Netatalk

What it is

If you have an account on the CS Department Unix host, you can use Netatalk to easily transfer files between a Macintosh in one of the computer labs and your directory on zippy.

Netatalk is a service that runs on the Unix server that allows one or more directories in your account under Unix to appear on the desktop of a Macintosh as a file server. You can copy files to and from this virtual file server as if it were a realy Macintosh volume. The files copied to the file server will actually be saved in your account on zippy.

How it works

By default your entire home directory will be mounted as a Macintosh volume.

To mount it, launch the Chooser, select AppleShare, and select the SSU CompSci zone. Choose "LINUX.CS.SONOMA.EDU" from the list of computers. You will be required to enter your Unix username and password.

Remember to remove your virtual file servers from the desktop when you are done working so that other users cannot gain access to your files.

Pitfalls

It is suggested that you maintain a separate directory on the Unix server for storing Macintosh files and folders. As long as you use your Macintosh directories ONLY from a Macintosh, they will continue to work properly. If you decide to log into Unix and manipulate the contents of the directories that you normally access from a Macintosh, then you must know what your are doing if you want them to continue to work properly.

On the Macintosh every file has two parts. These are called the Data Fork and the Resource Fork. In addition the Macintosh maintains a description of the file's icon in a hidden file available to the Finder. Since neither the Resource Fork nor the Finder is available under UNIX, NetaTalk maintains three files for every one on your Macintosh. One is the file that you see when you examine your virtual file server. This corresponds to the Data Fork of your Macintosh file. If the file is a text file this will contain the text itself. NetaTalk also maintains a file to hold the contents of the Resource Fork and one to hold the Finder info. You don't normally see these files.

The way NetaTalk does this is as follows. Whenever you create a new folder on the virtual file server, NetaTalk creates a new directory on the Unix server, and in that directory it places two additional directories called ".resource" and ".finderinfo". If you create a file called "myfile", then its Resource Fork is stored as ".resource/myfile" and its Finder info as ".finderinfo/myfile." If you decide to create a new directory while logged into zippy as a UNIX user, you must remember to create the directory ".resource" and the directory ".finderinfo". If you don't, then later when you try to drag a file to that folder as it appears on the Macintosh desktop you will receive some strange error messages and the file will not be copied.

[SSU Home Page] [SSU CS Department] [ CS Dept webmaster ] 09/18/01.