clubmac@runx.ips.oz (Macintosh Users Group) (12/04/87)
Why is everything posted to comp.binaries.mac uncompressed? It would seem
reasonable to me that using StuffIt to compress everything would enable
more stuff to be posted without increasing the share of the bandwidth.
For example, the technotes could be compressed by around 40%.
Jason Haines
Club Mac Macintosh Users Group, Sydney, Australia
Phone Home: +61-2-73-4444
Snail: Box 213, Holme Building, Sydney University, NSW, 2006, Australia
ACSnet: clubmac@runx.ips.oz ARPA: clubmac%runx.ips.oz@uunet.css.gov
UUCP:{enea,hplabs,mcvax,prlb2,uunet,ubc-vision,ukc}!munnari!runx.ips.oz!clubmacdillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (12/06/87)
>Why is everything posted to comp.binaries.mac uncompressed? It would seem >reasonable to me that using StuffIt to compress everything would enable >more stuff to be posted without increasing the share of the bandwidth. > >For example, the technotes could be compressed by around 40%. > >Jason Haines Major USENET nodes already compress data for the transfer. Since you cannot send raw binary data over the usenet, you would need to make an ascii encoding. It is better to let the USENET nodes do the compression on an ascii encoding of an uncompressed file rather than on the ascii encoding of a compressed file. -Matt
chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (12/06/87)
>>Why is everything posted to comp.binaries.mac uncompressed? It would seem >>reasonable to me that using StuffIt to compress everything would enable >>more stuff to be posted without increasing the share of the bandwidth. > Major USENET nodes already compress data for the transfer. > Since you cannot send raw binary data over the usenet, you would >need to make an ascii encoding. Not true. What you do is use StuffIt before you binhex it, making the resulting hqx file significantly smaller. Even if it reduces the amount of compression done at the transfer layer by USENET (and it would be interesting to see what would happen....) the stuffed and hexed file still has many advantages, not the least of which is a significantly reduced download time. So stuffing it before posting it saves not only during USENET transfers but during downloads, where relying on the USENET compression only buys a gain when the file gets slogged around the network. chuq --- Chuq "Fixed in 4.0" Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ
mcnabb@uiucdcsb.cs.uiuc.edu (12/09/87)
>>> Why is everything posted to comp.binaries.mac uncompressed? >>> ... using StuffIt to compress everything would enable more >>> stuff to be posted without increasing the share of the bandwidth. >> ... use StuffIt before you binhex it, making the resulting hqx file >> significantly smaller. ... stuffing before posting saves not only >> during USENET transfers but during downloads, ... > orig file .hqx .hqx.Z > Orig packit posting 154194 203165 92921 > Stuffit of posting 66066 90012 81801 > > the .hqx of the stuffit version is shorter than the compressed .hqx > of the original! [technote #176, 4 files put together with packit] I'm convinced that StuffIt is the way to go, but my copy crashes when I try to run it on or with RamDisk+ v1.2 (Mac+, F/5.3, S/3.2, cache off). Anyone else have this problem? David McNabb USENET: ...!{cmcl2,seismo,ihnp4}!uiucdcs!mcnabb ARPA: mcnabb@a.cs.uiuc.edu
stuart@ihlpf.ATT.COM (S. D. Ericson) (12/10/87)
In article <164500071@uiucdcsb>, mcnabb@uiucdcsb.cs.uiuc.edu writes: > I'm convinced that StuffIt is the way to go, but my copy crashes when > I try to run it on or with RamDisk+ v1.2 (Mac+, F/5.3, S/3.2, cache off). > Anyone else have this problem? Yes - StuffIt crashes whenever I have Ramstart 1.3 running. Maybe it does weird memory allocation, or accesses the disk (oops, ramdisk! :-) in a strange way... > David McNabb > USENET: ...!{cmcl2,seismo,ihnp4}!uiucdcs!mcnabb > ARPA: mcnabb@a.cs.uiuc.edu Stu -- Stuart Ericson USnail: AT&T Bell Laboratories USENET: ...!ihnp4!ihlpf!stuart IH 6M-313 voice: (312) 979-4152 Naperville-Wheaton Rd. Naperville, Il 60566
thomas%spline.utah.edu.uucp@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas) (01/21/88)
Well, I gave it a try. Nothing like the old experimental approach. I
chose the technote #176 file, since it was nice and big. The original
posting contained four files, put together with packit. Here are the
numbers.
orig file .hqx .hqx.Z
Original posting (packited) 154194 203165 92921
Stuffit of posting 66066 90012 81801
Note that the .hqx of the stuffit version is shorter than the
compressed .hqx of the original! You don't gain much by compressing
the .hqx of the stuffit file, though.
(Stuffit used LZW compression throughout.)
=Spencer ({ihnp4,decvax}!utah-cs!thomas, thomas@cs.utah.edu)