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From: craiga@phred.UUCP (Craig Arno  TE N9)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: PKARC
Message-ID: <1602@phred.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-Jul-87 14:01:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: phred.1602
Posted: Mon Jul 13 14:01:54 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 16-Jul-87 03:28:38 EDT
References: <1589@phred.UUCP> <1924@oliveb.UUCP>
Organization: Physio Control Corp., Seattle WA
Lines: 79
Summary: More on Squashing...



In article <1924@oliveb.UUCP> dragon@oliveb.UUCP (Give me a quarter or I'll
touch you) writes:
>in article <1589@phred.UUCP>, craiga@phred.UUCP (Craig Arno  TE N9) says:
>>
>> squashed entry, I rename to a .PKA extension (Phil Katz Arc).  I would
>> tend to stay away from .ARK extensions because Bob Freed is working on
>> a CP/M version of Arc that he will call NOAH that produces *.ARK files.
>> Bob chose the .ARK extension to point out the fact that the archive was
>> created on a CP/M system instead of MSDOS.  The resulting .ARK file is
>> supposed to otherwise be compatible with the MSDOS versions of ARC.
>>
>
>A point I don't understand:  If the resultant ARC file is compatible with
>the MS-DOS ARC files (especially the SEA ones) why bother giving then a
>different extension?  I mean, ARC files created on any other computer (VAX,
>Atari, Commodore, Amiga, and I know of people working on Mac versions)
>still have the same extension--ARC.  Since all these files are compatible,
>there isn't a reason to change the extension.


During the brief time that I exchanged e-mail with Bob Freed, I got the
impression that he wanted to be cautious and provide a way to track down
compatibility problems, so the default extension on his CP/M archive files
are .ARK.  He also liked the "SQUASHING" algorithm so I would guess that
may have been included also.  I won't argue with him, it's his program. 8-<)

I am very happy with the performance of SEA's ARC, Phil Katz's PKARC,
Bob Freed's CP/M UnArc, and the version of Unix ARC that ended up here
(I don't know who but thanks).

An interesting difference in philosophy between the MSDOS arc's and Bob
Freed's CP/M versions;  Bob Freed does not ask for money of any sort, and he
has provided full Z80 M80/Z80ASM source for version 15 (He is up to
version 16 now) of his UnArc program.  I have looked briefly through
the 124K of Z80 source and see that he has code for UnSQUASHING.  If you
are interested in this source, please send a polite note with your mailing
address.  If there are too many notes, I'll try to post it (To a CP/M group).

My communication with Bob Freed was not through the UUCP Net, so I do not
have an electronic mailing address for any further questions.

This information came from the PKARC documentation, they might appreciate
a **polite and positive** phone call.  Mr. Wettstein in article 5441 said
he will be calling for information on the SQUASHing algorithm, so you might
wait and see what he comes up with.

>If you have any questions or comments about PKARC send them to Phil
>Katz at:
>
>RBBS-PC of FARGO, Loren Jones SYSOP
>Fargo, North Dakota
>701-293-5973
>300/1200/2400 baud, 24 hours a day
>
>or
>
>Exec-PC IBM BBS, Bob Mahoney SYSOP
>Shorewood, Wisconsin
>414-964-5160
>300/1200/2400 baud, 24 hours a day

If there is a CP/M ARC (NOAH) program available, could someone send me
a UUEncoded version of it?  (Thanks in advance)

While I'm at it, I'm also looking for Microsoft C 4.0 compatible source
for the UUDecode and UUEncode utilities.  Again, if you have a PD version
of this, I would be most grateful for an e-mailed copy.  (Thanks in advance)

After the last flame, I feel a disclaimer is in order:
==============================================================================
- Physio Control is in no way responsible for any of my messages.
- Flames can be sent to /dev/null
- I am not associated with any of the ARC efforts, I merely suggested a change
  to the CP/M UnArc program that is included in versions 15 and higher.
- I am new to the net, and not yet comfortable with it.  Your tolerance 
  is appreciated.
- Just recently found out: Use "uupath" for the best route to "phred"