Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!agate!agate!adrianho From: adrianho@barkley.watt.berkeley.edu (Adrian J Ho) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Re: File formats Message-ID: Date: 13 Mar 91 22:12:08 GMT References: <1991Mar12.191456.9336@images.cs.und.ac.za> Sender: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu (USENET Administrator) Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 79 In-Reply-To: alpowell@images.cs.und.ac.za's message of 12 Mar 91 19:14:56 GMT In article <1991Mar12.191456.9336@images.cs.und.ac.za> alpowell@images.cs.und.ac.za writes: >There seems to be a lot of interest in the various file formats used >by various drawing programs. Why doesn't some helpful person summarise >the various formats (TIFF, GIF, PCX, etc.) information (eg. what is data >and what is header, what sort of compression is applied to the data (if >at all), etc) and repost it ? Perhaps because most people *don't* want summaries -- some formats (eg. GIF) use coding algorithms that are usually difficult to summarize in a useful manner. Others are so complex that you'd usually end up extracting the full text for these. Multiply by the number of different file formats supported by drawing programs, and I think you'll end up with one *long* posting. That's only the beginning -- there will *definitely* be repeated requests for reposts (sounds like ~30% of all USENET sites expire articles after 24 hrs, and >30% of net.news is read >2 days after posting 8-). I think you can see what I'm getting at: an incredible amount of bandwidth wasted for a single document. Oh, and how about those requests to "please add format FuBaR to the list"? I don't envy the person who takes this task up. (And after saying all that, I must be nuts for continuing to say that I'm willing to give it a shot. Stay tuned. 8-) Try the format archives at titan.rice.edu (128.42.1.30) (directory public/graphics.formats -- info courtesy of Jef Poskanzer's comp.graphics FAQ, posted every week). You'd probably get more useful info from the full specs. >P.S. Some of us don't have access to anonymous ftp, so that avenue is >not open to us, hence this posting. But most sites certainly have access to e-mail facilities, and there are such things as mail-FTP servers. To quote again from the FAQ (and please, folx, let's show appreciation for Jef's efforts by *reading* it -- 24-hr news expiry notwithstanding): % 13) How to FTP by email. % There are a number of sites that archive the Usenet sources newsgroups % and make them available via an email query system. You send a message % to an automated server saying something like "send comp.sources.unix/fbm", % and a few hours or days later you get the file in the mail. % There are also a couple of sites that will perform general FTP retrievals % for you in response to a similar mail query. For information on using % one of them, send a message like this: % To: info-server@cs.net % request: info % topic: help-ftp % request: end % (NOTE: this server is currently "down for repairs". No estimate on when % or if it will return.) % And for info on another one, send this: % To: bitftp@pucc.bitnet % help % Please be considerate, and don't over-use these services. If people % start using them to retrieve hundreds of megabytes of GIF files, they % will probably disappear. Take note of that last paragraph and don't abuse these facilities -- they cost the providers lots of MONEY. Good Luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adrian Ho, EECS (pronounced "eeks!") Dept. Phone: (415) 642-5563 UC Berkeley adrianho@barkley.berkeley.edu Domain: sesame-street (telly,bigbird,snuffy,oscar,kermit,bert,grover,barkley) Favorite expression: "There's no business like monkey business."