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From: davewh@microsoft.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: BinSCII
Message-ID: <9105162102.AA05093@beaver.cs.washington.edu>
Date: 15 May 91 16:59:27 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 49


There's been lots of talk regarding BinSCII lately. Here's the deal:

Actual development has started (yow!). I'm writing in C, but I really
need to buy ORCA 1.2 if I'm gonna actually compile it (can anyone
recommend a good buy mail order?)

The C code will be OS- and machine-ignorant. Those wishing to port to
other platforms will need to supply the front end UI and the back end
OS interface and that's it. The engine will be complete. I'll supply
the OS backend for GS/OS and the front end for the ORCA shell. I will
also hand-compile it into 6502 so it'll run on any // (just like
binscii is now). Because the code is machine ignorant, some of you
may strengthen your HLL vs assembly argument. I want to avoid
duplicate effort, so when I'm getting ready to release, I'll enlist
whoever wants to to direct the port effort to individual platforms.
More on that later.

The encoded files will be OS-independant. Therefore, a GS version can
decode a file made on a unix box.

Decoding will be much more tolerant of defects in the file.

Individual segements may be up to 64k big (user configurable -
defaults to 12k).

Individual segment files, when created, can have any number of
segments in them (user configurable - defaults to 1).

Decoder will be able to decode old style (current) BinSCII segments.

Non-segment data (mail headers and such) will be dumped to a log file.

It's my sincere hope that BinSCII 2 will displace uuencode and
BinHex, and of course, BinSCII.

The next // version of BinSCII to hit the market will be version 1.1,
which will have a much nicer UI than you all are using. It will
encode current-style segments and decode current and new style. Once
it gains acceptance, BinSCII 2 will be released. This is to insure
that everyone will have a new-style segment decoder.

Send your suggestions now while development is in the early stages!

Dave Whitney	Microsoft Corp, Work Group Apps  dcw@goldilocks.lcs.mit.edu or
I wrote Z-Link and BinSCII - send me bug reports. {...}!uunet!microsoft!davewh
I only work here. All opinions herein aren't Bill's, they're mine.
"We're samplin' - Yeah we're doin' it. We take good music an' we ruin it."
   -- "Rap Isn't Music"