1 Miscellaneous

This last chapter contains some questions that don’t fit in the chapters above.

1.1 Is there any unix version of LhA?

See section What are files ending with ...?.

1.2 What are files ending with ...?

Most endings on FTP sites or Fish disks tell you that the file is compressed and/or is an archive containing more than one file. Some programs even archive whole disks. Frequently found endings and programs to handle the related files are:

.sfx

Compressed archives which are included in an executable program: Just call the program and it will extract itself (sfx = self extract)

.lha

.lzh

Compressed archives; recommended: LhA (‘util/arc/LhA_e138.run’ on Aminet or Fish disk 715) or Lx (‘util/arc/lx100.lha’ on Aminet), Unix version available (‘misc/unix/lha-1.00.tar.Z’)

.dms

Disks compressed using DMS (‘util/arc/dms111.sfx’ on Aminet or Fish disk 406)

.zom

Disks compressed using Zoom (‘util/arc/Zoom_5.4.lha’ on Aminet, Fish disk 682); an older version which you probably need for uncompressing PasTeX is found on Fish disk 459.

.zoo

Compressed archive; recommended: Zoo (‘util/arc/zpp2-10.lzh’ on Aminet or Fish disk 527)

.Z

.z

.gz

Compressed files; recommended gzip (‘util/pack/gzip124x.lha’ on Aminet), note that this are Unix files in most cases

.tar

Acrhive; recommended: tar (‘util/arc/tar.lha’ or ‘util/arc/gtar10.lha’ on Aminet or Fish disk 445), note that tar is a Unix archiver and you often find soething like .tar.Z.

.arj

Compressed archive; recommended unarj (‘util/arc/unarj-0.5.lha’ on Aminet)

.zip

Compressed archive; recommended UnZip (‘util/arc/unzip-5.1.lha’ on Aminet), note that this are MS-Dos archives in most cases

1.3 Is there a Stacker-like utility to pack my hard drive?

XFH does a good job. It operates as a handler and uses the XPK-libraries, so you have different compression modes (RAKE is a good choice) and possibly even more in the future. The only disadvantage is, that the size of a file is limited by RAM: Don’t use it with less than 2MB of RAM.

XPKDisk by Olaf ’Rhialto’ Seibert is another stacker program that takes advantage of the variety of XPK libraries available. Unlike other harddisk compressors it does not compress the files, but creates a pseudo partition and stores the whole tracks as compressed files on your harddisk. Its major advantage is that it does not limit the maximum file size, because it works similar to trackdisk.device and therefore does not need too much temporary storage.

But be careful if you want to use ReOrg on a comprimized partition: ReOrg should be set to leave enough memory for the xpkdisk buffers. And because of ReOrgs buffering, you can use few buffers for xpkdisk (perhaps as few as 2 or 3). Don’t use ReOrg if you don’t know the memory needs of XFH or XPKDisk.

Another possibility is EPU. It’s shareware and should offer the same as XFH, but without limiting the file size.

Sources: Aminet, directory ‘util/pack’, Fish disks 754 (XFH) and 858 (EPU)

1.4 Where do I get Fish disk xxx?

Those FTP servers have that much space (or a CD-Rom) to have all fish disks available online:

ftp.isca.uiowa.edu      (USA, directory ‘/amiga/fx/fxxx’)
ftp.hawaii.edu          (USA, directory ‘/pub/amiga/fish’)
ftp.funet.fi            (Finland, directory ‘/pub/amiga/fish’)

Note that the CD-Rom’s are not always mounted. @xref{FTP}.

Another possibility would be to ask your local dealer. :-)

1.5 What is MUI and where do I find it?

MUI is a set of shared libraries which are used to build a comfortable GUI (Graphical user interface). The general idea of MUI is that the programmer determines only the logical structure of the GUI and the look (Font, Size, Windows on Workbench, Public Screen, own Screen, ...) is determined by the user only. From the programmers point of view using MUI is simpler than gadtools.library but much more powerful. On the other hand MUI interfaces are slower than GadTools-Interfaces, especially on old 68000 machines.

MUI is found in two archives, one for developers only and one for users. Source: Aminet, ‘dev/misc’.

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