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TCP InfoDocs ------------------- #1 Texas' Archiver Bible..&[PUBLIC].....Info on over 20 Archivers/compressors #2 DTXT2.TXT..............&[INTERNAL]...20MNN System Guide #3 CDMDDCC.HUH.............[PUBLIC].....Info on sound media formats #4 SPAMHIS.TXT............&[PUBLIC].....The History of SPAM! #5 PRODIGY.TXT............&[PUBLIC].....Information on the Prodigy Service #6 SYSOPN.TXT.............&[INTERNAL]...NorthNet Sysop Briefing #7 REALSYS.TXT............&[PUBLIC].....You're a REAL sysop if... #8 ASK!!!..................[PRIVATE]....If you should, you already do! #9 In Progress.............[PUBLIC].....BBS Software: Facts and Opinions #10 Future.................[PUBLIC].....TCP's Top 50 Shareware Reviews &= Denotes an update in the last 60 days DO NOT ALTER THIS DOCUMENT! Texas Chainsaw Programmer's Archiver/Packer Bible Rev. 06/23/93 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This document describes the most popular type of archivers and packers, programs which are absolutely necessary to any SysOp or modem user. Archivers and packers merge a group of files into one compressed file, or simply compress one file into a smaller one. These are used extensively on BBS systems, to conserve downloading time and hard drive space. Copyrights mentioned within this document are respected. Results are based on tests conducted independently, and may not represent the total efficiency of all programs in all applications. Tests are based on a general-use application using the most recent version available at the time of testing. Program in order of compression factor (efficiency in most applications) IBM ARCHIVERS ------------- [MOST COMMON/POPULAR ARCHIVERS] Archiver File Extension Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PKZip (2.04g)('93) .ZIP <- More improvements, more efficient. | PKZip | (2.04e)('93) .ZIP <- Fixes some of 2.04c's EMS problems. | PKZip .ZIP <- Excellent in everything! (2.04c)('93) | | PKUNZJR .ZIP <- A small version of PKUNZIP (Comes w/ 2.04) | | PKZip .ZIP <- Definitely the most popular format by far. (1.93)('91) | It's easy to use, extremely fast and | popular. Better than ARJ sometimes, worse | at others. It depends on what you're using |_______ this program with. 95% These are the top |of the files on most of BBS's use this rated archivers. |format. It has a repair utility for damaged When speed, ease |archives, which is extremely useful. BEWARE! of use, popularity|There are several hacked versions of this and compression |out there. PKZIP versions 1.20 and 2.0x are considered, |are hacked, and not compatible with others. they all come out |I'll update soon. about equal.______| | Arj | (2.41)('93) | Increased efficiency, but not by that | much over 2.30. Still, Arj is competing | well with PKZip. Excellent program. | Arj .ARJ <- Arj version 2.30 has a better compression (2.30)('93) | rate than Arj 2.20 (below), but has lost | it's place as the most efficient archiver, | being superceded by PkZip release 2.04c/e/g. | Arj .ARJ <- Arj is one of the most efficient archivers, (2.20)('91) | and has a reasonable command line interface. | It's not one of the fastest, but it is, by | far, one of the most effective. | 3rd in popularity. | | LhArc .LZH/.LHA<- A very efficient archiver, slightly archaic (2.13)('91) interface, and moderately slow. 2nd in popularity. Addendum: The command line is really starting to bother me! Another Addendum: The command line is REALLY REALLY starting to bother me!! Hyper .HYP Excellent program- Nearly the speed of (1.00)('92) PKZip and compression comparable to LhArc. 8th in popularity PAK 2.51 .PAK Decent compression, but not quite as good as the above three. PAK is slow, outdated, and not very popular. It has a command line similar to ARJ, LhArc, and ARC. 6th in popularity PKArc (New) .ARC OK compression, good speed, and medium popularity. This is the new version of the now dated .ARC program, and it has improved compression and better speed. 5th in popularity PKArc/Arc6.01 .ARC Not compatible with the new ARC, is slower, (Old) less efficient, yet more popular. 4th in popularity (If using PKArc- Arc 6.01 is slower.) Note: Arc may be made by/uncompressed by ARCE or MKSARC- MKSARC is an SFX which is not compatible with ARCE (arc 6.01) or PKArc Zoo .ZOO Slow, not very efficient, not popular, and hard to find. In my view, the worst of them all. It's an old, outdated program, but, surprisingly, it is still used here and there. (I even saw a BBS where it was standard!) 7th in popularity [OTHER/LESS COMMON ARCHIVERS] LHICE .ICE The "new" version of LhArc.. Similar (1.14)('89) performance to LhArc, but faster. It also has the same features. It's not that popular- I've only seen it in Wolf 3d (Packaged software..) NOTE: LHIce does NOT replace LHArc. They are two separate programs, although LHIce has some utils to work with and is able to unarc LHArc files, it does in NO WAY replace LHArc. For example, LHIce 1.14, written in 1989, deflates a 1mb .VOC file to 920k in 1min33secs, whereas LHArc 2.13, written in 1991 will do it to 916k in 1min42secs. The two programs are similar in performance, and that is the only similarity. ICE is better for some, whereas LHA is better for others. AR7 .AR7 Quite a "lame" little archiver- It calls itself "emailable".. But I don't know. It's SLOW- You can't use wildcards in the command line- you have to put it in one file at a time.. It doesn't really compress much, either. (AR7 produces 7-bit ascii text files- this can be useful, but the program itself isn't that great.) HPack .HPK An excellent system. Great command line, "wonderful" compression, quite fast. It's performance can be compared to that of the LhArc/Ice family and ARJ. It's also multi-system compatible, like LhArc, offering MS-DOS, OS/2, Unix, Apple II, and MAC versions. LArc .LZS A pretty decent system. What is unique (3.33)('89) about LArc is that it is not run by command line, but has it's own built in shell. (Simple, but effective.) Compression is good, and speed an comparable to LZH and ARJ. HAP&PAH .HAP Quite an excellent program. At times, it (3.00) will compress better than ARJ and ZIP. The program itself is extremely small, and is said to be able to fit into "The 8k cache of the 486 chip." 2 files, one for extraction one for compression. Problems: Extremely slow (On my 386dx-25) and requires a 286+. HA .HA -See universal archivers (GUS) DWC .DWC The compression is moderate, similar to (5.01) something like .ZOO or .PAK. - In my test, using PKZIP 1.93A as a baseline, DWC's score was an OK, but not great 140k (zip) vs 170k (dwc).. LU/LAR .LBR Vernon Buerg has a system that deals with .LBR files.. With his system, the compression ratio is minimal, if any.. (350 to 230pkzip) It's also pretty slow, but useful in a few ways. Archaic, since it has a separate file and doc for each command. SqueezeIt .SQZ Swedish, I think... It compressed very well, (1.08.3) comparable to those in the zip/arc/lha group. It's kinda slow, but can make SFX's and is pretty versatile. Try to get the version with the english docs.. Oh yeah- it also includes a tech doc, and they say they'll have os/2, windows, unix, amiga, mac, and apple versions soon. Compress .??Z I don't have much info on this one- it (430D) doesn't compress that well, but has some other perks, such as sending over nets and unix, etc.. I'll work on this one. --Generic Archivers-- There are many custom-made, obscure archivers available. However, I would not recommend these, since they are not very realiable or safe. --Shells-- There are many archiver shells available. These are menu systems which help you manage your many archiving systems. (Most people have quite a few.) Very helpful. One is called SHEZ. --Renamed Files-- Some extensions have been renamed for custom use. A few I know are: SDA=PAK DSI=HYP ARK=ARC PCK=PAK OOZ=ZOO LHA=LZH ZIP may not always represent PKZip. This is rare, but I have seen it quite a number of times. (These may vary from area to area.) --Self Extracting Archives-- Some archivers offer the power to create (SFX's) .EXE (.SEA on self extracting (.EXE file) archives. With LHArc SFX MAC.) these, you don't need the archiver program to unpack them. LhArc is good for this. it's SFX system is very efficient. Many other archivers (most popular ones) do SFX's also, such as ARJ. --Universal packers/archivers-- Some programs are available that can deal with many archive formats. One example is GUS, which can work with LZH,ZIP,ARJ,ARC, HPK,HYP,HAP,HA,DWC, and SQZ - maybe more. Another example is POLYARC. --Executable Compressors-- -LZEXE .EXE LZEXE is a french program which compresses (Version 0.91) .EXE files, yet still allows them to be executed. LZEXE works quite well with most .EXE files, and reduces their size quite considerably. However, LZEXE should not be used and will not work with Microsoft Windows .EXE's, and will only work with .COM programs when they are converted by the utility included with the software. The compressed .EXE files can be uncompressed with a separate utility. From what I can see, LZEXE is relatively safe, but I'd General description on what be careful since it is foreign, and it has LZEXE does applies to other not been put to great use within the US and .EXE archivers as well. Canada. (Try PKLite- See below) The difference between self-extracting archives and programs like LZEXE is that LZEXE's can actually be run, over and over, keeping the same size - they are only one file, executable, but made smaller. Self- extracting archives are the same as all other archives, except that they unpack themselves when the program is run. The archive may contain many files, and is not an actual executable program (the .EXE file.) PKLite Another .EXE compressor. Works quite well- (1.15) I have more faith in this one than LZExe, since it's from PKWare. Pretty good utils. Compack Competitive with LZExe and PKLite, but not (1.4) as efficient as PKLite. Slow. TinyProg .EXE/.COM Compressor. 3rd party, pretty efficient and small, not as efficient as LZEXE, PKLite, or Compack. Pretty slow. Diet .EXE/.COM Compressor. More popular than (1.44) TinyProg and Compack, but not as efficient. Moderate speed. Diet will also compress normal files, but will not put them all into one archive. --Portable Platforms, etc..-- There are programs available to deal with archives on foreign platforms on your computer, such as .ZIP on a MAC, and .SHK on a PC. --Text-File compressors-- Text file compressors compress text files to smaller sizes for E-mail, etc.. FlySpeed Flyspeed compresses text files to as little as 30% their original size. Fast and efficient. --Encoders/Decoders-- Allows files with any character set to be used on another platform, sent over nets, etc. Converts files into a normal, standard character set, which could, for example, be sent over the internet, and then decoded. Encoders/Decoders do not compress files. UUENCODE/UUDECODE .UUE UUencode/Decode file XXENCODE/XXDECODE .XXD Another format.. --Multi-archiver compressors-- These programs make use of existing archivers to make the smallest archive possible. (They use a combination of zoo, lzh, and zip for example.) Crunch Easy to use, menu driven, automatically (1.0) detects what archivers are installed. --Archive Comments/Banners-- Certain programs and BBS packages allow you to add personalized messages to archives. This increases the archive size *slightly*, and is useful if you run a BBS or just want to keep your archives organized. --Hard Disk/Disk compressors-- These programs, such as SuperStor and Stacker, can double the size of your hard disk without decreasing speed or reliability. They can run you from $75-$200, but are well worth it. Dos 6.0's DoubleDisk works quite well, but there have been reports of problems with it. One problem with DoubleDisk is that once a disk is compressed, it can't be uncompressed. (it's not quite as efficient as others, either.) For an increased price, Stacker offers a hardware module which makes it even more efficient. They seem safe, but nothing's 100%.. Ask around. --Sound/Song/Sample compression-- Digital sound files may be able to be compressed if you find the right packer, but not very efficiently. .MOD (Amiga Module) files, .SAM/.SMP (.MOD Samples) .WAV (Windows 3.1), .SND (Mac), and .VOC (SoundBlaster) files usually cannot be compressed with an external program, since digital voice samples are contained within them. However, the program used to create the file (Such as Creative Labs' VoxKit) may offer a compression system within the program itself. .MID (MIDI), .ROL (AdLib), and .CMF (Soundblaster FM), can be compressed, since they are simply data files which call to preset synthesized voices in the sound card. .NST(Noisetracker) files themselves can be compressed, since they work in a similar way to .MID's and .CMF's, but you may have trouble working with their separate sample files. (.NST's are sort of a .CMF/.MOD hybrid, they call to external voices/samples like a .CMF, but use digitally sampled voices, like a .MOD file.) RECOMMENDED SOUND ARCHIVERS:LHArc, LHIce, ARJ,HPack,PK(Arc) --Graphics Packers/Compression-- Most graphics files are compressed in some ------------ way or another. .GIF is the most popular --Animators/Animation Files-- version, and is already compressed quite well. It cannot be compressed any further by normal archivers, but there are some packers available to pack them even futher. In a semi-related forum, several types of popular graphics files are .JPG, .TIF, .PIC, .PCX, .SS, .JAS, .MSP, .RLE, .BMP, .DIB, .MAC ,.HAM, .CGA, .SCR, .IMG,.GIF and .PNT. These files all require graphics viewers, such as CSHOW or PaintShop Pro. Animation files are denoted, in order of popularity, as:.GL (Grasprt Animator), .FLI (Autodesk Animator), .DL (Some italian program), and .ANI (Amiga). The following are used to "play" them. .FLI = AAPLAY.EXE .GL = GRASPRT.EXE .DL = DLVIEW.EXE/DL????.??? .ANI = PLAYANI.EXE These files usually cannot be compressed, or can only be compressed minimally. NOTE: DO NOT USE A .GIF PACKER ON NORMAL FILES. RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS ARCHIVERS:LHArc/Ice, ARJ .GIF packers available:GIFLite .RLE packers are also available. MACINTOSH ARCHIVERS ------------------- StuffIt .SIT One of the most popular MAC archivers. Available as StuffIt Classic and StuffIt Lite. HPack .HPK See IBM Archivers. Compact .??? Another MAC archiver/compressor.. Don't know too much about this one. .SEA Self-Extracting archive AMIGA ARCHIVERS --------------- LhArc .LZH/.LHA Pretty much the same specs as the IBM program. IBM/AMIGA files are interchangeable. APPLE ARCHIVERS (Outdated, just FYI.) --------------- Blu II BQY ?.BNY/.BQY/.BIN/.BLU Menu driven ProDos packer. 2nd in popularity ShrinkIt .SHK Excellent menu driven archiver/file manager. Most popular. PBH Packer .PBH OLD!. Not very popular, and not so efficient. (Circa 1982/3/4) THE OLDEST PACKER I'VE SEEN. THE FIRST??? BNY .BNY This might be an older version of BLU. HPack .HPK See IBM archivers. (Apple //GS) UNIX ARCHIVERS (There are a few, but since I'm not into UNIX, I only know one.) -------------- HPack .HPK See IBM archivers. OS/2 ARCHIVERS -------------- HPack .HPK See IBM archivers. MULTISYSTEM ARCHIVERS --------------------- HPack .HPK Mac, Apple//, Unix, OS/2, MS-DOS LHArc .LZH/.LHA MS-DOS, Amiga INDEX ------ AR7 ARC ARJ Blu 2 BQY BNY Compack Compact Compress Crunch DoubleDisk Diet DWC FlySpeed GifLite GUS HA HAP&PAH HPack Hyper LArc LHArc LHIce LU/LAR LZEXE PAK PBH PKArc PKLite PKUnzJr. PKZip PolyArc RLE Packers SEA SFX SHEZ ShrinkIt SqueezeIt Stacker StuffIt SuperStor TinyProg UUEncode/UUDecode XXEncode/XXDecode ZOO