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From: bhelf@athena.mit.edu (Bill Helfinstine)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: Questions about c64 archives ?
Message-ID: <1990Dec14.215221.14588@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 14 Dec 90 21:52:21 GMT
References: <1990Dec13.224253.12999@cbnewsh.att.com>
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In article <1990Dec13.224253.12999@cbnewsh.att.com> nms@cbnewsh.att.com (n.m.scribner) writes:
>I have been trying to download some c64 utilities from
>the anonymous FTP sites, and have some simple questions
>about the use and dissection of archived programs.
>The questions pertain to  *.arc *.lnx and *.sda files.
>I have been using FTP to move the files to a local UNIX host,
>and then using XMODEM to download them.
>
>1. Do all these archive type files need to be FTP'd 
>in Binary mode, or will ASCII work fine?

You need to use binary, or some information will be lost (the high bit)

>2. Do regular, non-archived c64 programs need to be
>FTP'd in Binary mode.

Programs, yes.  ASCII is just for text files.

>3. What is the archive program associated with each of
>the three types?  I figured out that a program called "lynx9"
>is supposed to be used with *.lnx, but don't know about *.arc.
>I speculated that *.arc files are self-defining or self-dissolving
>in the sense that when loaded and run on a c64, they will
>expand the archive.  What's the real story?

Lynx is a very fast, very machine-specific linker program.  It will only run
with 64s and 1541s.  There are many versions of this program, and they all seem
to be incompatible with each other.  It also doesn't actually reduce the size
of the files, just puts them all in one file.  .arc files are produced by a 
program called archive, which is my personal favorite.  It crunches the files
down until they take up less than half the space they originally did (usually)
and links them all together.  It is slower than Lynx, but much better from a
telecommunicating point of view.  .sda programs are .arc files with a
de-archiver appended to the front, so they will self-dissolve.  There are
some other archivers around, such as library, but .arc, .lnx, and .sda are the
most common.  A new one that is showing up is .sfx, which is similar to .sda,
but works on both 64s and 128s.
 
>4. Are there any special instructions needed for downloading or
>loading or running the various archives and programs on the c64?

Just use arc250 to dearchive files and various versions of lynx to delynx
files.  Also, if you are a Q-Link user, check out a program called Omega-Q,
which dearchives many different compacted files.


Bill Helfinstine
bhelf@athena.mit.edu