1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
|
The following review was published in the Atari H.A.C.K. magazine,
in the August 1988 issue (Volume II, Issue IIX) [1]:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Those of us who are experienced telecommunicators are quite familiar
with the ARC family of disk file compression programs. The most
widely used of the 8-bit versions of the ARC program has been,
and remains to be, ARC version 1.2 (the archiver) and ARCX version
1.2 (the dearchiver). Two very excellent programs written in C by
Ralph Walden of the Atari Computer Enthusiasts of Eugene, aka ACE.
Almost every BBS worth its salt uses this program to compress its
files not only to make them take up less space, but also to save time
on file transfers. A smaller program simply takes less time to send
or receive. Of course, since the file is compressed, or archived, it
isn't runnable until it's dearced with the ARCX program.
ARC and ARCX are great programs but they have their small problems.
They are slow and sometimes show unexplainable CRC errors when
dearcing. This frustrates and detracts from what is otherwise a great
program. There was none better, that is, until now.
ALFCRUNCH is here. Despite its cute name it has nothing to do with
the furry wise guy from the planet Melmac. ALFCRUNCH consists of two
programs, LZ.COM, the archiver, and DZ.COM, the dearchiver. Files are
manipulated the same way as the ARC programs do it but they are not
compatible. The LZ program compresses programs slightly more than does
ARC.COM, or anywhere from a few percent to almost 70%, all depending
on file type and save method used. The DZ program works as claimed-
there isn't much to say except that it works. All of this sounds good
but so what? Why change for a few percent?
The reason to change is speed. ALF programs are at least 10 times
faster than the ARC programs. Sometimes they are even quicker!
Programs which may have taken several minutes to process are done
in seconds with ALF. In fact the first time I tried ALF I thought it
didn't work... but it does! Reason enough to change? Not yet? Well,
ALF is free. Get it from your club PD library or download it from
SLOWPOKE! [2]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The full issue of HACK can be found here:
https://archive.org/details/AtariHACKNewsAugust1988
[2] SLOWPOKE was an Atari BBS in the Salem/Portland, Oregon area.
|
