MacHouse

   Last updated: April 10, 2010

1. Indemnity

MacHouse does not guarantee in any way that Little Disc properly runs on any terminal that meets system requirements. MacHouse will not take responsibility for any damage that its software may cause. MacHouse does not guarantee that its software program is bug-free and has no obligation in offering a good copy in a timely manner.

2. Distribution

MacHouse is the sole distributor of Little Disc.  No other party is allowed to distribute or redistribute this software program without written consent from the software company.

3. Installing Little Disc

In order to use Little Disc, it'll be better for you to create a folder with any name at first.  Then put a copy of Little Disc in it.  If you wish to handle DAA disc images, download the UNIX version of PowerISO at PowerISO Computing's website (http://www.poweriso.com/) and install it to Users/User/Library/Application Support/Little Disc.  The location of the folder where PowerISO is stored does matter.  Since it's not our product, Little Disc will not automatically download PowerISO and install it for you.  Little Disc will run without it, though.

If you want to make sure that you have the right version of PowerISO, you can run a simple test with Terminal. First, launch Terminal.  Regardless of the location of the shell verison of PowerISO, drag the application file onto Terminal.  Then hit the return key.  If your Mac is capable of running this application, you will immediately read "PowerISO Copyright(C) 2004-2008..."  Furthermore, if you need some help with this software title, you may want to type ' -?' after dragging and dropping the shell version of PowerISO onto Terminal.

As for hdiutil, Mac OS X should come with it.  Though you don't have to, if you want to make sure that it's installed on your Mac, again, get on Terminal.  Then simply type 'hdiutil.'  For more information on hdiutil, type 'hdiutil -help' on Terminal or visit Apple's website at this URL.

4. Uninstalling Little Disc

When you launch Little Disc, the application will create a folder named Little Disc.  The path is Users/User/Documents/ inside the volume of the operating system that is currently running.  The easiest way of finding it is to open Preferences and switch tabs to System.  Then click on the button below Preferences.  Little Disc will also create a folder inside the Application Support folder.  You can locate it by clicking on the Open button under PowerISO.  This is where the UNIX shell version of PowerISO should reside.

5. Creating Disc Images with Little Disc

When we first started working on Little Disc, we wanted a software program that allows users to create different formats of disc images.  The applicaiton interface of Little Disc rests on this assumption.  Unfortunately, the shell version of PowerISO doesn't appear to let users create disc images.  And the only disc image format that hdiutil lets you create is dmg.

Anyway, before clicking on the Create button on the toolbar, there are three things that you have to do.  1. Drag and drop files onto the left listbox.  Everything that appears inside the Drop List will be copied into a disc image.  2. Right-button-click on Drop Folder, which appears on the top-left corner, and rename it.  This name will be that of a disc image that you will create.  3. Set the destination (volume or folder) where you want to save a disc image by clicking on the Select button at the button.

There is another listbox besides the Drop List.  You can drag and drop files onto the Item List, which shows sizes, creation and modification dates of files and folders.  What appears on the Item List is not important when it comes to creating disc images.  What appears in the Drop List only matters.  You can right-button-click on a file/folder and choose 'Add it to Drop List' to transfer an item to the Drop List.

If you have taken all three steps (to drag and drop files/folders onto the Drop List, to rename the Drop Folder, to set a destination), you are ready to create a disc image.  Click on the Create button on the toolbar.  Then Little Disc will immediately create a folder and copy all the target files and folders into it.  If this process is successful, you will see the following window, asking you to choose an image type.  Clicking on the Begin button, Little Disc will access hdiutil to create a disc image.

You can finally find out that a disc image has been created in the UNIX command display window at the bottom.  You can clear this screen by clicking on the Clear button at the right bottom corner.  You can also refresh the Drop List by right-button-clicking on a file/folder and choosing 'Clear Drop Folder.'  For clarification, you won't need Drop List and Item List unless you want to create disc images.