Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

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rickluc
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Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:02 pm

Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by rickluc »

I have 17 floopy disks from the year 1997 with family photos on them. Back then I was running Windows 98 and PhotoWorks software version 2.2. Some where along the line I have moved up (I think) Windows 7. I'm afraid to try to install that old version on my computer today. When I was running Windows Vista the software on there wouldn't recognize PhotoWorks software or photo's file type. Don't know what that file type is. Will XnView installed on Windows 7 convert these old file format to something like JPEG so I can past them on to other family members?
Any othere suggestions would also be apprecated. Some other files I have that I can't open are .mix files.


I'm not sure the .mix is from the same software. Sorry
I have the .mix files on my computer but all I get is a blank window. There was 226 of them scattered thru out my pictures folders. There ext. says a family name and .mix.
The pictures on my floopy disk are the old Seattle Film Company. Where you would send them a camera and get a floopy disk back. There still on the floopy disk and I don't know what fill ext. they are.
These files on my computer could be what is left over from the old PhotoWorks software and there isn't a program that will recognize them.

Thanks
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XnTriq
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by XnTriq »

Hello rickluc,

XnView is able to open PhotoWorks images and convert them to other formats like JPEG etc., but it can only extract the small previews embedded in MIX files.
PhotoWorks ([url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070513043019/http://www.photoworks.com/util/knowledgeBaseTemplate.jsp?helpFile=PODSoft.html&subject=Pictures+On+Disk+Software]Image Conversion/Pictures on Disk Software[/url]) wrote:Overview

We started offering Pictures on Disk in 1994, at which time PhotoWorks was know as “Seattle FilmWorks.” Image files on our Pictures on Disk from 1994 to mid 2001 were provided in a proprietary file format with the .SFW file extension. Because the SFW file format is not a standardized file format, most photo applications will not open these files. You have probably reached this page because you have some of these files which you are trying to figure out what to do with.

We still offer free software for download that will allow you to view your SFW image files and convert them to standard file formats such as JPEG so that you can open them in other applications. This software will also allow you to open PWP files (archives containing several SFW image files which we used to offer for download on our Web site). However, the software was last updated in the year 2000.

Because we stopped providing SFW images on our disks several years ago, there are no plans to release future updates to our software for opening these files. We recommend that you use the software available now to convert all of your SFW image files to a standard file format for archiving purposes because our software will not likely work on future operating systems such as Windows Vista.

See below for information about the legacy Pictures on Disk software that we offer for download as well as links to third party applications which provide support for the proprietary SFW image file format.

Windows Software

PhotoWorks 2.41
The last release of our Windows Pictures on Disk software for opening SFW files was PhotoWorks version 2.41, released in 2000. PhotoWorks 2.41 was originally developed for Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0. However, the software will also operate fine under Windows 2000, Windows Me and Windows XP.

Click here to download PhotoWorks 2.41.

This version of our software includes support for importing and exporting many standard image file formats including JPEG (.JPG), Windows Bitmap (.BMP) and TIFF (.TIF). It also includes a batch conversion feature that makes it easy to convert large groups of photos.

3rd Party Solutions
Below is a list of third party applications that provide support for the SFW image file format under Windows:

XnView
Developer: Pierre.e Gougelet
Web address: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.html

Notes: XnView is free, easy to use and supports both SFW and PWP file formats.
.PWP & .SFW = Seattle Film Works multi-image
.MIX = MS Picture It! & MS PhotoDraw & MS Image Composer
Wikipedia (Microsoft PhotoDraw » [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PhotoDraw#Use_of_the_.MIX_file_format]Use of the .MIX file format[/url]) wrote:PhotoDraw's native file format is “.mix”, a proprietary format developed by Microsoft. Only PhotoDraw can save and load its MIX files and retain the full ability to modify those files.
Forum references:
rickluc
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:02 pm

Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by rickluc »

I went to the home page and clicked on Xnview formats and couldn't find the file .mix listed for being able to open. Am I doing something wrong?
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XnTriq
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by XnTriq »

You need to activate Display all image file types in Tools » Options » General » Operations.
And remember: XnView can't open MIX files, it can only display the preview embedded in the files.
jmparnes
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Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 4:32 am

Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by jmparnes »

I've just installed Xnview recently, and am able to see each of the images contained in the Seattle Film Works (photoworks) .pwp files I have. What I have not been successful is to extract the individual images as .jpgs from the .pwp. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated and might warrant a contribution on my part. Thanks, Jeff
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XnTriq
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by XnTriq »

jmparnes wrote:I've just installed Xnview recently, and am able to see each of the images contained in the Seattle Film Works (photoworks) .pwp files I have. What I have not been successful is to extract the individual images as .jpgs from the .pwp.
Hello Jeff,

there are utilities for converting and chopping up individual photos in one go, ...
Everett Lipman ([url=http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/index.html]File format conversion software for Seattle FilmWorks products[/url] » [url=http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/details.txt]details.txt[/url]) wrote:A .pwp file consists of a group of .sfw files (typically all of the pictures from a roll of film) which have had some additional information prepended to them (such as the file name and length).
pwpjpg reads the length and file name information, and then passes each .sfw file to the same routine used in sfwjpg, which converts the file to JFIF and writes it to disk.
Everett Lipman ([url=http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/index.html]File format conversion software for Seattle FilmWorks products[/url] » [url=http://www.lipman.org/software/sfw/usage.txt]usage.txt[/url]) wrote:pwpjpg will take a .pwp file and extract the images in the file. A .pwp file typically contains the scanned images from an entire roll of film. The names of the images are contained within the .pwp file. pwpjpg takes a single argument, the name of the .pwp file from which to extract the images:
  • pwpjpg mypics.pwp
This will extract all of the images contained in mypics.pwp and write them in the current directory as .jpg (JFIF) files. The file names will correspond to the names of the images stored in the .pwp file. mypics.pwp will not be altered or removed. Under Microsoft Windows, pwpjpg.exe must be invoked from the run window command line.
... but unfortunately the only binaries provided by the author are for Solaris and Linux. I've found a Win32 port of SFWJPG, but not of PWPJPG :|
Joe Nord ([url=http://www.joenord.com/apps/sfwjpg/index.html]SFWJPG — Seattle Filmworks to JPG conversion (Windows)[/url]) wrote:FAQ #1:

A couple users have noted that after downloading and executing the program, all they see is a flash.

SFWJPG is a command line executable. If you run it from graphical user interface, the program will lauch, display help text and then terminate. From a graphical user interface, this will appear as a flash.

The program should be run from a command line. (Start / Run) then "cmd" <enter>.
Execute sfwjpg program from command line with no parameters to get information on required parameters.

FAQ #2:

Some other folks have noted that the program does not support wildcards. This is true and adding this support would be a worthy enhancement — but it has not been done. To work around, execute this command at the Command Prompt. This procedure assumes that all SFW files are in the current directory when program is run.
  • for %F in (*.sfw) do sfwjpg %F
This will execute sfwjpg.exe once for each SFW file in the current directory. With the output filename omitted, the program creates the output file with the same name as the input file with the extension changed to ".JPG".
Perhaps you know someone who can do the compilation of pwpjpg.c under Windows with Microsoft Visual C++ for you?
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XnTriq
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by XnTriq »

Bengt Cyrén ([url=http://www.algonet.se/~cyren/sfw/index.htm]Free Seattle FilmWorks image converter[/url]) wrote:SFW2JPG.EXE is a small MS-DOS utility that will convert Seattle FilmWorks image files to plain vanilla JPEGs without reducing the already limited quality. Usage is straightforward. Bring up a MS-DOS box, go to your SFWs and type:
  • SFW2JPG *.SFW
Your original SFWs will not be overwritten. The program can also convert a single file or convert files between drives etc. If SFW2JPG.EXE is launched without parameters, it will display a brief help text.
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XnTriq
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by XnTriq »

OK, I've found some PWP samples. Navigating between (View » Page » Open Page Number...) and batch extracting of (Tools » Multipage file » Extract All Into...) individual images didn't work with all of those samples.
jmparnes
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by jmparnes »

Thanks, XnTriq.

I still have in my basement a seven-year-old computer running Windows XP which has a working copy of Photoworks no-longer supported image processing software. It looks like I'll have to extract the files using that machine, as the Photoworks program will extract the sfw files from the pwp, and then convert them to jpgs. I just figured that if I could see each sfw image in the pwp file using Xnview, there had to be a way to extract the image I was viewing as a jpg. I wouldn't mind if I had to do the extraction manually, but in any case, off to the basement I am!

Enjoy, Jeff
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XnTriq
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by XnTriq »

:shock:
Richard H. Jones (Existing .sfw to .jpg converters » [url=http://www.jonesrh.info/sfw/index.html#3rd_party_free_converters]3rd party free converters[/url]) wrote:
  • XnView home.
    XnView (English).
    • XnView is a software family to view, convert, organize, and edit graphic and video files.
    • Converts .sfw and .pwp files.
    • Binary available for Windows, Linux, MacOSX.
      Also available for Android, iPad/iPhone, etc.
    • Is an extremely usable GUI, yet includes a command line interface.
    • Can do batch converts, both in the GUI and from the command line.
    • Has many features.
    • Available in a portable version.
    • It costs $0 for "private non-commercial or educational use (including non-profit organization)".
    • I highly recommend it (even though it is not open source).
    • Even photoworks.com recommended it, as can be seen on the latest Internet Archive's record of the photoworks.com "Image Conversion/Pictures on Disk Software" page circa 2007-05-13. The photoworks.com site suggested XnView as one of two 3rd party alternatives to the Seattle FilmWorks / PhotoWorks v1.0.1 software that ran on Classic Mac computers (and did not do batch converts).
      And it was additionally recommended as a 3rd party alternative for the PhotoWorks v2.41 software for Windows.
    • To see the .sfw and .pwp files, you might need to check "Display all image file types" in Tools / Options / General / Operations, then click OK.
    • Can extract all the .sfw photos in a .pwp file -- contrary to some of the comments in this XnView newsgroup thread -- using the Tools / Multipage file / Extract All Into function. However, XnView will not preserve the filenames like Lipman's / Nord's sfwjpg will do. Instead, it creates .sfw files with filespecs using the filename of the .pwp file appended with "_page_nnn.sfw", where nnn is the sequence that XnView encountered the .sfw file inside the .pwp file. After XnView does the Extract All Into, you can rename the files to your liking.
    • Can be used to examine a file in hex -- as long as the file format doesn't choke XnView. Simply select the file, then click Tools / View in Hex mode. So, if no other tools are available to detect the SFW98A or Uncompressed SFW94A formats, you can manually do that with XnView.
    • XnView is intelligent enough to display a file with filetype .jpg that is actually a SFW format file. And, vice versa, it will display a file with filetype .sfw that is actually a JPEG format file.
    • It is my present mechanism for visually detecting the quality of original vs. converted images. I simply switch back and forth between the images several times to see which looks better.
    • Is my preferred tool for opening a single .sfw file on a PhotoWorks CD then quickly scrolling through all the other .sfw files in that directory. Also, is my preferred tool for opening a .pwp file then quickly scrolling through all the .sfw files inside that .pwp file.
rousu
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Re: Old PhotoWorks floppy disk

Post by rousu »

My best solution:
Use and old XP operating system for pwp CDs
Insert the CD, and the software on the CD will run.
It will let you chose resolution, do a slide show, and export and save the pictures to your hard drive as .jpg

If you want the pictures elsewhere like a different computer, then transfer the .jpg somehow, like using a flash drive or another cd

However, the program seems not compatible with running on my windows 7 64 bit computer.

cheers
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