kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Phillip Rzewski) (03/25/91)
I'm sure this newsgroup is intended to have more useful purposes than
this, but I have decided to post a question to the group anyway because it is
something I have been curious about for a long time. What is currently the
best compression/decompression package that is available for most (if not all)
Unix machines and smaller machines like PCs/Macs/Amigas as well? I've seen it
change over the past few years and I have been very out of touch with
compression and decompression packages as of late.
My search for such packages began a while back when I was trying to find a
decent package for our 3B2 machines. All we had was Unix compression/tar, zoo,
and arc. I like a compressed tar as much as the next guy, but if I give it to
my friend with an IBM PS/2 model 30 there's not a chance he can undo it on his
machine. Zoo seemed ok, but it was slow, not that compressed, and a pain in
the butt to include directories on. Arc was just blah. I wanted to her Lharc,
but the package I tried was only designed to work on BSD and SunOS machines.
Now I hear something of a new package called Lhice. Does anyone have any
thoughts on it?... as I have not seen it at all. If anyone knows of good
packages that will run on a 3B2 (SysV) could you supply an FTP address where I
might find such things?
Thanks!
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ -Phil Andrew Haldryan Rzewski Internet: kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu +
+ "I fileted them and ate them." Bitnet: USERF3DK@RPITSMTS.BITNET +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++mtpins@icaen.uiowa.edu (Michael T Pins) (03/25/91)
kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Phillip Rzewski) writes: > I'm sure this newsgroup is intended to have more useful purposes than >this, but I have decided to post a question to the group anyway because it is >something I have been curious about for a long time. What is currently the >best compression/decompression package that is available for most (if not all) >Unix machines and smaller machines like PCs/Macs/Amigas as well? I've seen it >change over the past few years and I have been very out of touch with >compression and decompression packages as of late. My compresser of choice is LHarc. It gives very tight compression, and is available for Unix, Amigas, and PClones (I don't know what's out for the Mac). The only drawback of LHarc is that it is slow. Both Zoo and Arc are also available for Unix, Amigas, and PClones, but neither compresses nearly as well as LHarc. Firestar -- ***************************************************************************** * Michael Pins (Firestar) | Internet: mtpins@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu * * ISCA's Amiga Librarian | #include <std.disclaimer> * *****************************************************************************
chuangss@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Shyne Song Chuang) (03/25/91)
In article <xf5f3=c@rpi.edu> kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Phillip Rzewski) writes: >the butt to include directories on. Arc was just blah. I wanted to her Lharc, >but the package I tried was only designed to work on BSD and SunOS machines. >Now I hear something of a new package called Lhice. Does anyone have any >thoughts on it?... as I have not seen it at all. If anyone knows of good Hi there, The Lhice program you mentioned has recently been replaced by a new version featuring even more powerful compression techniques. Lhice has been replaced by Lha, a program written by the same Japanese author. I'm not sure if it's available for different computers but the IBM version was released last month in February (end of it). Do any of you out there know if we can get copied of Lha and PKzip 1.1 for UNIX? They work great on the PC and I think they are better than the UNIX compress... No flames please, I'm not sure! Thanks! Kevin Chuang
madler@pooh.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) (03/25/91)
A public domain Zip is being polished off (by me and some others) and will be out Real Soon Now. It works on Unix, MSDOS, and VMS, with the intent of eventually having it work on VM/CMS and Mac's. It is fully compatible with PKZIP on PC's, and includes the implode method, which is considerably better than LZW (a variant of which is the shrink method, which is also tried by PKZIP and our Zip). Implode right now is only somewhat faster than LHARC, and provides about the same compression. However, a new string matcher currently being worked on will considerably speed up implode. Mark Adler madler@pooh.caltech.edu
rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) (03/26/91)
In article <NVxHUKy.669866265@l_eld09.icaen.uiowa.edu> mtpins@icaen.uiowa.edu (Michael T Pins) writes: >My compresser of choice is LHarc. It gives very tight compression, and is >available for Unix, Amigas, and PClones (I don't know what's out for the Mac). >The only drawback of LHarc is that it is slow. Both Zoo and Arc are also >available for Unix, Amigas, and PClones, but neither compresses nearly as >well as LHarc. The new LHARC is out for the PC, version 2.11, and it is quite amazing. It is about as fast as PKZIP (although still slightly slower), but has much better compression, usually on the order of %20-%10 percent on typical files I've compressed with it. In addition, it should be available soon on other systems.
mcastle@mcs213e.cs.umr.edu (Mike Castle {Nexus}) (03/27/91)
In article <1991Mar25.022314.28838@en.ecn.purdue.edu> chuangss@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Shyne Song Chuang) writes: >The Lhice program you mentioned has recently been replaced by a new version >featuring even more powerful compression techniques. Lhice has been replaced >by Lha, a program written by the same Japanese author. I'm not sure if it's >available for different computers but the IBM version was released last month >in February (end of it). The 'ICE' version of LHARC was a FRAUD, an UNAUTHORIZED hack of lharc 1.13. All that is _known_ about the hack was replacing lzh file extension with the ice extension. I just recently posted a file to one of the groups comp.os.msdos.{misc,apps} (at least, I *think* those groups) that was a series of discussion taken from compuserve concerning this hack. The file can be found on simtel-20 et al in PD1:<MSDOS.ARC-LBR> as the file LH-FRAUD.ARC. If you are using this hacked version, please get this file and read it. -- Mike Castle (Nexus) S087891@UMRVMA.UMR.EDU (preferred) | XEDIT: Emacs mcastle@mcs213k.cs.umr.edu (unix mail-YEACH!)| on a REAL Life is like a clock: You can work constantly, and be right | operating all the time, or not work at all, and be right twice a day. | system. :->
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (03/27/91)
In article <1991Mar25.151410.23798@nntp-server.caltech.edu> madler@pooh.caltech.edu (Mark Adler) writes: | Implode right now | is only somewhat faster than LHARC, and provides about the same | compression. However, a new string matcher currently being worked | on will considerably speed up implode. Mark and I have discussed this in the zip digest, suffice it to say that my measurements of the UNIX versions of public zip and lharc 1.00 as posted by me to the alt.sources group a few months ago is that lharc is faster by about 2:1 for text and 5:1 for (compressible) binary, while giving very slightly smaller files. After the new string matcher is in we will probably agree on a set of test files and machines and run the tests again. My tests are almost all done on either Xenix or Sun4. I doubt that this means either of us are wrong, but we are getting different results and your results may vary. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
rcotl@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Tim Liddelow [The Mad Monk]) (03/27/91)
mtpins@icaen.uiowa.edu (Michael T Pins) writes: >kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Phillip Rzewski) writes: >> [ deleted ] >My compresser of choice is LHarc. It gives very tight compression, and is >available for Unix, Amigas, and PClones (I don't know what's out for the Mac). >The only drawback of LHarc is that it is slow. Both Zoo and Arc are also >available for Unix, Amigas, and PClones, but neither compresses nearly as >well as LHarc. Exactly. And the great thing about having lharc on a mainframe unix box is that the I/O deosn't slow lharc down, as one the PC. Of course, it is the best compressor out of the lot. Still, if someone wrote a PKZIP implementation for UNIX, I'd use that :-) -- ! Tim Liddelow | <insert standard disclaimer> ! ! Computer Science & Com Eng | Jordan to Paxson...Paxson assists ! ! Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology | Pippen..JAM.."Scottie Piipppeenn!"! +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+