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Tube❄️Time

maybe a google search? nope, no right answers on the first page. or the second page. in fact, the results are flooded with websites claiming to decode file extensions.

i think my favorite description so far is "AXD files are typically a type of binary file used by certain software, and many software packages can share a common file extension. In the case of files..."

27 comments
Canageek

@tubetime and it probably doesn't help that it shares extension with some sort of visual studio file. I went to my old stand by, but can't help: fileinfo.com/extension/axd

Tube❄️Time

ok, so i added a bunch of search terms and it turns out it is the drawing file format used by a product called Actrix. naturally, as a failed Autodesk product, it's a proprietary binary format. they never released a translator or a spec.

Tube❄️Time

the relatively uncomplicated drawing i have is about half a megabyte of this crap

Tube❄️Time

oh no, OLE automation. this is some sort of cursed Windows C++ OLE automation serialized object nonsense.

Tube❄️Time

wait that gives me an idea, this reminds me vaguely of what Altium did with their file format.

Tube❄️Time

sure enough, 7zip can open it! that means it is a Windows Compound File Binary Format.

Tube❄️Time

and the Object Data file within contains...yet more crap.

Tube❄️Time

so i think it would be easier to track down a copy of the software and install it on an old PC, then save it as some other format, rather than trying to reverse engineer this mountain of binary garbage.

Tube❄️Time

there are three lessons here:
1. internet search has been made nearly completely useless by SEO spam and autogenerated websites.
2. never trust proprietary software. use open source software or software that generates human readable files.
3. maybe print out your important documents

Funky Bob

@tubetime It's also not helped by search engines being manic about guessing what you really meant, rather than ever believing you might want to find _exactly_ what you searched for.

Owen Mehegan

@tubetime
I'm pretty sure I can still open the papers I wrote in Abiword as an English major 20 years ago... I should check that and maybe convert them to rtf.

computerywar

@tubetime
Perhaps the shareware installer contained in this bin file will help?
archive.org/details/computer20

I'd probably run this in a VM since its possible that it could have some unsavory additions...

jz.tusk

@tubetime

Pour one out for all the RealPlayer files that people saved from Web 1.0.

[DATA EXPUNGED]
Tube❄️Time replied to DELETED

@FantasmitaAsex i had nearly identical results/issues with ddg.

zbrando

@tubetime I would say that more than proprietary software the problem is the proprietary file format.

Infinity

@tubetime If you don’t mind e-mailing your AXD files to someone named Ralph Grabowski, they’ll get converted to DWGs and sent back to you: worldcadaccess.com/blog/2015/1

http :verified:

@tubetime That's probably the best thing to do.
What I have learned from my old files: Don't try to store in other formats. You may lose data of that proprietary software, like vector graphics convert to a jpg. But keep the software you used. If you need it later, you can always run that old software in a VM and edit or export what you need.

Hubert Figuière

@tubetime maybe it is an OLE container. Like MS Office or Visio binary files.

DELETED

@tubetime ah cool i think i have an unused copy of that kicking around here somewhere. If i can find it and finally install it on the old workstation i'll let you know.

Erik van Zijst

@tubetime the shittification of the modern internet 😔

trurl :unverified:

@tubetime kagi gives me for “drawing file .axd” this link on position 3: <worldcadaccess.com/blog/2015/1> - i think it's time to reconsider google…

kagi search results for “drawing file .axd”
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