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- ****************************************
- * DATA DIET DEMO *
- * Program by Keith Gerdes *
- * *
- * Copyright 1991 Double Click Software *
- * *
- * You may order Data Diet now for only *
- * $59.95 *
- * (Introductory offer expires 12/1/91) *
- * *
- * Call us at (713)977-6520 to order. *
- * Or send: *
- * $62.95 (in US) *
- * $64.95 (outside US no personal cks) *
- * (includes shipping and handling) *
- * *
- * Double Click Software *
- * PO BOX 741206 *
- * Houston, Texas 77274-1206 *
- ****************************************
-
- =================================================================
- The following is a brief excerpt from our DATA DIET manual. This
- will give you an idea on how to use the complete package.
-
- Data Diet Demo is configured to use drive C only. If you are
- using a floppy based system, you will need to setup a RAMdisk as
- drive C.
- =================================================================
-
- Welcome to Data Diet
-
- DC Data Diet is a unique product for the family of Atari TOS-
- based computers that will save you megabytes of disk space
- efficiently and silently using a seamless and transparent
- integration into GEMDOS.
-
- We have designed Data Diet to be as fast as possible, using a
- proprietary compression method which provides excellent
- compression at an astounding speed. In fact, speed was one of
- the most important factors behind Data Diet's design. Compared
- to similar programs on other platforms (Macintosh and IBM), Data
- Diet blows them away hands down! We are certain you will be
- equally thrilled by the substantial data storage savings.
-
- Data Diet uses a unique method for solving the question: How do
- you perform realtime data compression?
-
- Basically, several different methods could be used to provide
- realtime data compression:
-
- 1) Create a single file which acts like the disk drives. All
- data is read from and written to this file, being compressed as
- it goes into the file, decompressed as it comes out.
-
- 2) Make a single partition act like multiple disk drives,
- basically use the entire partition as one huge file, similar to
- #1.
-
- 3) Run through a "shell" program, decompressing any files you
- wish to use before the shell runs the specified application,
- recompressing the files after you have exited back to the shell.
-
- 4) Use the Data Diet method.
-
- Numbers one and two above have severe restrictions, namely that
- the file system must be completely rewritten to make the "file
- disk drive" look like a real drive, and you must completely back
- up your hard disk, repartition your hard disk, then restore all
- the files back into the "file disk drive." Additionally, every
- disk write requires compression, thereby really slowing your
- system down.
-
- Additionally, should the file become corrupted or attacked by a
- virus, then all of your programs and data can be lost.
-
- Number three is extremely limited in scope; you'd need to know
- what files you will be using before you run the shell, and
- launching a program from a shell can cause compatibility problems
- with some software.
-
- Briefly and without going into too much confusing detail, once
- installed, DC Data Diet waits until a file operation is performed
- before it goes to work. If the file is dietized, it is
- decompressed and stored in a temporary working directory. When
- the application accesses the file, it is actually accessing the
- temporary file in the work directory. Using the decompressed
- temporary file has the added benefit of allowing all disk
- operations on that file to be full-speed. When the application
- writes to the file, it again is writing to the temporary file,
- not the original. Finally, when you exit the application, the
- file is compressed and saved back to the original location.
-
-
- Data Diet Method Best?
-
- What advantages do you get using the Data Diet method over the
- others? Several, in fact.
-
- You don't have to treat your hard disk special in any way. To
- install Data Diet you don't have to reformat, repartition or even
- backup your hard disk (although you should always keep a backup
- of your data).
-
- You get a big difference in speed. First of all, Data Diet uses
- a proprietary compression method which is lightning fast (we
- guarantee it's the fastest on the Atari computers), secondly, the
- data compression usually occurs when you run or exit a program.
- Therefore data access while you are using your favorite program
- is completely full-speed with absolutely no slowdown.
-
- Data Diet will also compress files to a remote network drive (can
- any other realtime programs do that?).
-
- Additionally, Data Diet gives you a lot of flexibility. You can
- exclude files, folders and drives you don't want compressed,
- choose between two compression methods and specify the use of one
- compression method for files over a given size
-
- Data Diet Tools allows you to compress, decompress and get
- statistics about a single file, groups of files, directories,
- or your whole drive, using any file mask.
-
-
- The All-Important Work Directory
-
- Almost nothing is as important to Data Diet as the work
- directory. The work directory is a temporary storage place for
- your decompressed diet files.
-
- When you open and use a dietized file, you are actually
- manipulating a temporary file which is kept in the work
- directory. The original file doesn't get touched until you
- actually exit the current application (this may vary slightly
- based upon your configuration and use).
-
- ** Data Diet Demo **
- Data Diet Demo will create and use the work directory on drive C,
- as the folder C:\DATADIET.WRK
-
-
- The Data Diet Front End
-
- The program/desk accessory DATADIET.APP/DATADIET.ACC is the
- front-end to the actual Data Diet handler, which does all the
- work. The Data Diet front-end is not required to be installed
- unless you want to change the configuration of Data Diet or you
- wish to 'keep tabs' on what Data Diet is currently doing.
-
- From the Data Diet front-end you can get information about the
- files currently accessed, change the current configuration or
- call up Data Diet Tools to manipulate files.
-
-
- The Data Diet Front-End Main Menu
-
- The Data Diet front-end main menu is composed of several parts:
-
- File information lists the files in use by the current
- application. Information displayed in the main menu is the name
- of the file and its current compression type. A crossed box
- under the compression type of OFF, A, or B and RO (read only)
- indicates the current setting.
-
- Clicking on the filename in the main menu will display additional
- information about the file.
-
- You will see the complete path and filename for the file
- selected, the original file size (ORIGINAL), the Data Diet file
- size (DIETIZED), the compression percentage (%) (how much it is
- compressed from the original size) and the time required to
- perform the compression (SECONDS). Note that the SECONDS field
- will only be filled in if you FLUSH the file or are in the
- REALTIME compression mode (see the following explanations for
- configuration details).
-
- ** Data Diet Demo **
- Data Diet Demo operates in Realtime mode only. This means you're
- going to get more of a slowdown than the method we suggest using,
- which is Terminate mode (a real bummer - it's a demo!).
-
- Additionally, the two boxes below the file size statistics
- indicate the current state of the file. DECOMPRESSED selected
- indicates that the file is a Data Diet file and is currently
- decompressed in the work directory, and WRITTEN TO selected
- indicates the file has been written to by the application, and
- will be dietized when the application exits (this may vary with
- your configuration).
-
- Below the status boxes are two buttons which can be used to
- perform the normal dietize/cleanup operation now. Clicking on
- the FLUSH button will cause the selected file to be dietized
- immediately, while clicking on the FLUSH&DEL (flush and delete)
- button will cause the file to be dietized and deleted from the
- work directory immediately.
-
-
- Data Diet Quick Installation
-
- This is the quick installation guide for DC Data Diet. This
- brief explanation does not go into the many details of using Data
- Diet, but rather allows you to quickly get Data Diet running on
- your system so you can start enjoying the savings right away.
-
- Once installed in your system, Data Diet will perform its
- operations without ever needing interaction from you again. Data
- Diet's design allows it to seamlessly integrate into the existing
- file handling system.
-
- Part I: Data Diet Quick Installation
-
- >To quickly install Data Diet:
-
- Copy the following file to your AUTO folder:
-
- DATADIET.PRG
-
- Copy the following two files to your desk accessory bootup path
- (usually A:\ or C:\):
-
- DATADIET.ACC
- DD_TOOLS.APP
-
- ** DATA DIET DEMO **
- Data Diet Demo is configured to use drive C only. If you are
- using a floppy based system, you will need to setup a RAMdisk as
- drive C.
-
- Reboot your computer to install Data Diet. When Data Diet boots
- up, you will see an installation message.
-
- ** DATA DIET DEMO **
- The Data Diet DEMO will ONLY save .DOC files to the root of drive
- C:. For example, load a document into PageStream and save it out
- to the root of drive C (C:\). The file will be dietized
- (compressed) when you save it out. If you save the file anywhere
- else, it will be saved normally. Moving the file to another
- drive will normalize the file.
-
- Part II: Put Your Data on a Diet
-
- Now that you have Data Diet installed, you will want to get all
- of your files dietized, so you can start enjoying your space
- savings. Virtually any file can be dietized. Some file formats,
- however, may already be in a compressed state, or may be too
- random to adequately compress (GIF pictures and digitized sound
- files are two types which do not compress well).
-
- Data Diet Tools allows you to dietize, normalize or calorize your
- files. When you dietize your files, you are compressing them.
- When you normalize your files, you are decompressing them, and
- when you calorize your files, you are getting statistics on them.
-
- Data Diet Tools can dietize or normalize files on an entire
- drive, accessing every file in every folder in one operation.
-
- The next section tells you how to dietize all of your data. You
- may want to read more about Data Diet Tools if you do not want to
- dietize all files.
-
- >To Dietize your data:
-
- Run DD_TOOLS.APP. You will be presented with the Data Diet Tools
- main menu.
-
- Click on the DIETIZE button. You will be presented with a file
- selector.
-
- Use the file selector to choose the drive to dietize, making sure
- you are on the root directory of the chosen drive (for example:
- C:\). If you do not wish to dietize an entire drive, simply use
- the file selector to go into a specific directory.
-
- Type *.* in the SELECTION field.
-
- Click on the OK button. Data Diet Tools will begin compressing
- all data on the specified drive, displaying information about the
- files as they are dietized. When the task is done, you will see
- a message displayed.
-
- Repeat from step #2 for the remaining drives.
-
- All of the files which could be compressed are now in Data Diet
- format. Some files are never compressed as defined in the
- DATADIET.INF file. The files specifically excluded are usually
- programs and archive files. To compress programs, you will need
- to use DC Squish next.
-
- ** DATA DIET DEMO **
- Data Diet Demo will only batch dietize *.DOC files on the root of
- drive C. The DATADIET.INF file is built into the demo.
-
- Step III: Squish Your Programs
-
- DC Data Diet is a complete solution for data storage space
- savings. The first part is Data Diet itself, for compressing
- anything that is not executable. The second part is DC Squish,
- which compresses executable files (GEM and TOS programs and desk
- accessories).
-
- DC Squish is a rock-solid, proven product that will compress your
- executable files, yet still leave them 100% executable.
-
- >To Squish your executable files:
-
- Run DCSQUISH.PRG. The main menu will appear.
-
- Click on the AL button so it is not selected.
-
- Click on the KO button so it is not selected.
-
- Click on the D=S button so it is selected.
-
- Click on the TPA button so it is selected.
-
- Click on the SQUISH button. A file selector will appear.
-
- Use the file selector to locate the path (folder) to Squish.
-
- Type *.* in the SELECTION field.
-
- Click on OK.
-
- DC Squish will now compress any file that it can compress. Note
- that DC Squish does not perform a fully recursive batch
- compression, so you will need to specify each and every folder to
- Squish.
-
- ** DATA DIET DEMO **
- DC Squish 1.4 Demo will not save squished executables.
-
- Suggested Reading
-
- We suggest you read the rest of the manual to become completely
- familiar with the options available with DC Data Diet. Although
- Data Diet can be installed and then forgotten about, you may find
- times when you wish to configure it for optimal performance on
- your system.
-
- ** DATA DIET DEMO **
- We suggest you buy Data Diet in order to read the manual. <grin>
-
-
-