I’ve got an old Mac LC575 running System 7.5.3 Revision 2. The renamed file has the same icon as the Finder. Its filesize is 2.1 MB, with a create date of Wed., May 29, 1996, 12:00PM. Anyone know what the name of this file is supposed to be, or how I can find out? I was hoping Google would turn up a list of files that are supposed to be in the System folder, but no luck so far. I’m not much of Mac person; this is just a computer I have for entertainment purposes.
I asked Pepper, but she doesn’t remember what it was called. Silly cat.
“System” is a strong possibility. That file does have the same icon as the Finder. And in MacOS 7 I don’t remember there being any other files like that in the system folder. Certainly none as “large” as 2 MB — which was large anyway when MacOS 7.5 was current. Check to see if you no longer have a file with that name in the folder.
You might not actually have a problem though. The operating system, when searching for important files like “System” and “Finder”, goes more by file types, creator codes, and special attached resources than it does filenames. I don’t think “System” needs to be called “System” in order to work right.
Still, I would punish your cat by renaming her. See how she likes it.
Nope, it’s not System. I’ve still got that, and it’s 2.5 MB, not 2.1 - so, it’s not a copy of System, either. I’m afraid to reboot and see what happens, because I’d have NO idea how to recover in the event of a boot failure. I don’t have any installation disks.
I have renamed my cat vgcccccc,;[s-------------. So far, her performance is unaffected, but I will attempt a reboot and reinstall of the Kitty v.1.0 operating system.
2.1 MB is pretty sizeable for that era. I looked at my copies of 7.5.1, and 7.5.5, and neither has a file near that size, and only the Finder has the Apple smiley face icon. The ‘System’ file approaches the right size if it has several fonts or sounds installed. The Finder only runs 495 to 516 K. Some of those Macs also had a ‘System Enabler’ files (mine was ‘System Enabler 701’ at ~800k) that could get pretty sizey, but the icon was not the same as the Finder’s.
Apple usually locked the names of important system files which makes me suspect that your file could be some third party stuff. Don’t sweat it as long as the machine still runs.
I think you might have it, alterego. Shortly after I acquired this machine, I went about seeing how I might get it to connect to the internet. I downloaded MacTCP (I think - the name rings a bell) on my PC and burned it to CD-R, then installed it on my Mac. If MacTCP is meant to reside in the System folder, then that’s probably what it is. From a quick Google search, the file size is about right, I think.
Silly, don’t you know that every cat has three names, only one of which is given (or known) by humans? Your cat probably wouldn’t even notice the difference.
And might I add that rebooting a cat sounds like an inadvisable and probably painful proposition?
Snag a copy of DeskZap for future use. It will let you determine the four-character Macintosh File Type and Creator codes of any files you have to identify.
If the kitty-victim is indeed MacTCP DNR, it should be of file type “cdev” and creator code “mtcp”, case-sensitive for both.
The file type “cdev” normally translates to Control Panel, and such files are normally in the Control Panels folder, sometimes in the Extensions folder, a tiny set are in the Speakable Items folder, but as far as I can tell the file “Mac TCP DNR” is unique in being a file of type “cdev” located at the root of the System Folder.
It should be small in size: in the neighborhood of 4 KB (kilobytes).
Nope, it’s not MacTCP DNR - that file is present. As indicated above, the filesize is 2.1 MB. All indications are that it’s MacTCP, per alterego. I re-renamed it thusly, and rebooted without incident. There were no complaints from the OS about missing or corrupt files, so I’ll close the book on this one.
This might be a bit of a long-shot but here’s one strategy: In OS-X on my imac I recall there is a way to find out what files are actually stored within an icon, basically files in Mac OS (older versions too) are stored hidden with only one representitive icon in front of them (kinda like a zip archive). Although the method required for viewing these files escapes me at the moment (its not hard, its something like command-i then clicking something) I think this will show you the files that comprise your mystery file.
If no one on SD remembers how to do this, I would recomend appleinsider.com’s help forum
MacTCP, which is also of type “cdev”, should be in your Control Panels folder, not loose in your System Folder, and if it were not in the right place you would not generally be getting online.
I say “generally” because MacTCP is one of two possible TCP stacks used by System 7 of the vintage you’re using. This is the era when Open Transport networking first became available. The “old networking” used MacTCP to set up TCP stuff, and used a control panel called “Network” to set up AppleTalk. The Open Transport option whisked those two Control Panels out of sight, hiding them somewhere, and replacing them with newer control panels named “TCP/IP” and “AppleTalk” respectively.
Go to your Apple Menu, then go to Control Panels, and see if you have a Control Panel called “AppleTalk” and another one called “TCP/IP”. If you do, you do not need a Control Panel named “MacTCP”.
Ah, well, it’s not getting online. Which is hardly surprising, since I don’t yet have a modem for it. Whatever this file is, then, it doesn’t seem to be a critical system file, but given its size, it must be important to something.
If you really want to know what it is, you could fire up your copy of ResEdit, and look at the the file’s Str#, vers, and other resources. If it’s got DLOG’s you might be able to recognize some of those old dialog windows.
