mac to pc filter (translator)

[trenchfoot]

it's the old problem where the school my daughter attends has all macs and i have tons of pc's at home.
i did some searching but couldn't find a site where any one program stood out from the rest.

pls help on this. thanks

 

[DJ LUCiTE]

Filter for what?

Macs and PCs haven't used separate file encodings for a while, AFAIK. A file is a file; Word documents (.doc) will work on both, .txt's, .jpg's, pretty much anything imaginable will work on both computers.

The only forseeable problem is having the programs to open the files on both the PC and the Mac.

Only Programs are incompatible between Macs and PCs, so you can't run the Mac version of Office on a PC.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Try a USB flash drive. Save in .doc or .rtf for documents and use simple names.

 

[xtknight]

As for ASCII text files, Macs use CR only, Unix uses LF only, and Windows uses CRLF (carriage return line feed). If you open it with Wordpad, you can do most text files fine, unless you're talking about WordPerfect/MS Word/AppleWorks.

There is no magic pixie dust you can use that will convert everything Mac to Windows. But to transfer, most CD formats are compatible between both (depending on OS version I suppose). USB flash drives are fine with Mac OSX and Win XP (I just used this today) even with FAT file system. Is there something specific you're looking to do?

 

[trenchfoot]

that's good news. thanks for bringing me out of the dark ages.
the last non-pc rig i owned was an apple IIe, and i got that right after my commodore64 went belly-up.


please have a or a :beer: on me. :thumbsup:

 

[trenchfoot]

Is there something specific you're looking to do?

my daughter tells me just documents for now...

Try a USB flash drive. Save in .doc or .rtf for documents and use simple names.

USB flash drives are fine with Mac OSX and Win XP (I just used this today) even with FAT file system.

i have a drawer full of flash drives. so, i got the knowledge and now i know i got the means. thanks all. you are each a slice of heaven. :thumbsup:

oh, and don't tell my daughter you guys helped me out here. a dad has got a reputation and an image to protect, ya know?

 

[feraltoad]

Hey tweak skewl ur Daughter on this: You know how when u pull out a Flash Drive windows BEEPs at you maybe warns you not to do that but nothing really happens? Well, a MAC won't beep at you, it might not warn you, BUT IT WILL CORRUPT THE FILE YOU WORKING ON!!!!!! So, make sure she ejects that drive before she pulls it out of the MAC or that projects she's been working on can be destroyed! lol This was how it was in in think 9 and 10. I learned that the hardway, but I had it backed up at home too so no biggie, but can you imagine if it was like a 25 page term paper?!? I would have smashed mofoMAC on the ground like in ZOOlander!

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: feraltoad
Hey tweak skewl ur Daughter on this: You know how when u pull out a Flash Drive windows BEEPs at you maybe warns you not to do that but nothing really happens? Well, a MAC won't beep at you, it might not warn you, BUT IT WILL CORRUPT THE FILE YOU WORKING ON!!!!!! So, make sure she ejects that drive before she pulls it out of the MAC or that projects she's been working on can be destroyed! lol This was how it was in in think 9 and 10. I learned that the hardway, but I had it backed up at home too so no biggie, but can you imagine if it was like a 25 page term paper?!? I would have smashed mofoMAC on the ground like in ZOOlander!

You don't understand the concept of mounting drives do you? Something will eventually happen to you in windows and it's certainly not the mac's fault that corruption happens when you don't tell it before you forcibly remove a drive :roll:

 

[xtknight]

In Windows, nothing really happens because it doesn't use a buffer/write cache by default. It's set to quick removal, at least on mine it was by default.

I was doing a presentation at school and was kind of nervous, so I forgot about dismounting it on Mac OSX as well. But I just checked my USB flash drive and all the files are still intact and working fine. (I didn't need the files again anyway.) YMMV...

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: xtknight
In Windows, nothing really happens because it doesn't use a buffer/write cache by default. It's set to quick removal, at least on mine it was by default.

I was doing a presentation at school and was kind of nervous, so I forgot about dismounting it on Mac OSX as well. But I just checked my USB flash drive and all the files are still intact and working fine. (I didn't need the files again anyway.) YMMV...

You'd think that if it did write-through, it'd be smart enough not to give you the whole removable storage run-around (which is much less intuitive in windows than in osx).

 

[feraltoad]

Originally posted by: kamper

Originally posted by: feraltoad
Hey tweak skewl ur Daughter on this: You know how when u pull out a Flash Drive windows BEEPs at you maybe warns you not to do that but nothing really happens? Well, a MAC won't beep at you, it might not warn you, BUT IT WILL CORRUPT THE FILE YOU WORKING ON!!!!!! So, make sure she ejects that drive before she pulls it out of the MAC or that projects she's been working on can be destroyed! lol This was how it was in in think 9 and 10. I learned that the hardway, but I had it backed up at home too so no biggie, but can you imagine if it was like a 25 page term paper?!? I would have smashed mofoMAC on the ground like in ZOOlander!

You don't understand the concept of mounting drives do you? Something will eventually happen to you in windows and it's certainly not the mac's fault that corruption happens when you don't tell it before you forcibly remove a drive :roll:

I accept all blame and I do have several mounting techniques, I have pics if u'd like, but I do think as xknight pointed out that other implementations might prevent data corruption. I guess that's y a gnat brained mouth breather like me uses Windows.

 

[chcarnage]

Mounting techniques? Error-proof disconnecting? Is there a kind of RAID on your USB stick or do I have to be introduced to a new argument why Windows is better than OS X?