How do I open a unix executable file?

If adding .doc didn't help, then they weren't saved from Word for Mac or Windows. At least not the standard releases of this software. Microsoft used to bundle Microsoft Works with many PCs and Macs. While it had the same suite of apps (Word, PowerPoint, etc.), they were written in a different format than Office, and can't be opened without a plug-in.

Off the top of my noggin, I can't recall if Office 2011 comes with a Works converter. I looked for a bit online, and couldn't find such a plugin for the Mac version of Office. This all assuming they are Works files.

If nothing else, you could select "Recover Text from Any File", then try opening one of the documents. Binary or not, Word will then search for any clear text in the file and display that.

Just curious. What is the typical size of these files?

Sorry, I meant the size shown by the OS. Do they have a size that gives the impression they have data (example, 20 Kbytes), or are they very small, which would indicate they have little, or no content? Such as sizes of only 1 Kbyte?

Also, do a Get Info on any of them as a test. What does it say the file type is? I'm hoping they're not all just aliases.

I wouldn't mind taking a look. Please send any one to:

retoucher at jklstudios dot com

DebSaks wrote:

The files were created on one of these machines: Classic II, SE 30, or iMac (first generation). The last time I recall accessing the files was on the iMac.

Were these editable/readable on the first gen iMac? If you can post one file on dropbox and post a link, I can download and play around with it.

Hi,

A free app that might open it is TexEdit-Plus:

http://tex-edit-plus.en.softonic.com/mac

Also, you might be able to use unix' 'textutil' command if that doesn't work. You can read any file as text with AppleScript just to see the data in the file.

gl,

kel

Do not download anything from softonic or any other download aggregating site. They will bundle crapware with your legitimate software. Go to the developer's website to get software.

Sorry, no luck. I tried opening the one you emailed me in various ways in OS X (TextWrangler, Word 2011, TextEdit, others) and got nuttin'. I then booted into Windows 7 and installed a free MS Office 2003 viewer from Microsoft, along with an Office 2007 file format update, and a Works add on.

In all cases, I copied the file to various formats and added the appropriate extensions:

Word - .doc

Word XML - .docx

Text - .txt

Works - .wps

Rich text - .rtf

None of them would open in any legible way under any app, OS X or Windows. So I'm afraid I can't tell you how these files were saved, or what format they're actually in.

Hi Barney,

I thought that was the Tex-Edit Plus site.

Thanks, must have went to the wrong link.

Edited: here's the link to the developer:

http://www.tex-edit.com

I should have known that.

Later,

kel

Please post one of these files somewhere so that we can all take a look. I have an old copy of MacLinkPlus Deluxe on a retired PPC Mac. MLP can open and convert many very old word processing formats.