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From: pochron@cat37.cs.wisc.edu (David Pochron)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Compression device
Summary: No need for compression - use GCR format!
Keywords: GCR trackdisk.device compression
Message-ID: <1990Nov16.215210.23026@daffy.cs.wisc.edu>
Date: 16 Nov 90 21:52:10 GMT
References: <291@geocub.greco-prog.fr> <1990Oct15.120046.15007@ericsson.se>
Sender: news@daffy.cs.wisc.edu (The News)
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 36

In article <1990Oct15.120046.15007@ericsson.se> etxtomp@eos.ericsson.se writes:
>In article <291@geocub.greco-prog.fr> anthes@geocub.greco-prog.fr (Franklin Anthes) writes:
>-
>-I'd really like to find an amiga device (comp:?) which would automatically    
>-compress/decompress any files stored on it. I don't think such a device would 
>-                                                                              
>-Does such a beast exist already for the Amiga? If not is this a feasible idea?
>-This would have to be a Dos device, wouldn't it?
>-
>-	Frank Anthes-Harper :  Bien le bonjour de la France
>-	anthes@geocub.greco-prog.fr
>
>It seems like this would be a good thing... One could start with a software
>compression scheme and incorporate it in an OS release. By adding one of
>
>Anything wrong with it?

Why not just write a GCR-trackdisk.device that writes disks in GCR format
instead of MFM format?  You get twice as much disk space (880*2 = 1.66 megs I
think - its been a while since I last read the disk drive section in the
hardware reference manual!) and you only have to live with the fact that reads
and writes will be twice as slow.  Using a trackdisk.device with a compression
routine would probably work much slower - especially on a 68000 machine, but
would give different results from different files.

I mentioned this before and am surprised it received no response.  Perhaps
what I am suggesting is way out in left field...   :-)

(MSH-authors - any comments?)


--
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David M. Pochron	    |  from Rescue Rangers, _A Fly in the Ointment_
pochron@garfield.cs.wisc.edu|  Gadget to Dale:  "Keep the hands off the body!"
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