yEnc TZ FAQ : Frequently Asked Questions About yEnc TZ

* Why should I use yEnc TZ?

* Which should I use, yEnc TZ or yEnc TZ Classic?

* Where do I install yEnc TZ?

* Suppose a movie is posted in 300+ parts using yEnc encoding. What is the best way to download and then convert the yEnc files into a QuickTime movie?

* OS 8 or OS 9 - Every file I drop on yEnc TZ is reported to have some kind of error, usually crc. What does it mean and what should I do?

* Step by step instructions for using yEnc TZ Classic with MT-Newswatcher 3.1 under OS 8 or OS 9.

* OS X - I get a -600 error. What does it mean and what should I do?

* Step by step instructions for using yEnc TZ with MT-Newswatcher 3.2 under OS X.

* Instructions for using yEnc TZ with Outlook Express 5 on Mac OS 9.2.2.

* Instructions for using yEnc TZ with Netscape 4.7's Messenger, on Mac OS 9.2.2.

* How can I avoid the whole thing? [http://newsguy.com/]


* Why should I use yEnc TZ?

yEnc TZ is much less useful than it used to be, because the current version of MT-Newswatcher, version 3.4, handles yEncs directly, making this program unnecessary. But yEnc TZ may still be useful if you are using a newsreader with poor yEnc support.


* Which should I use, yEnc TZ or yEnc TZ Classic?

If you can, you should use yEnc TZ. If you are running OS X, you should use yEnc TZ. If you are running a recent OS 9, you should use yEnc TZ. This is because the underlying file system, HFS+, supports long file names, and if the yEnc encoded file specifies long file names, then yEnc TZ can oblige.

If you are running a Macintosh operating system that is too early to run yEnc TZ, use yEnc TZ Classic.

yEnc TZ Classic is currently a PowerPC only application, but if you need to run on Motorola 68000, e-mail to me, and I will convert yEnc TZ Classic to a "fat" application that can run on both PowerPC and 68000 Macintoshes.


* Where do I install yEnc TZ?

Anywhere you want. yEnc TZ is a self-contained application program in a single file, that can live on any Macintosh file system that supports resource forks. I keep my copy in the "Utilities" folder, inside "Applications".


* Suppose a movie is posted in 300+ parts using yEnc encoding. What is the best way to download and then convert the yEnc files into a QuickTime movie?

The best way to do this is with OS X, and MT-Newswatcher 3.2. You can select all the relevant posts in the newsgroup window, and tell MT-Newswatcher 3.2 to save binaries, and it will download each file, and pass it to yEnc TZ or whatever helper application you've chosen. It is handy to have a copy of the OS X application Mac PAR OS X, which can use .PAR files, and the binary files you've downloaded to reconstruct missing binary files.

If you can't use OS X, then I really don't know of a good way to do it. See the next answer.


* OS 8 or OS 9 - Every file I drop on yEnc TZ is reported to have some kind of error, usually crc. What does it mean and what should I do?

You see, most newsreaders on the Macintosh are based on a single newsreader sample application by John Norstrad. When you did a "Save" in that application, it filtered out non-printing characters. All of the Mac OS 9 newsreaders I know inherited that behavior from the ancestral newsreader. Those non-printing characters are required by yEnc TZ to do its job. By the time yEnc TZ sees the file, it is already garbled. Your only hope is getting in touch with an author of a Mac OS 9 newsreader and getting him to make the fix (probably one line) to take out that filtering of non-printing characters.


* Step by step instructions for using yEnc TZ Classic with MT-Newswatcher 3.1 under OS 8 or OS 9.

1.) in the newsgroup window, open one article up into a window. You should see the:

=ybegin ... line.

in the body of the message

2.) Wait for the cursor to change back from a "beachball" to an arrow.

3.) Save As that window, making sure the "Save Encoded Text" checkbox is checked.

4.) Drop the resulting file on yEnc TZ or yEnc TZ Classic. If yEnc TZ will work for you, (It requires recent version of OS 9) than you should prefer it because it handles very long file names better than yEnc TZ Classic. yEnc TZ Classic will truncate to 31 characters by removing extra characters in the middle of the name, to preserve numeric prefixes, suffixes, and filename-type extensions like .jpg.


* OS X - I get a -600 error. What does it mean and what should I do?

When I select many articles in a Newsgroup window and use the "Save Binary" command, MT-Newswatcher 3.2 seems to stop near the beginning with a -600 error. I believe that MT-Newswatcher isn't properly detecting whether yEnc TZ is running before it tries to send it an appleEvent to decode the file. If you try the command a second time, it almost always works.


* Step by step instructions for using yEnc TZ with MT-Newswatcher 3.2 under OS X.

In the Helper Apps panel of the preferences dialog box, choose yEnc TZ as the helper app for yEnc files.

If you like, also choose it as the helper app for UUEncoded files. Then, just select articles and use the "Save Binaries" menu command, just like always. yEnc TZ just works.


* Instructions for using yEnc TZ with Outlook Express 5 on Mac OS 9.2.2.

According to Jean-Jacques Guillemaud, if you select "Source File" in the "Display" menu, and saved the SOURCE file instead of the news entry, you get a file that you can successfully drop on yEnc TZ.


* Instructions for using yEnc TZ with Netscape 4.7's Messenger on Mac OS 9.2.2.

For each article, open it into a window, Save As that article into a file (make sure the popup menu at the bottom of the Save As Dialog Box is set to "Source". Then drop that file onto yEnc TZ. I just tried it, and had it work for me.


* How can I avoid the whole thing?

I've heard that if you buy newsfeed service from <http://newsguy.com/> that they take care of all encoding issues, so that you just download directly useable files. You'll need to check for yourself.

PictureSnooper is an application program from QSys software specificly designed to download and decode binary files from newsgroups. It is compatible with OS 8.5 and up.

You might consider these Carbon newsreaders (which should work with OS 9 and OS X): Thoth and Newshunter. I have no connection with them.


Page last modified March 13, 2003

Turbozen Home

yEnc TZ Home