Circa 1993-94 looking to convert files

[trentropy]

Hello, my brother passed along a tremendous amount of work I had done back in the early 1990's and saved into text and picture files.

I believe I was using a program called Lightning Paint (Mac Paint type of program) and can't even imagine what word processing software I had back then. My iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) sees the files, but GraphicConverter won't work.

Any ideas out there?

 

[Fishrrman]

Were these saved as "graphics files", or something else?

My advice would be to try various drawing programs "out there" that have demo versions, to see if anything will open the files.

But... if the files were created with an old 3rd-party app that saved files in a "proprietary format" readable ONLY to that app,
and
... if the company that once produced the app is long gone,
and
... if no one else "picked up" on the file format they were using,
then
... those files are probably for all practical purposes... unreadable on modern equipment.

One other thing to try:
- download "LibreOffice". it's FREE.
- open LibreOffice and try to open some of those files. What happens?
[doublepost=1546793554][/doublepost]WAIT.... I think I have "another way".

First, go here:
https://www.macintoshrepository.org/1803-lightningpaint-1-1

This is a copy of the old app "Lightning Paint".
I don't know if this version will open the files you have, or not, but download it anyway for now.

Once you have that, you need a way to run it on a modern Mac running OS X.
And... there's a way to make that happen.

THIS is what you're going to need:
https://archive.org/details/COIClassicOnIntelV4.0.1ChubbyBunny

When you download Chubby Bunny, you will end up with a folder "COIV4.0.1"
Open it and double-click the file named "Classic", and watch what happens next.

You will need to move the Lightning Paint app into OS 9 (Chubby Bunny).
The "gateway" in and out is the "Shared" folder in your home folder, and the "UNIX" folder in Chubby Bunny.

Put the Lightning Paint app into home/shared, and it should "show up" in the UNIX folder in C/B.
Now put it on the desktop and see if you can get it to launch.

GETTING ALL THIS TO WORK IS GOING TO TAKE A LITTLE TIME if you've never done it before.

But... again... it could possibly be the solution to reading those old files.
[doublepost=1546794132][/doublepost]ANOTHER FOLLOWUP:

I tried downloading Lightning Paint, and got it to "unstuff" and open in SheepShaver (Chubby Bunny).

I then created a new graphics file.

I discovered that if I chose "save as..." (NOT "save"), I was offered the option to save the file as either:
- normal (probably a Lightning Paint proprietary format)
- startup screen
- MacPaint file
- MacDraw (PICT) file

SO.... what you might be able to do is this:
(yes, I know it's going to be some work)
1. Download Lightning Paint and get it running in SheepShaver (Chubby Bunny)
2. Move the files you want to "export" from the Mac OS into SheepShaver (using the "Shared folder/UNIX folder" method)
3. Open each file in Lightning Paint and then use the "Save As..." menu to
4. Export into either MacPaint or MacDraw
5. Move the converted files back to OS X
6. Try opening the files using Graphic Converter or Preview (or something else).

Good luck!

 

[Fishrrman]

A further update:

Using Lightning Paint, I created a new paint file, then used the "Save As..." command to save it in both MacPaint and MacDraw formats.

I then brought those over to the OS X desktop.

Now they can be opened with Preview, and Graphic Converter.
Once opened, some "limited manipulation" can be done (at least with the MacDraw file).

 

[jaduff46]

Nice work and well documented!

Sometimes/often it’s hard to step away from intriguing problems once you get sucked in. LOL