../Collecting icons/Japanese files
Japanese files
Japan is a great source for icons, lots of original stuff. But their (.lzh) archives can give you some trouble and what to do with those names:
Japan is a great source for icons, lots of original stuff. But their (.lzh) archives can give you some trouble and what to do with those names:
The original handler for this kind of files, as far as I know, is a file called Lha213.exe (DOS). It's not a standalone program, but you can tell i.e. Winzip where it's located and it will work. The original file may be distributed, so we've put it here. Half of the tricky part is, long filenames are not supported. So, when extracting Jun's stationary set, it asks twice to overwrite 'envelope.ico' (there's an "envelope2" and "envelope3"). No further trouble here, you can work around this. The other half are the japanese characters of the files contained in it, mostly. Together with the first problem, and the way zip utilities and the executable handle the files, you might encounter some very serious problems.
Three options to prevent this stuff from happening, though. First option would be, to extract these files on a floppy disk. If anything goes wrong, you can just format it.
And, second, since the format is most common in japan, get a basic unpacker - using Windows and in English - called Lhasa (free, Win 9x/2k). Install, set up a folder to extract in (check the "create new folder" option too), and use it by dropping files onto its icon. If you don't want it on your desktop, it would be a good idea to add it to the "send to" item (just drag the icon in your windir\sendto folder).
A third option is to convert lzh-archives to .zip before extracting. Extracting the .zip will not give those errors, though the names still don't make much sense.
Besides "Converter" (shareware), Dirk Paehl also has a free zip utility, NewZip, that has this converting option too. But, though it will work, a dialog will pop up that states this option's not freeware, and you're asked to donate whatever you think it's worth it. Great tool, and got to respect that, but what ís it worth ? I need the option, but incidentally only, so I'm in doubt...
Still, there's PowerArchiver (Win 9x/2k), that does the job too. Anyone having downloaded it before version 7.0 is lucky, it then became shareware. It's an overall good and complete zip-utility. Beware though, if you don't want it to be the default for handling archives. It won't ask and associate with every archive it can handle. Be sure you know how to solve this.
[*plastic:] A little example to make this clear. When in downloaded Kumazo's icons, the extraction gave some errors, but I suppose I got half of them out. Some of these files didn't display any icon, and they refused to get deleted. "This file doesn't exist", was Windows verdict. Some got in the bin using DOS, but then again refused to go outta there. Every time I emptied the bin, I was reminded... Main cause, I suppose, were these japanese characters, or what windows made of it. Windows made a little sense, my keyboard much less, so how could I delete a folder in my Windows-directory (?) with an 'unpronouncable' name ??
Being honest, besides Kumazo's not much japanese icons gave me any trouble. But I want those icons, they're good; and there are solutions. Btw, Kumazo changed to .zip after reading this - how's that for service (besides being one of the greatest iconists, that is :).
If it's the bin you need restored, restart in DOS and type:
Being honest, besides Kumazo's not much japanese icons gave me any trouble. But I want those icons, they're good; and there are solutions. Btw, Kumazo changed to .zip after reading this - how's that for service (besides being one of the greatest iconists, that is :).
attrib -r -s -h c:\recycled
deltree c:\recycled
Type enter after each sentence and replace the c with any needed drive letter. Restart and the bin will be recreated.
deltree c:\recycled
Three options to prevent this stuff from happening, though. First option would be, to extract these files on a floppy disk. If anything goes wrong, you can just format it.
And, second, since the format is most common in japan, get a basic unpacker - using Windows and in English - called Lhasa (free, Win 9x/2k). Install, set up a folder to extract in (check the "create new folder" option too), and use it by dropping files onto its icon. If you don't want it on your desktop, it would be a good idea to add it to the "send to" item (just drag the icon in your windir\sendto folder).
A third option is to convert lzh-archives to .zip before extracting. Extracting the .zip will not give those errors, though the names still don't make much sense.
Besides "Converter" (shareware), Dirk Paehl also has a free zip utility, NewZip, that has this converting option too. But, though it will work, a dialog will pop up that states this option's not freeware, and you're asked to donate whatever you think it's worth it. Great tool, and got to respect that, but what ís it worth ? I need the option, but incidentally only, so I'm in doubt...
Still, there's PowerArchiver (Win 9x/2k), that does the job too. Anyone having downloaded it before version 7.0 is lucky, it then became shareware. It's an overall good and complete zip-utility. Beware though, if you don't want it to be the default for handling archives. It won't ask and associate with every archive it can handle. Be sure you know how to solve this.
Note: if you're using the "Compressed folder" component of the Plus 98-package, there's no .exe to (re-)associate with. To set it as default again, rightclick any file, choose "Send to... ..Compressed folder". A dialog will ask to set the component as default again.
And here's a predecessor. Free, complete and wíth the archive conversion options. Go get UltimateZip!
You've got them out allright, great icons, strange names ?? They're original, so leave them this way (?).
No one gets hurt if you do, but original they're not. It's just your western version of Windows not knowing what to do with japanese characters. Add support for the Japanese language to your Internet Explorer (Windows Update) and you'll see the difference on (some) Japanese sites. So, I rename those, giving them the name of the artist plus a number.
They can be renamed all-in-one by this great little utility called multiple rename. This app, and many, many great little other utilities can be obtained from PC-Magazine Online.
No one gets hurt if you do, but original they're not. It's just your western version of Windows not knowing what to do with japanese characters. Add support for the Japanese language to your Internet Explorer (Windows Update) and you'll see the difference on (some) Japanese sites. So, I rename those, giving them the name of the artist plus a number.
They can be renamed all-in-one by this great little utility called multiple rename. This app, and many, many great little other utilities can be obtained from PC-Magazine Online.