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2023-02-26
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ARC250
If you're primarily interested in using
ARC to create and dissolve files on a
C-64 with a single disk drive, these
simplified (greatly simplified) docs
should be all you'll ever need. If you
later decide to utilize more of the
many features ARC has, get the full
documentation (its big!).
Date: ARC boots up with a default date
of 1 Jan, 1980. If you're only going to
dissolve an ARChive, there's no need to
change this. However, if you are going
to create an ARChive, you should type
in the current date because it will be
recorded on the ARCfile you create. Do
this by typing "date", a space, dd,mm,
yyyy. For example, today's date is the
2nd of January, 1988, so I would enter:
"date 02,01,1988" and hit RETURN.
Spaces: ARC uses a space to separate
filenames. A problem can occur if there
is a space WITHIN a filename. For
example, if you type "testfile 2.0",
ARC will search for (and not find)
"testfile" and then search for "2.0",
as if they were two separate files.
Fortunately, there's a simple solution
to this; just use a SHIFTED SPACE
between the "testfile" and the "2.0",
which will look like a normal space on
the screen, but will be distinguished
from a regular space separating two
filenames.
Dissolving an ARChive file:
"arc/x filename" (easy!)
Extracts all files from the ARCfile
called "filename" on drive a: (device
8/drive 0 like a 1541/1571 would be).
Creating ARChive files: (a little
tricky, but not really difficult)
"arc/c arcname filename filename etc."
"arc/c arcname *" (all files on disk)
"arc/c arcname b*" (all files starting
with the letter "b")
Example: Lets say you want to create
an ARCfile consisting of files that are
named "abcd", "file1", "file2", and
"docs" and that you want to call the
resulting ARCfile "test".
You could copy these 4 files onto a
blank disk first and use the wildcard
"*":
"arc/c test *"
Or, if you don't want to copy them over
to a blank disk, you can type out each
filename, separated by spaces:
"arc/c test abcd file1 file2 docs"
Either method creates an ARChive file
called "test.arc" on drive a. Note that
the ".arc" gets put on automatically.
You never have to type the ".arc" when
entering an ARCname.
Directory: "dir" (lists filenames in
the disk directory)
It is very handy to list the directory
immediately before using ARC/C or ARC/X
so that all the filenames you'll need
to type in will be listed on the screen.
Delete: "del filename" (erases a file
(or several files)
from the disk)
To scratch a file called "test", just
type "del test". If you have 4 files
named "test1", "test2", "test3", and
"test4" and you want to delete all 4,
just type "del test*" and every file
that begins with "test" will be deleted.
Rename: "ren oldname newname"
(to rename files)
To rename a file called "temp" to
"perm", just type "ren temp perm"
List: "arc/l arcfile" (lists out
the contents of
an ARC'ed file)
Colors: You can change the default
colors for the screen border, screen
background, and cursor by POKING the
standard Commodore color numbers (0-15)
to any color combination you prefer,
as follows:
LOAD"ARC250",8
POKE 20815,n (background)
POKE 20820,n (border)
POKE 20825,n (cursor)
SAVE"new name",8
If you want to create a SDA (self-
dissolving ARC) file, first create the
ARCfile as shown above, then use one of
the separate SDA utilities to change
the file from ".ARC" to ".SDA".
Utilities to convert from ".ARC" to
".SDA" are available on Q-Link and on
many local BBS's. My favorite is
"ARC-SDA V4.5", written by Mark Rhodes.
That's all most of us will ever need to
know to use ARC. If you want more, then
you'll need the official documentation.
For the latest ARC version, current
documentation, and ARC ownership
registration I suggest you send $20 to
the author of ARC, Chris Smeets at:
Chris Smeets/ARC64
Ampere Metal
80 Hale Road Unit 4
Brampton, Ontario
Cananda, L6W-3M1
416-458-0039 (BBS)
Many thanks to Chris Smeets for a
fantastic ARChive program!