Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!eos!labrea!rutgers!iuvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucdcsp!gillies
From: gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: LZW != MNP ?
Message-ID: <78700001@uiucdcsp>
Date: 1 Apr 88 21:26:00 GMT
Lines: 21
Nf-ID: #N:uiucdcsp:78700001:000:1076
Nf-From: uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Apr  1 15:26:00 1988


I have recently been learning about LZW data-compression ("A Technique
for High-Performance data compression", IEEE Computer, June 1984).
It is a dynamic compression algorithm that encodes byte strings as
12-bit codes (normally) on-the-fly.

Is MNP essentially the same thing, perhaps slightly modified?  Or is
it something completely different.  Most Macintosh Software is
compressed in LZW form by a tool called stuffit.  The unix -compress-
command is based upon LZW compression.  Has anyone ever tried sending
a StuffIt or -compress- file via MNP?  Does MNP achieve any speedup at
all?

Don Gillies {ihnp4!uiucdcs!gillies} U of Illinois
            {gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu}

P.S. For you prometheus owners/modem buyers: I have a Prometheus 2400
modem ($299 on sale) that works fine, but I could probably have gotten
the same thing for <$200 in a Practical Peripherals modem.  My
prometheus is a little flakey on local calls (2400 baud) about 10% of
the time.  I thought maybe their microprocessor-based signal
processing might make a difference, but it probably doesn't.