PhotoWorks Plus on floopy disks

[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 Irfanview 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.

Thanks

[matera]

Is that the old Seattle Filmworks stuff, file extension SFW?

Are the .mix files from the same software?

[rickluc]

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

[matera]

IrfanView should be able to open Seattle Filmworks (sfw) files. It works well on Windows7. That is all I know.

That, and that proprietary file types are evil

[Hootowls]

One other idea...

Try changing the extension. Sometimes these software folks would use an existing file format with a different extension.

Try changing to name.swf, etc.

Also, how big are the files? Some software made like a linking (index??) file for each image. Never really knew why...

Hootowls

[Sam_Zen]

Did you force your file manager to show extensions of files on the diskettes ?

According to WellOiledPC's database, the ".MIX" format is a "PhotoDraw Image File"

And Hootowls is right, if some files are below let's say 8Kb, then they are quite certain not images.

[bionicdan]

rickluc: The PhotoWorks software does work on Windows 7. I recently loaded Version 2.41. It was included on the CD-ROM version of the Seattle Film Works image discs. If you have it on diskettes that may load, too. I recently loaded more than 100 diskettes that I had from 1994 through 1998 (Well over 1000 images). All files converted from the SFW format to JPG. There was a batch conversion feature available as part of the Version 2.41 software. If you need a copy of the old software. Reply back and I'll see what I can do. I think the software was freely distributed and a registration fee provide a "Professional" version. The freely available version works just fine for the file conversion step.

matera: I do not believe the MIX files are from the Seattle Film Works. I had no MIX files on any of the diskettes I loaded.

Hootowls: Changing the extension is not likely to work. That would work if you could peek into the binary of the file and discover that the Seattle Film Works company actually just renamed an existing file extension, like GIF, PCX, BMP or something to make the files look "proprietary" when they were actually a standard file type. I do not think that was the case with the SFW files.

Sam_Zen: Although, normally, an image file is quite large. Back in the old days of the original SFW Pictures on Disk, the files were 320 x 200. Some files were less than 8kb and still images files. Not very big images mind you, but image files non-the-less. Later upgrades of the images resulted in larger (640 x 480 and higher on the CD-ROM image discs).