Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!vd09+
From: vd09+@andrew.cmu.edu (Vincent M. Del Vecchio)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Compression Utilities
Message-ID: <8b9G4Ke00awI8512UN@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 24 Oct 90 05:05:26 GMT
References: <6751@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 43
In-Reply-To: <6751@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM>

> Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.mac.apps: 22-Oct-90 Compression Utilities
> Bob Cram@tekcae.CAX.TEK. (240)

> I am looking for information on compression/decompression utilities 

> for text files that will work on both a Mac and a PC.  I would 
> prefer something in the public domain. Any info would be appreciated.

> Bob Cram
> robertcr@tekgen.bv.tek.com

I can think of a few options which meet your requirements.  If Unix
Compress is available for the PC (I would imagine that it is, and if
not, I'm sure you could port it fairly easily, as source is readily
available) then your best option is probably MacCompress (available in
probably /info-mac/unix in the archives) and a PC counterpart.  I'm
pretty sure these are public domain, and they do a good job.

LHArc, which is kind of slow, but gets better compression, is also
available for Mac and PC (and Unix, for that matter).  It too is public
domain.

If neither of the above works for you, you could revert to something as
ugly as old PC Arc--but that doesn't get very good compression and I'm
not even sure if it's public (shareware if not public, of course).  I
know there's a Mac version called either MacArc or ArcMac (There's one
of each.  One is really ugly, version 0.02 or something, and the other
is passable.  I never remember which is which.)

If you don't mind inconsistency, you could also create Zip files on the
PC (shareware) and Stuffit files on the Mac (also shareware) and use
Unsit for the PC and Unzip for the Mac when necessary to decompress. 
PKZip does a better job on text than anything in this list, I think. 
Stuffit, in comparison, is mediocre.

Hope this helps you.
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