ÆILE ÐACKER 64
Á SET OF FILE COMPRESSION AND DECOMPRESSION PROGRAMS
ÂY ÓTEVE ÅMSLEY
Ã-64

     ÆILE ÐACKER 64 SHORTENS AND COMBINES DISK FILES JUST LIKE OTHER FILE-COMPRESSION PROGRAMS. ÈOWEVER, UNLIKE PROGRAMS THAT COMPRESS MULTIPLE FILES INTO A SINGLE LARGE ONE, ÆILE ÐACKER CAN COMPRESS FILES INDIVIDUALLY OR IN ANY COMBINATION. ÉN ADDITION, IT CAN ENCODE EACH COMPRESSED FILE DIFFERENTLY FOR ADDED PROTECTION FROM UNAUTHORIZED DECOMPRESSING.
     ÌOAD THE PROGRAM USING ÍENU 64. ÆILE ÐACKER'S MENU OFFERS FOUR OPTIONS: ÓAVE ÕNPACKER, ÐACK ÆILE(S), ÁPPEND ÆILE(S), AND ÅND.
     ÏPTION 1 SAVES TO DISK A ONE-BLOCK FILE CALLED ÕNPACKER. ÃHOOSE A MEMORY LOCATION THAT ISN'T NEEDED FOR OTHER THINGS; 32768 AND 49152 SEEM TO WORK BEST. ÔHEN PLACE A FORMATTED DISK IN THE DESTINATION DRIVE AND PRESS ANY KEY TO INITIATE THE SAVE.
     ÏPTION 2 COMPACTS INDIVIDUAL FILES. ÅNTER THE CURRENT FILENAME AND THE NEW FILENAME, OR PRESS RETURN WITHOUT EITHER ENTRY TO GO BACK TO THE MENU. ÂE SURE A MACHINE LANGUAGE OR TEXT FILE IS LAST; IF A ÂASIC PROGRAM FILE IS LAST, ÆILE ÐACKER WON'T WORK.
     ÎEXT, ENTER A NUMBER FROM 0 TO 255 AS AN ØÏÒ BYTE. ÆILE ÐACKER WILL ENCRYPT THE FILE (INCLUDING THE LOAD ADDRESS) BY EXCLUSIVE "ÏÒING" WITH THIS NUMBER. Á BLANK ENTRY LEAVES THE FILE UNENCODED.
     ÂECAUSE THE EXCLUSIVE ÏÒ BYTE IS STORED IN THE FILE AND NOT THE UNPACKING ROUTINE, EACH FILE CAN HAVE A DIFFERENT ENCRYPTION NUMBER. ÔHE FILES ARE SECURE FROM TAMPERING BECAUSE THEN THEY MUST BE LOADED WITH THE UNPACKING ROUTINE.
     ÁFTER THE FILE IS FOUND, ÆILE ÐACKER DISPLAYS THE ORIGINAL LOAD ADDRESS FOR YOU TO CHANGE OR KEEP. ÐRESSING THE LEFT-ARROW KEY ABORTS TO THE MENU (AS DOES A DISK ERROR).
     ÄEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF THE FILE, THE ENCODING AND CRUNCHING TAKES FROM ONE TO SEVERAL MINUTES. ×HEN IT'S DONE, YOU CAN GO ON TO ANOTHER FILE.
     ÕNLIKE FILE COMPACTORS THAT REQUIRE LOADING THREE OR FOUR FILES TO COMPRESS, ÆILE ÐACKER REQUIRES JUST ONE. ÁLSO, BECAUSE THE LOAD ADDRESS OF EACH FILE IS SEPARATE, THE FILES CAN BE PACKED IN ANY ORDER, PROVIDED THE LAST FILE PACKED IS NOT A ÂASIC PROGRAM.
     ÏPTION 3 IS FOR APPENDING A FILE TO AN EXISTING PACKED FILE. ÅNTER THE NAME OF THE FILE TO BE APPENDED AND THE NAME OF THE PACKED FILE.
     ÏPTION 4 QUITS THE PROGRAM.
     ÆILE ÐACKER REDEFINES THE FOLLOWING KEYS: Ó CHANGES THE SOURCE DEVICE, SHOULD YOU WANT TO USE A SECOND DRIVE (DRIVES 8-11 ARE SUPPORTED); Æ1 AND Æ3 TOGGLE THE SOURCE (READ) AND DESTINATION (WRITE) DRIVES; Æ5 AND Æ7 DISPLAY DIRECTORIES OF THE SOURCE AND DESTINATION DISKS.
     ÙOU HAVE TWO CHOICES FOR UNCOMPRESSING FILES. ÆIRST, YOU CAN USE THE ÕNPACKER ROUTINE CREATED BY ÆILE ÐACKER, WHICH UNPACKS THE FILES ONLY IN ÒÁÍ. ÏNCE YOU'VE SAVED IT TO A FORMATTED WORK DISK, USE ÌÏÁÄ "ÕÎÐÁÃËÅÒ",8,1 TO LOAD THE UNPACKING FILE. ÔO LOAD A COMPRESSED FILE FROM DISK, USE ÏÐÅÎ 8,Ä,2,"0:ÆÉÌÅÎÁÍÅ":ÓÙÓ ÌÏÃÁÔÉÏÎ, WHERE Ä IS THE DEVICE NUMBER AND ÓÙÓ ÌÏÃÁÔÉÏÎ IS THE ADDRESS OF THE UNPACKING ROUTINE. ÔHE SCREEN BORDER FLICKERS TO LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE COMPRESSED FILE IS LOADING AND STOPS WHEN IT'S DONE. ÔHE COMPRESSED FILES THEN RESIDE IN MEMORY AT THE LOCATIONS SPECIFIED DURING THE PACKING PROCESS.
     ÔHE SECOND, AND EASIER, WAY TO USE THE PROGRAM IS TO USE ÕÎÐÁÃËÅÒ.ÂÁÓ, WHICH IS WRITTEN TO YOUR WORK DISK WHEN USING THE ÃOPY OPTION FROM ÍENU 64. ÏNCE IT'S ON THE WORK DISK, JUST LOAD AND RUN IT AS FOLLOWS:

ÌÏÁÄ "ÕÎÐÁÃËÅÒ.ÂÁÓ",8
ÒÕÎ

ÅNTER THE NAME OF THE COMPRESSED FILE AT THE PROMPT, AND THE UNCOMPRESSED FILES WILL BE WRITTEN TO DISK AS ÆÉÌÅ Á, ÆÉÌÅ Â, AND SO ON.
     ÔHE PACKING ROUTINE IS BASED ON REPETITION, SO IT WORKS BEST WITH SPRITE FILES, PICTURE FILES AND PROGRAM FILES CREATED BY WORD PROCESSORS. ÔHE PROGRAM AND ITS ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE RATHER TECHNICAL IN NATURE, REQUIRING CAREFUL USE IN ORDER TO OPERATE THEM CORRECTLY. ÉF YOU HAVE TROUBLE UNPACKING FILES, REPACK THEM USING DIFFERENT ADDRESSES OR IN A DIFFERENT ORDER.