Using downloaded software

[BGary335]

Another question:I have been using Winace to compress my adf files into lha archives. I've just about finished compressing all of my adf files, but there are a handful that Winace was not able to compress enough to fit them onto a 720k floppy. In fact, it did not compress them at all-they were 880kb before and 880kb after compression. Is there another program for the PC that might be able to compress these files into lha archives small enough so that they can fit on floppy?

[Tomas]

BGary335 wrote:
Another question:I have been using Winace to compress my adf files into lha archives. I've just about finished compressing all of my adf files, but there are a handful that Winace was not able to compress enough to fit them onto a 720k floppy. In fact, it did not compress them at all-they were 880kb before and 880kb after compression. Is there another program for the PC that might be able to compress these files into lha archives small enough so that they can fit on floppy?

That is what i use winace for actually.. you can compress to ace while splitting up the archive to for example 710kB each, and then you copy those 2 files over to your amiga and run unace.
you will probably need a version of winace that is at least a few years old though as the amiga version is not up2date.

[ptek]

by BGary335 on 2006/10/28 21:15:16

Another question:I have been using Winace to compress my adf files into lha archives. I've just about finished compressing all of my adf files, but there are a handful that Winace was not able to compress enough to fit them onto a 720k floppy. In fact, it did not compress them at all-they were 880kb before and 880kb after compression. Is there another program for the PC that might be able to compress these files into lha archives small enough so that they can fit on floppy?

What you really need in those cases is to split the file into 2 pieces.

Try Chunker :
http://aminet.net/util/misc/chunker.lha

On the archive is the binaries for MSDOS (run on a windows command shell) and fo course the Amiga verions.

The process is simple : you split the big file using chunker.exe on the PC and merge on the Amiga using dechunk13 (I think is the version of OS1.3 and OS1.2 - dechunk must be for OS2.x)

Is seems pretty simple to use (type the dechunk13 or chunk and it will show the arguments) but if in doubt ask here.

Good luck

BTW : If trasnfering a lot of file between the PC and Amiga, I recommend PC2Amiga and using a paralell cable (it has a name : somethink similar to link ... laplink ?! someone refresh my memory). With serial cables I never been sucessful.
 
http://www.winuae.de/download/PC2Am308.lha
I could not find if it needs OS2.x

[ptek]

or try Kindred of Babble-on's solution

[BGary335]

@Tomas
I started out by trying to move WinAce files from PC to Amiga, but the problem with that was that Unace wasn't recognizing them. But that was probably because I'm using the latest version of Winace. I will locate an older version and give that a try.

@ptek

I seem to have a problem with everyhting I try to do, so as opposed to switching to yet anotehr program I've never used,I think I'll stay with the one's I'm familiar with. Believe me, you'll thank me for it. :-D

I've actually attempted the parallel cable method, but, as always, I had some sort of problem and gave up on it.  :-D

[Tomas]

Yes, that is probably it.. I think i recall that i had to do the same.

[ptek]

A quick turtoial on chunker :


on PC:
------

Imagine you have a large file called bigfile.adf

so do
chunker.exe bigfile.adf bigfile 710000

2 parts you be generated :
bigfile.000
bigfile.001

so, copy both to two DD disks.


on Amiga:
---------
copy those 2 file to anywhere on the Amiga HD.
Put dechunk13 to C: or the same place on the HD you putted the 2 files.

now :

dechunk13 bigfile.adf bigfile

and then you'll get the merged bigfile.adf back.

simple

[BGary335]

@Tomas

That was exactly the problem. I've archived a few files using Winace 1.2 and Unace seems to be able to open them without a problem. Thanks for your help! 8-)

@ptek

You REALLY don't want me to try using a program I'm not familiar with. Believe me. :-D

[ptek]

No problem

But feel free to ask if trying chunker

Remember that chunker can split an enormous file, of any type (lha for example) which is useful if you want to get an archive from the aminet which is lets say 2MB. In that case, ace wont compress much (lha is already a compression, not so efficient than ace)

[BGary335]

I will definitley ask if I decide to use Chunker and have any questions.

Honestly, I don't expect to find many 2MB files on Aminet, as there weren't many Amiga programs that were that large, and if they were they were split up into multiple disks. And even if there are lha files of that size, I can take the adf's it contains and recompress them into seperate lha's or ace's.

[BGary335]

One more question: Is there a way to use regular 1.44MB floppies with the Amiga? I once heard thatall you have to do is cover the window on the upper left corner of the disk, but I don't know whether there's any truth to that. Thanks in advance for your help!

[Tomas]

BGary335 wrote:
One more question: Is there a way to use regular 1.44MB floppies with the Amiga? I once heard thatall you have to do is cover the window on the upper left corner of the disk, but I don't know whether there's any truth to that. Thanks in advance for your help!

you dont even need to cover the other hole if you format it under workbench. On a amiga it works just like a normal DD.
But if you want to format it on the pc, then you do indeed have to cover the hole.

[BGary335]

It just so happens that I will be formatting them on the Amiga, so it'll be much easier than I thought it would be! Thanks for your help Tomas! 8-)