alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Alex Pournelle) (03/28/90)
This question was sparked by the recent mention of SpInside Mac being a 16-18 Mbyte stack 'n' even stuffed & hexed it isn't exactly SMALL... On the PC, we have the very wonderful PK-ZIP, with some pretty darn amazin' compression algorithms. On the Mac, we've StuffIt (Ray--you're great--don't ever change--I can't stand overachievers--they make me feel real real old) which doesn't do anywhere near the job of compression, and is of course incompatible with Zip. Does anyone know if SIT ][ ;-} will have a larger compression ratio? Admittedly, Phil Katz has had a few years to practice, but PKZip's compression and speed are completely unmatched on the Mac. Oh, yeah, it'd be nice if the two could agree on a common format, or have one tool on both (yes, I know there are many other programs out there--do YOU use any of them regularly? Pherhaps you do--and so do you--but most peeps use SIT and PKZIP.) Comments? Alex
kellogg@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu (03/29/90)
alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Alex Pournelle) said, in part... [...] >Oh, yeah, it'd be nice if the two could agree on a common format, or >have one tool on both (yes, I know there are many other programs out >there--do YOU use any of them regularly? Pherhaps you do--and so do >you--but most peeps use SIT and PKZIP.) > >Comments? > > Alex StuffIt 2.0 will be able to UnZip files, as well as being able to decompress .arc files. The compression routines are rumored to be much better than in previous versions of StuffIt. I'm assuming they will compare favorably with the compression routines used in PKZip. Altogether, it should end up being quite a bit more useful than PKZip, especially when you consider the difference in interfaces. Besides, last I knew, Katz had no plans to (a) handle StuffIt files in some future release of PKZip, and (b) to release a Mac version of Zip. My only gripe is that StuffIt 2.0 isn't out yet... It would be nice if they would simply agree on a common format, but I don't see that happening - it would have to handle MacBinary style enconding, something that most IBM users have no use for. Still, some one should suggest it to either Phil or Ray... Lars kellogg@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu
mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Michael Thomas Niehaus) (03/29/90)
I just finished an application called MacBooz that handles Zoo files
(from the Amiga/DOS/Unix/VMS worlds). This application is built around
a basic object-oriented framework that allows me to drop in other
archive file formats without having to recode the entire application.
So, right now I am working on adding formats to it. I have completed
the Zoo work (except for adding, which I don't plan on adding for a while).
I have the specifications for the following formats:
Zip
Stuffit
Packit
I hope to add these to the program as well. (If anyone knows of any other
formats that would be useful, or has any information on these formats
that may be useful, please send me mail.) Due to time limitations (I
am finishing my last semester in college) I will not be able to complete
this until sometime this summer (assuming no major problems develop).
Also, pointers to currently existing source would be appreciated.
-Michael
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Ball State University AppleLink: ST0374 (from UUCP: st0374@applelink.apple.com)d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon Watte) (03/29/90)
In article <1990Mar28.093943.537@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us> alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Alex Pournelle) writes: >have one tool on both (yes, I know there are many other programs out >Comments? Diamond. A free demo ex was posted, and it's great. h+ -- --- Stay alert ! - Trust no one ! - Keep your laser handy ! --- h+@nada.kth.se == h+@proxxi.se == Jon Watte longer .sig available on request