Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!think!ejb From: ejb@think.COM (Erik Bailey) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d Subject: Re: pk(un)zip Keywords: PKARC, PAK, ARC Message-ID: <37583@think.UUCP> Date: 16 Mar 89 21:30:43 GMT References: <688@infovax.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de> Sender: news@think.UUCP Reply-To: ejb@godot.think.com.UUCP (Erik Bailey) Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA Lines: 45 In article <688@infovax.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de> kluge@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Oliver Kluge) writes: >In article KOLB@HTIKUB5.BITNET writes: >> [deleted ] > >But now another question arises: What about compatibility????? >I already have PKARC, and PKZIP seems to be better, but will it >uncompress .ARC-Files?? ARC is still the standard! If PKZIP isn't >able to read - if not write - .ARC-Files, this means I have to keep >SEA's ARC (or the old PKARC) together with PKZIP in order to be able >to read stuff from colleagues or the net! >Perhaps the author of the above could say a word or two about this >topic. Thanx! > >Oliver Well, I'll address the above. No, PKZIP is *not* .ARC compatible. It cannot be. By the agreement signed by PKWARE and SEA, PKWARE had to stop producing *all* .ARC-compatible software by Dec. 31, 1989. So, therefore, PKZIP cannot write nor read .ARC files. Big deal! I actually have several archive programs: SEA's ARC 5.31, for extracting stubborn archives with CRC errors (PK;s doesn't handle them as well), PKARC 3.6, LU (a .LBR utility -- anyone remember THAT??), and PKZIP 0.90 (haven't gotten around to getting 0.92 yet). Which one do I use? PKZIP whenever I can, and PKARC to extract the stuff from the archives I download. Incidentally, quite a few .ZIP files are appearing on BBSs, and a few have converted EXCLUSIVELY to .ZIP files. I myself converted all my ARCs to ZIPs, and use ZIP to back my 20meg HD onto my old 10meg (since it'll do recursive directory parsing). Under -eb4 -ea4 is just barely fits. I *love* ZIP. It's far and away betetr than .ARC. I thought the whole SEA-PKWARE thing was rediculous. But this is a clear case of a better product. I think it will do to .ARC what .ARC did to .LBR/.LQR -- slowly phase it out. *ESPECIALLY* when the VMS, Unix, and Amiga versions are released. --Erik PS -- I'm a registered user of PKARC and PKZIP. Erik Bailey | CompuServe | 7 Oak Knoll | (ARPA/USENET courtesy of ejb@think.UUCP | PCMagNet | Arlington, MA 02174 | Thinking Machines Corp., ejb@think.com | 72241,105 | (617) 643-0732 | First St, Cambridge, MA) do headache -> take 1 aspirin od "This terminates one way or another" -Dijkstra