thomas@uvabick.UUCP (Thomas Fruin) (05/22/88)
Help! After installing some new software on my hard disk, StuffIt suddenly stopped working, and I _cannot_ find out who is the culprit. I think it is StuffIt ... I'm running System 4.2 with MultiFinder on a Mac II with CDC Wren III, and plenty of INITs, SuitCase, and similar goodies. Also Tops. However, I've systematically removed every one of these, and although the crashes change in type, they still occur. Usually StuffIt crashes just when it tries to start stuffing a file. The window with the bar charts has just appeared, but no 'filling in ' of the bar has occured yet. Often the Mac will hang, with no ID errors or further action. The only sense I got out of my experimenting was this: after I had removed practically every INIT, turned off AppleTalk etc etc I noticed the following: immediately after running StuffIt in MultiFinder (with MPW open as well), a Shutdown on my Mac would crash while MPW was trying to Quit. The crash consistently occured because the low memory global $316 was trashed. TMON calls $316 MPWPtr ... StuffIt only crashes under MultiFinder - wiout MF all is OK, but with it I cannot run StuffIt anymore :( Anybody any ideas? StuffIt 1.5? -- Thomas Fruin fruin@hlerul5.BITNET Leiden University thomas@uvabick.UUCP University of Amsterdam hol0066.AppleLink 2:512/114.FidoNet The Netherlands
dave@hpdstma.HP.COM (Dave Waller) (05/24/88)
StuffIt is a data compression archiver/dearchiver that is used to compress multiple files into a single archive file. It is used primarily for two reasons: 1) It logically organizes a set of files into a single archive that can be uploaded to a BBS or shared with other Mac users. 2) It compresses the data and resource forks (sometimes as much as 50% !!) reducing the total amount of data that need be uploaded/downloaded from a BBS. Fewer bytes to transfer mean fewer $$$ when downloading .sit files. Unfortunately, although the advantages of StuffIt are extensive, it has the chief disadvantage of making files unusable for those who don't have Stuffit to decompress the archives. Dave Waller Technical Computer Group Hewlett-Packard Co. Pacific Technology Park Sunnyvale, CA (408) 746-5324 [ucbvax!]hplabs!hpdstma!dave
syap@ur-tut (James Fitzwilliam) (05/25/88)
In article <440013@hpdstma.HP.COM> dave@hpdstma.HP.COM (Dave Waller) writes:
*Unfortunately, although the advantages of StuffIt are extensive, it has the
*chief disadvantage of making files unusable for those who don't have Stuffit
*to decompress the archives.
This is also true of Packit, the old standard, and for that matter BinHex.
Stuffit is available on all the major services -- I got my copy of 1.40a
from GEnie -- and I seem to remember one version being on sumex, though I
don't remember which one. For that matter, anybody who can get the net
can ask somebody to send them a copy, or ask a friend with posting priv-
ileges to do so. So the (perfectly valid) disadvantage of availability
is not really a practical objection to its use.
I like 1.40a's new "you-don't-have-to-edit-the-non-BinHex-text" feature
a lot, but if you do any chopping you have to leave a dummy line before
the first line of info, or you get a -39 disk error, as other people have
reported. Not serious, but I hope it gets fixed, since it detracts from
the elegance of an otherwise ultra-spiffy utility.
James
domain: syap@tut.cc.rochester.edu
path: rochester!ur-tut!syap "Piano is my forte" (-:
GEnie: FITZWILLIAM
========================================================================jac@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jim Clausing) (05/25/88)
In article <440013@hpdstma.HP.COM> dave@hpdstma.HP.COM (Dave Waller) writes:
[...]
<Unfortunately, although the advantages of StuffIt are extensive, it has the
<chief disadvantage of making files unusable for those who don't have Stuffit
<to decompress the archives.
<
<Dave Waller
<[ucbvax!]hplabs!hpdstma!dave
Well this problem is actually being taken care of. I recently saw
some stuff on GEnie called AutoUnStuffIt (or something close to that)
which turns your stuffit archive into an application that automatically
unpacks itself (adding about 15K to the size of the file). I haven't
used it and I haven't actually seen it used, but this would take care
of your objection.
--
Jim Clausing -- "Is it time for a colorful metaphor?"
CIS Department
Ohio State University jac@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Columbus, OH 43210 GEnie: J.CLAUSINGhallett@macbeth.steinmetz (Jeff A. Hallett) (05/26/88)
In article <440013@hpdstma.HP.COM> dave@hpdstma.HP.COM (Dave Waller) writes: > >Unfortunately, although the advantages of StuffIt are extensive, it has the >chief disadvantage of making files unusable for those who don't have Stuffit >to decompress the archives. > Yes, but any application you use to compress/encode files for uploading (even BinHex and Packit) suffer this "drawback". It is not a drawback, it is something that potential net or archive users must endure. In fact, Stuffit is better to have since it does Binhex and Packit as well as its own format. (Granted, there is a slight problem with Ray's UnBinHex code, but I'm sure he's well aware of it and working on it.) Hopefully as StuffIt becomes more popular (as it appears it is), it will become as widely available as BinHex and PackIt are. Jeffrey A. Hallett | ARPA: hallett@ge-crd.arpa Software Technology Program | UUCP: desdemona!hallett@steinmetz.uucp GE Corporate Research and Development | (518) 387-5654 +--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | "The past is just a fiction created to explain the discrepancy between | | my current state and my senses' perceptions." | | - The Ruler of the Universe | | "The Restaurant at the End | | of the Universe" | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+