Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!samsung!umich!umeecs!msi-s0.msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!cybrspc!roy
From: cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: File Compression/Archiving
Message-ID: <02y2m3w162w@cybrspc>
Date: 29 Jul 90 04:16:32 GMT
References: <11946@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Organization: Villa CyberSpace, Minneapolis, MN
Lines: 29

scott@kong.gatech.edu (Scott Coulter) writes:

> In article <3200006@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> mjones@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
> >Last Updat: 07/26/90           Operating System/Unpackaging Program
> >
> >NAME        File Ext.       PC                 Mac                  Unix
> >
> >PAK         .PAK/.ARC   pak210.exe   2          ?                      -
> To the extent of my knowledge, pak210 is a completely different critter
> from the many .arc-type programs, and uses strictly .pak extensions.
> There is often confusion due to pkpak, which is a .arc manipulator.

Well, sir... while PAK is indeed a "different critter", it has a few
tricks up its sleeve. PAK can be restricted to Crunch only, and can
re-format its archives to be compatible with the older ARC programs. (I
think that's about level 5 or 6 ARC, but don't quote me :-) This is in
addition to the native compression modes of PAK.

The advantage here is that a number of platforms have ARC-type programs
available, but they don't handle the levels from PKPAK forward. (8-bit
Atari and Commodore are the platforms I have experience with on this)
When I have had to create arcfiles for some of these machines, PAK has
proved downright indispensable! Without it, I would have had to find and
keep a copy of SEA ARC... something I'm not about to do.
--
    Roy M. Silvernail   | #include <stdio.h>                 | Does virtual
    now available at:   | main(){                            | reality need
 cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu |  float x=1;                        | swap space?
(cyberspace... be here!)|  printf("Just my $%.2f.\n",x/50);} | -- me