Need some clarification(s)

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dogman
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Need some clarification(s)

Post by dogman »

I have NWP 1.4.2 which I am using on an intel Mac (OSX 10.6.8) as well a PPC Mac (OSX 10.5.8). On the iMac I am unable to open .wpd documents due to the apparent absence of "rosetta", although Apple indicated it was incorporated into OSX 10.6.8. I downloaded Nisus 2 and found it would open .wpd without difficulty. My question is this, since I can't get any clarity from Apple, will Nisus 2 eliminate the need for rosetta in general, or does the Nisus 2 workaround only substitute for rosetta when opening a document from within Nisus.

Hopefully this question will make some sense, but I'll apologize in advance if its just totally retarded. Any help will be appreciated.
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martin
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Re: Need some clarification(s)

Post by martin »

Hi dogman,

I don't know exactly what versions of OSX include Rosetta or support it exactly, but hopefully I can clear up any questions you have about NWP's dependence on it.
dogman wrote:I downloaded Nisus 2 and found it would open .wpd without difficulty. My question is this, since I can't get any clarity from Apple, will Nisus 2 eliminate the need for rosetta in general, or does the Nisus 2 workaround only substitute for rosetta when opening a document from within Nisus.
Nisus Writer Pro version 2.0.2 and later are Intel-only, and thus do not require Rosetta for importing documents or otherwise. However, being Intel-only, those versions naturally won't run on your PPC Mac.

The last version of Nisus Writer Pro that we offered for PPC Macs is version 2.0.1. However, the PPC version of 2.0.1 uses the older file importer, and thus won't do as good a job of importing (though it is as good as Pro 1.4.2).

We have a complete list of all older versions, which spells out system requirements and such. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
dogman
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Re: Need some clarification(s)

Post by dogman »

Hi Martin,
Thank you for your good reply to my inquiry. I do understand that Rosetta is intended to "translate" or otherwise make accessible, documents that were generated by PPC Macs or other PC's into the current format used by Intel Macs. Since I have long preferred Nisus to alternative word processors, I have an archive of Nisus versions much like the one on your download page. I suspect that I will purchase the latest version for the benefits of the Intel-only code.

My larger question is more global, and is in fact likely to be a problem created by Apple. I purchased my Intel iMac with a pre-loaded version of OSX-10.6 and based on discussion on the Nisus User Forums, have come to suspect that Rosetta --- which seems to be an optional installation --- was not included in the Apple installation.

While I received various Apple disks at the time of purchase; (e.g. - iWorks and a System Apps disk), I did not get a system disk of OSX 10.6. Consequently my ultimate question is whether I now have to purchase Intel-native versions of all my PPC applications, or does (please say "yes") the workaround used by Nisus 2, provide a universal substitute for Rosetta that can be called by any PPC application, or is it specific to Nisus?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply to these lengthy questions. BTW, I still exclusively use Nisus, but must say I miss the ease with which one could switch between text and graphics back in the days of System 9.xx. In any case, if Nisus 2 is able to open and format all or most of the contemporary document types, I will purchase that upgrade and worry about other programs that ask for Rosetta at some other time. Many Thanks for your patience. Michael Urban
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GeoffRoynon
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Re: Need some clarification(s)

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Geoff Roynon
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dshan
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Re: Need some clarification(s)

Post by dshan »

dogman wrote:Hi Martin,

My larger question is more global, and is in fact likely to be a problem created by Apple. I purchased my Intel iMac with a pre-loaded version of OSX-10.6 and based on discussion on the Nisus User Forums, have come to suspect that Rosetta --- which seems to be an optional installation --- was not included in the Apple installation.

While I received various Apple disks at the time of purchase; (e.g. - iWorks and a System Apps disk), I did not get a system disk of OSX 10.6. Consequently my ultimate question is whether I now have to purchase Intel-native versions of all my PPC applications, or does (please say "yes") the workaround used by Nisus 2, provide a universal substitute for Rosetta that can be called by any PPC application, or is it specific to Nisus?
By default Rosetta isn't installed on 10.6 but it's available on the installer disc and you can select it as one of the optional installs during the initial OS X setup process. After that you can still install it either from the system disc or by using System Update. Did you buy your iMac new? If so you absolutely should have received an OS X 10.6.x system disk with it. On there is the installer for Rosetta, as I recall it's one of the optional installs in the folder of the same name.

Alternatively, If Rosetta's not installed on 10.6 when you attempt to launch a program that requires Rosetta (i.e. any PPC app) it should prompt you to download Rosetta via Software Update, it's not very large if memory serves.
dogman
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Re: Need some clarification(s)

Post by dogman »

Thanks to both Geoff and dshan for their solutions to my Rosetta problem.

M. Urban
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martin
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Re: Need some clarification(s)

Post by martin »

Hi Michael,
dogman wrote:Thank you for your good reply to my inquiry.
We're happy to help!
I do understand that Rosetta is intended to "translate" or otherwise make accessible, documents that were generated by PPC Macs or other PC's into the current format used by Intel Macs.
That's not exactly correct. Rosetta by itself doesn't have anything to do with document translation. The translation done by Rosetta is allowing PPC programs/applications to run on an Intel Mac. Nisus Writer happens to use a separate program to translate certain kinds of documents (eg: .doc files) and in prior versions of Nisus Writer this separate program was PPC, and thus Rosetta is required to run it.

Likely the distinction isn't that important, but I just want to make sure it's clear.
I suspect that I will purchase the latest version for the benefits of the Intel-only code.
There are many good reasons to upgrade to the latest version of NWP (we always recommend it), but if you really need it, we do have an Intel-only version of NWP version 1.4.2 available on our version archive page.
Consequently my ultimate question is whether I now have to purchase Intel-native versions of all my PPC applications, or does (please say "yes") the workaround used by Nisus 2, provide a universal substitute for Rosetta that can be called by any PPC application, or is it specific to Nisus?
In general you should be able to use Rosetta to run your PPC applications on OSX 10.6. But as you may know, PPC is officially already dead to Apple, so you won't be able to continue upgrading OSX and running those PPC applications forever. So unfortunately if you want to upgrade in the future, you'll have to seek out new Intel versions of all your applications.

I hope that helps and explains the situation.
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