franco@gprc.UUCP ( Franco Carlacci) (01/29/91)
I now have all the utilities that are needed to deal with .zoo and .zip files. My question is, what software do I need for files ending with the .arc suffix? I've noticed that a few files on simtel-20 have this suffix and I would like to know how to deal with these. please email and thanks in advance, franco n-- Franco Carlacci Grande Prairie Regional College ...!alberta!gprc!franco franco@cs.ualberta.ca
w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Keith Petersen) (02/01/91)
ALL ABOUT ARCHIVES, LZHS, ZIPS, ZOOS, LIBRARIES, and SQUEEZED FILES
Some of the files in the SIMTEL20 MS/PCDOS Software Libraries have
been transformed by using one or another of the standard public domain
utilities that either SQueezes, LiBRaries, ARChives, LZHs, ZIPs, or
ZOOs files.
This transformation is performed to compress the files to minimize
download time, and/or combine several related files into a single
easily-managed file. You cannot use or run any of these files without
first transforming them back to their original state.
These processed files are specially named with a file type (the last 3
letters of a file name after the '.') that signifies the transformation.
These are:
.ARC for files archived with PKPAK.EXE,
.LZH for files archived with LHARC.EXE,
.ZIP for files archived with PKZIP.EXE,
.ZOO for files archived with ZOO.EXE,
.LBR for files libraried with LU.EXE, and
.?Q? for squeezed files (middle letter is a Q).
ARC FILES
PKPAK is used to create and maintain file archives. An archive is a
group of files collected together into one file in such a way that the
individual files may be recovered intact. PKPAK will automatically
compress member files when adding them to the archive, and PKUNPAK
will expand them upon extraction. For files with the .ARC extension,
you must have a copy of file PD1:<MSDOS.ARC-LBR>PK361.EXE to extract
the component files. (PK361.EXE is a "self-extracting archive." When
you run this program, it will produce PKPAK, PKUNPAK and related
documentation). After you end up with a copy of PKUNPAK you can use
it to extract files. An example of using PKUNPAK to unpack an ARChive
"FILE.ARC" is:
"A>pkunpak file"
You do not need to supply the ARC file type when specifying "file."
LZH FILES
LHARC is used to create and maintain file archives. An archive is a
group of files collected together into one file in such a way that the
individual files may be recovered intact. LHARC will automatically
compress member files when adding them to the archive, and will expand
them upon extraction. For files with the .LZH extension, you must
have a copy of file PD1:<MSDOS.ARC-LBR>LH113C.EXE to extract the
component files. LH113C.EXE is a "self-extracting archive." When
you run this program, it will produce LHARC and related documentation.
After you end up with a copy of LHARC you can use it to extract files.
An example of using LHARC to unpack an LZH archive "FILE.LZH" is:
"A>lharc e file"
You do not need to supply the LZH file type when specifying "file."
ZIP FILES
PKZIP is used to create and maintain file archives. An archive is a
group of files collected together into one file in such a way that the
individual files may be recovered intact. PKZIP will automatically
compress member files when adding them to the archive, and PKUNZIP
will expand them upon extraction. For files with the .ZIP extension,
you must have a copy of file PD1:<MSDOS.ZIP>PKZ110EU.EXE to extract the
component files. (PKZ110EU.EXE is a "self-extracting archive." When
you run this program, it will produce PKZIP, PKUNZIP and related
documentation). After you end up with a copy of PKUNZIP you can use
it to extract files. An example of using PKUNZIP to unpack an archive
"FILE.ZIP" is:
"A>pkunzip file"
You do not need to supply the ZIP file type when specifying "file."
ZOO FILES
ZOO.EXE is an archiving program that is similar to PKPAK, but
non-compatible. ZOO can produce archives with long pathnames in them
(directory names as well as the file name) and it can store comments
about each file. If you want to take apart a ZOO archive, you will
need a copy of ZOO.EXE. Since it is a program in development, it's
hard to say what its file name will be when you read this, but
searching for ZOO*.* should turn up the correct file. When this
article was written the current version of ZOO was ZOO201.EXE, which
may be found in the PD1:<MSDOS.ZOO> directory. The zoo syntax for
file extraction is:
"A>zoo e file"
You do not need to supply the ZOO file type when specifying "file."
LBR FILES
LU and its relatives (LUP, LUU, LUE, LUT, LU86, LAR etc.), maintain
libraries of files. Most LU-type programs do not perform any
compression. Because of this, most people will squeeze files before
adding them to a library if they want to save space. If you want to
remove the component files from an .LBR file, you should have a copy
of file PD1:<MSDOS.STARTER>LUE220.COM. This will break up the library
into its component parts, and optionally unsqueeze any .?Q? files at
the same time. The syntax for LUE would be:
"A>lue220 file"
where file was really FILE.LBR.
LUU.COM can be used to create a .LBR file.
SQUEEZED FILES
NUSQ.COM is used to unsqueeze, or expand files that have a "Q" as the
middle letter of the file type. Such files have been squeezed, or
compressed with SQPC.COM or something similar. These programs use
Huffman Encoding to reduce the size of the target file. Depending on
the distribution of data in a file it can be reduced in size by 5% to
60% by squeezing it. If you download a file with a file type
indicating that it is squeezed, you will need file
PD1:<MSDOS.STARTER>NUSQ110.COM to expand it before you can use it.
The syntax to unsqueeze a file would be:
"A>nusq110 file.tqt"
where file.tqt was the file you wanted to unsqueeze. You must supply
the full file name and type.
MORE INFORMATION
For more information on ARChives, see the documentation for
PKPAK/PKUNPAK which is included in the PK361.EXE file. For more
information on LHZ archives, see the documentation for LHARC which is
included in the LH113C.EXE file. For more information on ZIP
archives, see the documentation for PKZIP/PKUNZUP which is included in
the PKZ110EU.EXE file. For ZOO archives, see Rahul Dhesi's excellent
documentation included in ZOO201.EXE and UGUIDE.ZOO. The doc files
included with the various LU utilities will explain .LBR's, and
LUDEF5.DOC explains the layout of these files in detail.
-- Keith Petersen <w8sdz@WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil>Greg.Smith@p11.f477.n104.z1.METRONET.ORG (Greg Smith) (02/02/91)
To: w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Keith Petersen)
KP> ALL ABOUT ARCHIVES, LZHS, ZIPS, ZOOS, LIBRARIES, and SQUEEZED FILES
KP> .ARC for files archived with PKPAK.EXE,
KP> .LZH for files archived with LHARC.EXE,
KP> .ZIP for files archived with PKZIP.EXE,
KP> .ZOO for files archived with ZOO.EXE,
KP> .LBR for files libraried with LU.EXE, and
KP> .?Q? for squeezed files (middle letter is a Q).
I'd add ARJ to this list now, as it's a relatively new compression much better than ZIP or LZH. As it is written in ANSI C I would suspect that it will show up on almost every type of computer / OS.
Greg.Smith@bohemia.metronet.org
--- XRS! 4.00DV
* Origin: Reading this is pointless. (Quick 1:104/477.11)
--
=============================================================================
Greg Smith - via MetroNet node 200:5000/301
The Bohemia BBS System, Boulder Colorado (303)449-8946
UUCP: Greg.Smith@p11.f477.n104.z1.METRONET.ORG
or : ...!boulder!bohemia.METRONET.ORG!1!104!477.11!Greg.Smith
=============================================================================tcs@mailer.jhuapl.edu (Carl Schelin) (02/04/91)
In article <16.27AA8573@bohemia.metronet.org>, Greg.Smith@p11.f477.n104.z1.METRONET.ORG (Greg Smith) says: >To: w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Keith Petersen) > >I'd add ARJ to this list now, as it's a relatively new compression much better (continued from previous line) than ZIP or LZH. As it is written in ANSI C I (continued from previous line) would suspect > > Greg.Smith@bohemia.metronet.org > Yo Greg, I tried sending you a message but either you never got it (judging by the posts) or you choose to ignore. Unfortunately, some of us don't have a news reader that will wrap long lines. What you see above is all that I received from my mail server through this reader. I surely would like to know more about the .ARJ type of compression, but I didn't get all of your post. So, if you could do the small (?) minority of us a favor and use your <enter> key when entering mail, we'd appreciate it. Thanks, Carl Schelin Comments: tcs@mailer.jhuapl.edu Flames: > Nul
Greg.Smith@p11.f477.n104.z1.METRONET.ORG (Greg Smith) (02/08/91)
In a message to All <05 Feb 91 04:43> Carl Schelin wrote:
CS> Yo Greg, I tried sending you a message
CS> but either you never got it (judging
CS> by the posts) or you choose to ignore.
Never got it. 99% of the net mail directly to me it being lost right
now. Try sending it to the "from" address at the beginning of the
message and see if that makes a differance.
CS> Unfortunately, some of us don't have a news reader that will wrap long
CS> lines. What you see above is all that I
Okay, I'm operating from a BBS, so I figured UFGATE changed the format
for me. I'll use CR's on UseNet now.
CS> I surely would like to know more about the .ARJ type of compression, but CS> I didn't get all of your post.
Okay. ARJ is a new type of comression which is much better than ZIP or
LZH(1.13). It is written in ANSI C, so it should be portable to just
about any decent computer. ARJ also has more features that PkZip does.
ARJ 0.20-Beta is the latest release I've seen out for IBM's, but 1.00 is
supposed to be out soon, and much faster.
Also, there is a new LZH. The archiver has changed from LhArc to LH. It
gives about the equivilent compression of ARJ, but has fewer options. The
latest version I've seen is 2.05 Beta with the Japanese help screens still
in place. Hope that helps.
Greg Smith
--- XRS! 4.00DV
* Origin: Reading this is pointless. (Quick 1:104/477.11)
--
=============================================================================
Greg Smith - via MetroNet node 200:5000/301
The Bohemia BBS System, Boulder Colorado (303)449-8946
UUCP: Greg.Smith@p11.f477.n104.z1.METRONET.ORG
or : ...!boulder!bohemia.METRONET.ORG!1!104!477.11!Greg.Smith
=============================================================================