Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!manuel!ccadfa!prolix!dac
From: dac@prolix.pub.uu.oz.au (Andrew Clayton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: A compression filesystem
Message-ID: <18b47958.ARN2c15@prolix.pub.uu.oz.au>
Date: 18 Feb 91 19:32:08 GMT
References: <71.27BCCBB8@weyr.FIDONET.ORG> <18b2ca89.ARN2bfd@prolix.pub.uu.oz.au>
 <1991Feb18.005236.8760@agate.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: dac@prolix.pub.uu.oz.au
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Organization: More like Mis~, really.
Lines: 33

In article <1991Feb18.005236.8760@agate.berkeley.edu>, Doug Merritt writes:

> In article <18b2ca89.ARN2bfd@prolix.pub.uu.oz.au> dac@prolix.pub.uu.oz.au writes:
> >The 'KISS' approach is best. Keep It Simple, Stupid. If people want to put
> >more data on their devices, they should BUY larger storage capability
> >devices. As simple as that.
> 
> Not quite. One approach still makes sense (this is something I was
> thinking of doing for several years, but it doesn't look like I'll
> ever get to it): have a "compression file system" which works on
> top of the regular one, so that individual files can be read/written
> as compressed files transparently. Access would be something
> like "type pak:dh0/directory/file.Z", where "pak:" is the device
> that knows about compression, and "file.Z" is a previously compressed
> file.


I dunno Doug... I get _awfully_ peeved when it takes longer to unscramble a
file than to load it from HD in the first place. Especially when I cannot
store it on the drive in unpacked format (i.e. I got it packed from one of the
european groups). In some cases, it is only the packing/unpacking routine that
stops a particular 'program' working on an accellerated platform.

Compression is fine for text, for stuff that you don't really mind having
spinning on your disk, but would hate to have wastings lots of unnecessary
space, for files that you want to archive off, BUT, for executables I am a
firm believer in -speed, speed, speed-. No timewasting compression for this
little black duck!

Dac
--
 _l _  _   // Andrew Clayton. Canberra, Australia.         I Post  .
(_](_l(_ \X/  Send mail to dac@prolix.pub.uu.oz.au                . .  I am.