Aminet 8/Aminet 8 (1995)(GTI - Schatztruhe)[!][Oct 1995].iso/Aminet/dev/amos/AMOS_0695.lzh/AMOSLIST/[e-mail]_Thu Jun 29 22:05:21 1995.msg

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X-ZC-VIA: [e-mail]
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Subject: Re: -
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Date: Sat, 24 Jun 95 22:22:03 CET
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From: [e-mail] (Chris Hodges)
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[e-mail] (Robert Currie) wrote on 22.06.1995 some text
under the subject -. I can't leave this uncommentated ;-)

RC> a)  The Amos 1.36 creator update and Amos 1.36 compiler update need to
RC>     be unarchived onto a disk to work. The updater looks for a disk
RC>     with a certain name. What name is it or is there some other problem
RC>     that I don't know about.

Actually, I don't know the name of the disk either, could be
AMOS_System: or something. Use SnoopDos or DosTrace to get the volume
name.

RC>         =Squash(Start Address,Length,?,Compaction Speed,Cycle color)

>From the AMOS Professional Compiler Manual:

------------------- cut -------------------

L=Squash(Address,Length,Flag,Ahead,Colour)

Squash compresses an area of memory into a fraction of its normal
size. The squashing process can be stopped at any time by pressing
Ctrl-C.
  Address holds the address in memory of your selected memory block.
Usually, this will be start of an AMOS memory bank but you can also
compress other memory areas with this system as well.
  Never atempt to squash a sprite or icon bank. These are not stored
in one continuous memory block, so they can't be compressed using a
simple Squash operation. You can however, freely squash all other
banks including those containing samples or menus. Length specifies
the number of bytes of data to be compacted.

*Warning!* The squasher will automatically overwrite your existing
data with the new packed version.

Flag toggles the squasher between two modes:

Flag=0:     Sets SLOW MODE. This reserves the absolute minimum space
        for the compression process. As the name suggests, the
        squashing may take some time to complete.

Flag<>0:    Activates FAST MODE and compacts the data in a separate
        memory area for the maximum possible speed. In order to
        use this feature, you'll need enough RAM to hold a memory
        block at least twice the size as the original data. If
        you run out of space AMOS will automatically flip back to
        SLOW mode.

If SLOW mode has been set, ahead specifies how far (in bytes) the
squasher will search ahead during the compaction process. The higher
the figure the greater the compaction ratio and the slower the
execution speed. The minimum is 256 (fast but inefficient) and the
maximum is 4096 [Ed: In fact, it's only 4095] (very slow). A
reasonable value to use is about 1024.
  Colour is the number of a colour (0-31) to be flashed on the screen
while the data is being squashed. After your data has been compacted
the squasher will return one of the following values:

L>0:    This indicates the squash was successful and returns the new
    length of the compressed data.
L=0:    The squash was halted with Ctrl-C.
L<0:    The compression has been aborted because the squashed length
    turns out to be longer than the original. This is very rare
    but it can occasionally happen. The worst offenders are sound
    samples or banks containing compacted IFF screens. [Ed: Take
    care when compiling programs with squashing enabled. The
    routine used is the same as Squash, and the compiler will not
    take care of non-packable music and sound banks!]

------------------- cut -------------------

Moreover, the length of the original data can be found in the last
longword of the compacted data. ;-)

RC>         =Unsquash(Start Address,Compressed Length)

------------------- cut -------------------

L=Unsquash(Address,Length)

Unsquash restores a block of data to it's original state. It's used
after a Squash instruction to unpack the selected memory area.
  Address holds the address of the first byte to be unpacked.
  Length specifies the number of bytes to be e-compressed. This
should be the length of the packed data returned by the Squash
command.

*Beware!* Unsquash completely overwrites the current contents in your
chosen memory block. So you'll need to reserve a bank of the original
(unsquashed) length to hold the new data. You can then Bload the
packed data at the beginning of this bank and call the Unsquash
function.

------------------- cut -------------------

Bye, Chris Hodges <[e-mail]>      __    __
A4000/400/CD/'30er; AMOS Extension-Coder    __  ///   / / _____
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Alltami (n.)
  The ancient art of being able to balance the hot and cold shower
  taps.
(from: "The Deeper Meaning of Liff")