Digital BW, The Print

My first ever post to the list and it's not about photography.

The Mac's have a thirty one character limit for files names. The confusion
might have come about with the fact that while windows95 systems (formatted
with FAT or FAT16 file format) appeared to support long file names, they
actually didn't. The directory entry consisted of two separate entries-one
with a standard 8.3 name and another with the longer file name. The newer
FAT32 (windows 98 and above) truly supports long file names. I also think (I
am not positive) the MAC OS software has the improved support for reading
the older file system names.

On a similar note that while Mac's don't require file extensions it can make
life easier if you include them. A native Mac file consists of 2 parts- the
data fork and the resource fork. The data fork is obviously where the data
is. The resource fork is where the file type and icon are stored (along with
a few other things). This works wonderfully as long as your file stays in a
Mac environment but any time that files passes through another file system
it loses its resource fork. If the file has the correct extension the Mac
File Exchange utility will automatically associate it with the correct
program.


Lanette