Opening downloaded .exe tune files with a Mac

[Sathinas]

If you're running OS X (Mac) or a Linux distribution, you may be stumped by the .exe format the tunes are downloaded as. Now, if you're all sorts of excited and can't wait until you can access one of them old school Winders computers, don't despair. You can unzip that EXE file on a Linux client.

Since the built-in decompression utility doesn't do .exe zipped files, all you have to do is ""open with" then StuffIt Explorer or a similar decompresser (I prefer Zipeg, but that's just because of the cute sheep :lol: - no, actually, it seems to have some of the best compression I've found).

If you don't have StuffIt or zipeg, you can find it them by asking google.

You will have to manually create the proper folders on the SD card, but that is already covered in the tune download instructions.

With Linux... well, if I have to explain it, then you shouldn't be on Linux. ;) but the reader's digest version is:

unrar e tunefilename.exe

You can also use unzip.

Unfortunately, I can't get you any screenshots, as I've already deleted the compressed files that contained the tunes.

[N4HHE]

Oh, its not that hard!

On MacOS X 10.7.3 you do have to open a Terminal.app shell and type, but its pretty easy.

If the DashDAQ formatted the SD card it will mount on the Mac as DASHDAQ. Otherwise the SD card which came with my DD was "Untitled" (with a capital-U).

In Macintosh Unix filename space all volumes are mounted under /Volumes.

I downloaded PhalanxUpdate401.exe to a folder named Downloads in my home directory using Safari.

We need to nuke the contents of "tuning files" on the SD. You can do that in Finder. Or in our command shell: rm /Volumes/Untitled/tuning\ files/*

Note the directions of the slashes. The backslash followed by space escapes the space preventing the shell from breaking the path into two arguments. You could type: rm "/Volumes/Untitled/tuning files"/* with quotes instead.

Here is where the magic happens. Extract the new tunes like this:

unzip -d /Volumes/Untitled/tuning\ files ~/Downloads/PhalanxUpdate401.exe

The Unix shells on MacOS have filename completion enabled by default so you don't have to type all of the above. Can type /Vol<TAB> and the shell will expand that to /Volumes/. Then you need to type enough more unique letters followed by a tab for the next, /Volumes/Un<TAB>. And again the same thing for /Volumes/Untitiled/tun<TAB> will become /Volumes/Untitled/tuning\ files with the space escaped already and everything. Do the same to get to the PhalanxUpdate401 file. Note the tilde is Unix shorthand for your home directory.

If you used Finder to clean out the "tuning files" folder then you need to empty trash before ejecting the SD card. Be sure to eject the SD card from Finder before yanking it from the slot. It bothers MacOS when one yanks a device without giving it a chance to close everything first.

Thats all there is to it. Everything comes pre-installed on every Mac. No need to download Stuffit Expander.

You can't update the DashDAQ firmware from MacOS without Windows and Boot Camp, or Parallels, or VMware Fusion (my favorite) but you certainly can update the Spartan tunes on the SD card from MacOS.