XPkg v1.0 - Chris Capon (c)1996

Introduction:
  This program extracts Newton Packages (*.pkg) files from the backups made
  by the Newton Connection Kit (*.nwt,*.nb,*.nb1) for DOS/Windows computers.

Copyright:
  This software and accompanying text is copyright material and belongs to
  Chris Capon.  I grant individuals the right to use it on their personal
  systems and also the right to distribute it in it's whole, complete, and
  un-modified form to others, providing only that no fee is charged.

  No guarantee accompanies this software and, while this text describes it's
  intended function, the results of it's use are the sole responsiblity of
  whoever runs it.

Description:
  The Apple Newton is a marvelous tool for keeping track of all those things
  one is constantly forgetting.  One of the required "options" is the Newton
  Connection Kit (for Apple Mac's or PC's) and it is used to archive all the
  Newton internal information off to a desktop machine.  It can also be used
  to install new software from the PC to the Newton in the form of "package"
  files (*.pkg).

  While the Connection Kit does archive installed packages with the rest of
  the Newton's internal data, it does not provide a facility to reproduce the
  original package files should you need to.  One of the reasons I need to is
  because I use the Steve Weyer "Newt" development environment to develop my
  own software for the Newton.  Since it builds Newton packages right on the
  Newton, a tool is required to extract them back to the PC.  This software
  is intended to do just that.

  To use this software you will need a Newton, the Apple Connection Kit and
  a PC to run everything on.  Before you start, back up your Newton using the
  Connection Kit.  In your backup directory you will find files that end with
  these extensions:

    *.nwt  = Current backup data for your Newton and it's Memory Cards.
    *.nar  = I believe these are indexes for the *.nwt files.
    *.nb   = Most recent backup copy of your *.nwt files.
    *.nb1  = Older backup copies of *.nwt files.

  This software will extract packages from the *.nwt, *.nb and *.nb1 files.

  XPkg is a DOS command line application and really only needs the name of
  the backup file to proceed.  For example:

    xpkg  chris_ca.nwt

  When running, the file "chris_ca.nwt" will be scanned for packages.  Each
  one found is identified by a brief header summary and a command line prompt
  lets you, the user, enter a file name to save the package under.  If you
  don't want to save the file simply press ENTER and skip to the next one.

  Optionally, you can also include on the command line the file names to use
  for the extracted packages.  Each name will be used in order, and when no
  more names have been supplied the program switches back to interactive mode
  automatically.  For example:

    xpkg  chris_ca.nwt  file01.pkg  file02.pkg  file03.pkg

  In the above example, XPkg will begin extracting packages from the backup
  file "chris_ca.nwt" using the 3 file names supplied.  If more packages
  exist then XPkg will start asking you for file names at that point.

  As far as my testing shows, the extracted packages are identical to the
  original installed ones with the exception of 4 bytes in the header which
  I believe represent an installation date.  Please let me know if you have
  information to the contrary.

Known Problems:
  Connection Kit backup files that have seen repeated synchronizations seem
  to become fragmented over time and this software will report errors during
  the extraction process.  Unfortunately, this Author does not actually know
  what the Connection Kit file format is and rely on the package files being
  stored contiguously.

  If you experience this error you can bypass it by archiving your Newton to
  a separate (empty) directory which will produce a clean unfragmented backup
  file from which the packages can (hopefully) be extracted.

  I appologize to you the user for this and if any of you can provide me with
  information on the Connection Kit file format I will incorporate it into
  subsequent releases of this software (please see Contacting Author below).

Other Information:
  Find out about Steve Weyer's development package (Newt, NewtDev) on the
  AMUG archive (http://www.amug.org/amug/sigs/newton/amug_newton.html) or go
  directly to his home page (http://WWW.netaxs.com/~weyer/).

  There is another application out there called extrap2l.zip which does the
  same thing as this program but I couldn't get it working on my system.  You
  might want to give it a try if mine isn't doing what you need.

Contacting the Author:
  I can be reached through the Internet (would you have guessed it?) and I
  occasionally browse the Newton News groups.  If you want to report bugs or
  have suggestions for improvements then please send me E-Mail at:

    Chris Capon
    cccapon@interlog.com

  Latest releases of this software should be downloadable at:

    http://www.interlog.com/~cccapon

Revision History:
  1.0 - Initial release, mediocre testing, seems to work though.

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