Short Finder As Finder

Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1993 16:17:24 -0800 From: david_ryeburn@sfu.ca (David Ryeburn) Subject: System 7 Emergency disks using ShortFinder Recently Brian Gaeke posted an application called ShortFinder 1.0 (posted as util/short-finder-10.hqx). It can be used to launch or terminate processes. This includes the possibility of quitting the Finder if there is a (normal) Finder and it is running, or starting it if it is not running. ShortFinder uses about one-seventh the disk space of a regular System 7 Finder, and runs in far less RAM. This report shows how ShortFinder can be used as a Finder substitute on a high-density floppy disk to make a System 7 emergency disk. -------------------------------------------------- One can use ShortFinder without changing its name, creator, or type in addition to or in place of the regular Finder. It is obvious how to use it, and why one might want to use it, in addition to a regular Finder on a hard disk. It can also be used unmodified in place of a Finder on a floppy startup disk. To do this the System file and the ShortFinder application should be placed loose on the floppy disk, not inside a System Folder. Begin with a copy of the System 7.0 or 7.0.1 Disk Tools disk. Extract the System file from the System Folder. Trash the remainder of the System Folder including the folder itself. Place a copy of ShortFinder next to the System file. You will then have over 300K of room left on your high density floppy disk for useful applications and other items. The boot blocks on the startup disk should be changed so that the first ASCII entry of "Finder" is replaced by "ShortFinder 1.0" (and the hex entry immediately preceding this should be changed from "06" to "0F" since "ShortFinder 1.0" has fifteen letters instead of six) but the second entry of "Finder" in the boot blocks should be left unaltered. The result will be that if such a disk is used as a startup disk, the ShortFinder program will open up automatically as a Finder normally would, and then it will allow you to open whatever other application or applications you may have on the disk, use them, and eventually quit them. When you are finished using the floppy startup disk, Shut Down and Restart choices are available >From within the ShortFinder application. (When using ShortFinder without a real Finder, do not make the mistake of quitting or terminating ShortFinder itself, since if you do, the only thing left for you will be the hardware Reset button.) I will call this way of using an unaltered copy of ShortFinder as a Finder substitute without a System Folder METHOD 1. METHOD 1 works well, but without a System Folder one cannot use Extensions. There is another way to use ShortFinder in place of a Finder, which I will call METHOD 2. Again begin with a copy of the Disk Tools disk. Trash the Finder inside the System Folder and in its place put a copy of ShortFinder. Change its name from "ShortFinder 1.0" to "Finder" and its creator and type from "sFdr" and "APPL" …