from my poking around it simply asks you to drag the EndNote folder to anywhere on your Mac to install it.
Looking at the files on the CD, i'm not sure if there's a single installer file, such as a 'setup.exe' or an msi file on Windows.

We want users to install EndNote via the XHTML interface, by clicking a link. The QuickTime and Adobe Reader installers for Mac were in the form of a single dmg file - that's what i was kinda expecting to find on the Mac EndNote CD...

There's enough room on the Hybrid CD to put the whole Mac EndNote CD on there if needed, but it still needs to be able to be launched via a link in the interface (ie from a single file)...

How can i do this?
While I'm here, any tips on creating a Hybrid CD on a windows pc would be great - Will the dmg files i downloaded (on/to a windows pc) work on a Mac when burnt as a HFS/ISO hybrid?

Thanks very much

 

[gbaatard]

There hasn't been any replies to this thread, but after a few days of hacking away at the problem, i've resolved it myself.

To save others the effort, I've written up a fairly detailed guide to the issue.

As they say, HTH HAND!

Creating a Hybrid CD in Windows

What is a Hybrid CD?
A Hybrid CD is one which has both an ISO and a HFS partition, allowing it to be read with all the frills (long file names, etc) by both Windows and Mac machines.
The files on the CD can appear the same for both machines, or one can make certain files show up depending on which partition is read, so that Windows users will only see the Windows side, and Mac users will only see the Mac side.


The Process
Mac users can create Hybrid CDs using Toast, however on a Windows machine it involves the following steps:
1) Getting all the source data.
2) Sorting it all out in MacImage.
3) Burning the image.


* 1) Getting the Source Data.
This is all the files you want to burn to the CD, both the Windows and Mac parts. Get these all in a folder on a Windows PC (one with a CD burner installed, obviously) arranged how you want them on the CD. Put some thought into the file and directory names/structure to make sure they'll make sense on both Windows and Mac machines.

Downloading Mac specific files onto a Windows machine can mess up the files if they're encoded in certain ways, but generic files (html, mp3, mov, etc...) shouldn't be a problem. If a Mac installer is needed, downloading a dmg (more on this later) file is your best bet.


* 2) Sorting it all out in MacImage.
Download and install MacImage from http://www.macdisk.com/downlen.php3 (Current version 7.3.12.867 - 16/12/05)
The trial version of MacImage only allows you to create CD images smaller than 250mb, which is the main restriction in the whole project.
Run MacImage and create a new project. Drag all your source files in and assign them to the correct partition. It's a fairly simple program to use. My preferred way of sorting it all out was to switch to ISO view, copy in the Windows files, then switch to HFS view and copy in the Mac files.

It may be worth making the HFS partition HFS+ by checking the appropriate box in the CD properties. There are lots of other little options and features offered by MacImage, as well as some very useful documentation on their website and in the program help files which are worth checking out.

Once you've got all your files in MacImage, click Compile. Save your project and click Check Signatures. This is where you can set the signature and creator information, which Mac file systems use to identify file types (as opposed to the file extensions used in Windows).
Ignore any generic files, and any that are Windows specific (such as exe's). Any dmg files need to be changed to 'ddsk' (left text box) and 'devi' (right text box). Other common signature/creator strings can be found on the MacImage website.

Once this is done, compile your CD image and you'll be left with an iso file.


* 3) Burning the Image.
Fire up your favourite burning software and tell it to burn the iso file. This is the same as burning any other CD image, so your software shouldn't have any problem with it.


If all goes well, that's it. You can include an autorun file on the Windows partition and MacImage allows you to select a file to autostart (in the file properties), however this feature was dropped in Mac OS X, so I didn't bother with it.


Other Software
The following PC software may help you in working with Mac formatted media.


* MacDisk - http://www.macdisk.com/downlen.php3
MacDisk is a utility for reading, writing and formatting Apple Macintosh volumes. MacDisk provides the necessary disk management features for copying between the Macintosh volume and the PC hard disk, and vice versa. (Current version 7.0.0.1020 - 16/12/05)

* TransMac - http://www.asy.com/sharetm.htm
TransMac does much of what MacDisk does, but focuses on CDs. It can read Mac formatted CDs, including multisession and hybrid ones, rip files from them onto PC, create and burn Mac CD images, create uncompressed dmgs of Mac CDs, and more. (Current version 7.2 - 16/12/05)

* UltraISO - http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/download.htm
UltraISO is a CD/DVD image file creating/editing/converting tool, it can directly edit the CD/DVD image file and extract files and folders from it, as well as directly make ISO files from your CD/DVD drive or hard disk. UltraISO can open pretty much any type of CD image, and save in many formats supported by various burning software apps.
While it can open and access both parts of a Hybrid CD image, it can only save the ISO side, so making changes to a Hybrid CD image in TransMac is not recommended. (Current version 7.6.5.1225 - 16/12/05)


Creating Compressed dmg's of a Mac CD
This is extremely useful if you're hoping to distribute something (software, etc) on a Hybrid CD and only have a Mac formatted installer CD. In my case, it compressed a 225mb CD into a 40mb dmg file. It's doubly useful if you've got a 250mb maximum CD size due to a trial copy of MacImage!

As far as I know, there's no easy way to do this on a PC. TransMac does allow you to create a dmg, however the one I made was uncompressed. The easiest way to do it is on a Mac. To avoid using the command line utilities, follow these steps:
1) On a Mac (OS X recommended), download and install DropDMG from http://c-command.com/dropdmg/
2) Insert your Mac formatted CD and wait for it to appear on the desktop.
3) Drag the icon from the desktop into the DropDGM window or toolbar icon.
4) Wait for the compressed dmg file to be created, then pop in a USB thumbdrive and copy the dmg over to it.
5) Unmount/eject the thumbdrive, take it back to your Windows machine and you're done. Remember to restore the signature/creator info ('ddsk' and 'devi') in MacImage.

DropDMG is easy to use and well documented. It may also be worth checking out the options of the program before creating your dmg. It may be useful to know that you don't need admin access on the Mac for any of this.


Well, that's about it! Feel free to contact me at gbaatardNOSPAM@NOSPAMiinet.net.au (remove the NOSPAM's, obviously) if you have any further questions or comments, or reply to this thread and I'll try to check back!