njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) (10/26/90)
There is a program available for the IBM and its clones called DoubleDisk.
It can in many cases more than double the hard drive capicity. According
to what I have heard, it is written in Assembly and reads and writes
between tracks of the hard drive thereby increasing ones density. At the
same time it has an ultrafast decompressor that decompresses not in
memmory but on disk but when the program is finished accessing, it recompacts
it -- this way it also save memory. I have seen on my friends Zenith
386/25 with a 20 meg hard drive create partitions with the program giving
him the line 120000000 bytes free {120 meg}. Could some one give me some
info about this. egs}. Also the system witnessed
practically no slow down {the read spead though went from 25 to 68}. Is
this just an IBM version of the Amiga PD PowerPacker {compresses files
but keeps them executable} or is it really something revolutionary. Is
there something like that for the Amiga or if I want cheap hard drive
capacity for text data should I just go after an IBM clone with a cheap
hard drive with 250 megs giving me with DoubleDisk over half a gigabyte.
Amiga is Number One Under The Sun!
J.Norell Guttman
njg2@po.cwru.eduarc@desire.wright.edu (10/26/90)
In article <1990Oct25.200915.27389@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>, njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) writes: > > There is a program available for the IBM and its clones called DoubleDisk. > It can in many cases more than double the hard drive capicity. According > to what I have heard, it is written in Assembly and reads and writes > between tracks of the hard drive thereby increasing ones density. At the > same time it has an ultrafast decompressor that decompresses not in > memmory but on disk but when the program is finished accessing, it recompacts > it -- this way it also save memory. I have seen on my friends Zenith > 386/25 with a 20 meg hard drive create partitions with the program giving > him the line 120000000 bytes free {120 meg}. Could some one give me some > info about this. egs}. Also the system witnessed > practically no slow down {the read spead though went from 25 to 68}. Is > this just an IBM version of the Amiga PD PowerPacker {compresses files > but keeps them executable} or is it really something revolutionary. Is > there something like that for the Amiga or if I want cheap hard drive > capacity for text data should I just go after an IBM clone with a cheap > hard drive with 250 megs giving me with DoubleDisk over half a gigabyte. > > Amiga is Number One Under The Sun! > > > J.Norell Guttman > njg2@po.cwru.edu Well, I've heard very bad things about that program. Things like, HD crashes occuring much more frequently, and the reason you didn't see a lot of slow down on an IBM 386/25 is that it IS a 32-bit processor, PLUS they are not mtasking, meaning that the HD cruncher program can dedicated almost 100% of the CPU for the crunching and loading. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ = /// | Jim Perry | Arc@Desire.Wright.edu = = /// Amiga! | ^Communications Consultant| -or- = = \XX/ The One | Arc Electronics, Inc. | Arc@WSU.BITNET = = ____& Only... | Wright State University |"Ouch! Quit-it." - Bart= = | Dayton, Ohio | Frank Sinatra Rules = ========================================================================
stephen@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Stephen Holmstead) (10/28/90)
J. Norell Guttman wrote: >There is a program available for the IBM and its clones called DoubleDisk. >It can in many cases more than double the hard drive capicity. According >to what I have heard, it is written in Assembly and reads and writes >between tracks of the hard drive thereby increasing ones density. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This sort of thing is IMPOSSIBLE to do on a SCSI harddisk. >[stuff deleted] >Is there something like that for the Amiga or if I want cheap hard drive >capacity for text data should I just go after an IBM clone with a cheap >hard drive with 250 megs giving me with DoubleDisk over half a gigabyte. Not if you are using a SCSI harddisk (and I believe most Amigas have SCSI harddisks). BTW, harddisk manufactures make their track spacings for a REASON! The reason is most commonly that the data is not reliable if the tracks are spaced any closer (due to head shift and other off-track related errors). You may get away with it for awhile, but I wouldn't store anything of VALUE using the scheme that you described (I should know; I make harddisks for a living). >J.Norell Guttman >njg2@po.cwru.edu ____ ____ | / /_ __\ | Disk 0S/2 == 1/2 OS (Leo Schwab) Stephen Holmstead | | / / /_/ | | Mechanisms // ...!hplabs!hpdmlge!stephen |___\ / /___| Division \X/ Amiga stephen@hpdmlge.boi.hp.com
limonce@pilot.njin.net (Tom Limoncelli) (10/29/90)
In article <1990Oct25.200915.27389@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) writes: > There is a program available for the IBM and its clones called DoubleDisk. > It can in many cases more than double the hard drive capicity. According > to what I have heard, it is written in Assembly and reads and writes > between tracks of the hard drive thereby increasing ones density. At the > same time it has an ultrafast decompressor that decompresses not in "Between tracks"? Sounds like a compress algorithm. How sure are you about your sources? > info about this. egs}. Also the system witnessed > practically no slow down {the read spead though went from 25 to 68}. Is 25 to 68 is no difference? > this just an IBM version of the Amiga PD PowerPacker {compresses files > but keeps them executable} or is it really something revolutionary. Is Sounds like PowerPacker that works on data files. It's not too difficult to do, I've seen commercial programs for mainframes as well as IBM PCs that do this. I almost wrote one for the Amiga, but did other projects instead. -Tom -- tlimonce@drew.edu Tom Limoncelli "Freedom and justice tlimonce@drew.uucp +1 201 408 5389 are opposites" tlimonce@drew.Bitnet limonce@pilot.njin.net -me
njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) (11/05/90)
Many people have responded that DoubleDisk which is for the IBM is not
really a hard drive expander but a data compressor. Powerpacker was
suggested as the Amiga alternative for compressions of files which will
still remain executionable. However when Powerpacker compacts a data
file {text} the file gets a .pp extension and can not be accessed until
it is "dePowerPacked" while on DoubleDisk it decompresses when the file
is called up {by a word processor}. Another thing is the PowerPacker does
not handle IFF and a couple of other types of files claiming "bad huc
structure". If PowerPacker does not solve the question, what is the
correct solution?
J.Norell Guttman
njg2@po.cwru.eduepa@phobos.cis.ksu.edu (Eric P. Armstrong) (11/05/90)
njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) writes: >Many people have responded that DoubleDisk which is for the IBM is not >really a hard drive expander but a data compressor. Powerpacker was >suggested as the Amiga alternative for compressions of files which will >still remain executionable. However when Powerpacker compacts a data >file {text} the file gets a .pp extension and can not be accessed until >it is "dePowerPacked" while on DoubleDisk it decompresses when the file >is called up {by a word processor}. Another thing is the PowerPacker does >not handle IFF and a couple of other types of files claiming "bad huc >structure". If PowerPacker does not solve the question, what is the >correct solution? Re-writing the trackdisk.device to do the compression/decompression would be the most logical solution. > J.Norell Guttman > njg2@po.cwru.edu ---- Eric Paul Armstrong Kansas State University Bitnet: ericpaul@ksuvm.bitnet Internet: epa@phobos.cis.ksu.edu
C503719@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU (Baird McIntosh) (11/05/90)
In Message-ID: <1990Nov4.185533.11909@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) said:
>Many people have responded that DoubleDisk which is for the IBM is not
>really a hard drive expander but a data compressor. Powerpacker was
>suggested as the Amiga alternative for compressions of files which will
>still remain executionable. However when Powerpacker compacts a data
>file {text} the file gets a .pp extension and can not be accessed until
>it is "dePowerPacked" while on DoubleDisk it decompresses when the file
>is called up {by a word processor}. Another thing is the PowerPacker does
>not handle IFF and a couple of other types of files claiming "bad huc
>structure". If PowerPacker does not solve the question, what is the
>correct solution?
I guess the *correct* solution is ta just buy one o' them thar IBM custom
LEDs (light-emitting doorstops) that some would call a computer and then
buy that thar DoubleDisk thingey! Viola! Violin! You've got yerself just
what you've been hankering for, partner!
[btw I know that the correct word is 'voila' (perhaps with an accent mark?).]
How 'bout buying a Commodore Bridgeboard, etc...? Seriously, if the Double-
Disk uncompresses data files automagically when they get loaded into a
word processor, then there's something sitting around waiting to uncompress
the file or the files only work with certain programs?
Of course this is all so many BS. What you need is a bigger harddrive! :-)
^^
(baloney slices)
| Baird McIntosh | c503719@umcvmb.missouri.edu <-or-> c503719@umcvmb.bitnet |
| COOL DRIVING TECHNIQUE #23: Drive without brake lights. |
| (Light deactivation method is unimportant; just try to appear oblivious.) |FelineGrace@cup.portal.com (Dana B Bourgeois) (11/05/90)
Quick! which Amiga GURU wants to add MNP5 (or higher) to TrackDisc Device? C'mon, surely somebody wants to do this? :) Dana Bourgeois @ cup.portal.com