Aldus Freehand 3.1 on Windows 7

[spike321]

Don't know if I'll find all the answers but, I'm very glad I at least found this forum!

I have all the install discs on floppy's for Freehand 3.1 my dilemma is trying to install the program on a new computer with Windows 7. I'm guessing I'll have to get a floppy drive to read the discs but, from what I've discovered researching so far looks like it won't be that simple. So, can anyone lead me through the process of installing Freehand 3.1 on my new computer?
Thanks
JP

[FFH Mark]

A quick search for WIN FreeHand 3.1 download led to this abandonware site:
http://vetusware.com/download/FreeHand% ... S/?id=7005

This download would get you around needing a floppy drive and make installation much easier. I don't think you'll need instructions beyond following the install program and using your serial #.

I can't say how it will run on Win 7 since I'm on a Mac but I do have FH3.1 on my computer (under emulation) and used a Mac abandonware site to get it-even though I own the original floppies. Works great.

[spike321]

Thanks Mark,
I downloaded from the site but, when I tried to open that file on my computer my Malwarebytes antivirus program quarantined it as a PUP.optonal so, now I'm a little gun shy about running it!
JP

[FFH Mark]

Could you take your disks to a computer shop that can put them on a CD as disk images similar to the rar files from the abandonware site? Since I'm a Mac guy, I don't know the specifics for Win 7 but this would work on a Mac.

JP, I see you answered on Adobe's FreeHand forum too so I won't repeat my answer there.

[spike321]

Mark,
I thought about doing that and know of a place that might be able to handle it. If not, I may try someplace like Staples, they have some pretty knowledgeable techies. Just one question, what is a rar file?
JP

[FFH Mark]

RAR files are like a ZIP file on steroids. You decompress them like a ZIP and they are good for multivolume archives like floppy disks. It makes sense with the two install disks for FH3.

Staples is a good idea to try!

[spike321]

I checked out a couple places about transferring the floppy's to a cd, one place wanted $5 per floppy another place wanted a flat rate of $50 to transfer the 15 floppy's to a cd so, the cheapest route ended up being a floppy reader for around $30. Now, what are the steps involved getting freehand (16) bit installed and running in Windows 7 (64) bit?
JP

[spike321]

This is going nowhere fast! When I try the first floppy a dialog box tells me the disk is not formatted and I really don't want to go that way and loose everything on the disk. And once I got a dialog box telling me "request could not be performed because of an I/O error. I'm beginning to think this whole thing is a mistake but, not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
JP

[FFH Mark]

I did a quick search and sounds like others have the same problem using usb floppy drives in Windows 7. The advice from Microsoft looks like using XP mode to run the drive and get the info off of floppies:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 6bd1ffc0f0

more ideas:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-16 ... drive.html

[spike321]

Since Freehand 3.1 is an old dos program, what would happen if I took my Windows 95 install disk and tried installing in Windows 7? Or do I have to go the visualization route and install xp first?