Every once in a while, Mac OS X (and OS 8-9) jaggies up a Newton OS .pkg file, rendering the package un-uploadable for apps like NCX. Those little creator codes that have caused a ruckus post-Snow Leopard are partly to blame.
That’s where Packager, a Mac OS X app, can come in handy. Packager takes the .pkg file and returns it to its natural, Newton-ready state.
Here’s an example. I grabbed an astronomy app called Moon Phase and downloaded the package file (above right). As you can see, it doesn’t look any different from a Keyspan driver installation package (above left).
Sometimes, Mac OS X 10.5 doesn’t know what to do with a Newton package file when it’s downloaded (above). This is where you take the file, drop it on Packager’s app icon in your Applications folder, and let it do its magic.
Here’s that Moon Phase package file, post-Packager, but now it’s recognized by NCX and ready to be installed.
Michael Vacik, Packager’s developer, released an update last year. He had a site that hosted the app, too, but it appears to be down now. The Packager version on UNNA seems to be version 1.3.
For classic Mac users, try Thomas Tempelmann’s Mac PKG Fixer, or PackType (UNNA app package) by Steve Weyer, whose app page is also gone.
For WIndows users, try the command-line-operated, dirty-sounding Pkg Stripper by Roger Milne.
Thanks for posting this OSX app. It has been placed in my file archive.
Posted by ken on December 8th, 2009.
Hi David
Steve Weyer’s apps can be found at: http://saweyer.freehostia.com/newton/index.htm
HTH
Posted by Genghis on December 8th, 2009.
Thanks for the update, Tony – it’s a huge help.
Posted by davelawrence8 on December 9th, 2009.
I still have the Packager 2.1 disk image on my hard drive and I believe it’s still downloadable from the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://metastasis.net/mici/pkgs/pkger_e.html
I also have the actual Packager 2.5 application installed on my machine, but I can’t seem to find the disk image (it seems to have been purged from my Time Machine backups long ago).
I’ll try to at least get the 2.1 DMG and a zip of 2.5 up on UNNA.
Posted by Morgan Aldridge on December 31st, 2009.
Thanks Morgan. As soon as you do I’ll post a link here.
Posted by davelawrence8 on January 1st, 2010.