LhA POWER UTILITIES 1.0, BY KARIM BENADDI & DAVIDE PASCA CHAPTER 1 .............................. SHAREWARE NOTICES CHAPTER 2 .............................. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 3 .............................. INSTALLATION CHAPTER 4 .............................. INSTRUCTIONS CHAPTER 5 .............................. COMBINATIONS SHAREWARE NOTICES These utilities are Shareware. You can redistribute them provided you don't modify the distribution archive and that all files remain intact. If you like & use them, you are required to send a contribution to: Karim Benaddi Via Albano 48N 00179 - Roma ITALIA You can contact me on ST-PIC BBS at +39-6-7842984 300-19200HST, 2 lines, 24 hours a day (leave message to sysop....me!). You can use the above addresses also if you have any suggestions, improvements, bug reports, or if you just want to get the latest version. INTRODUCTION What's new? Everthing's new! I had this idea a long time ago when the first PPMORE was released followed by PPANIM and PPSHOW. I didn't like the PowerPacker compressor but I did like it's decompression utilities. Since the old Paolo's LHARC 1.30, which was too slow for my idea, and the first LhA from Jonathan Forbes, it got me thinking. As the new .LHA algorithms with FAAAAAST decompression were released, I started to have a clear picture of what I wanted from LhA. When version 1.92 was released, I thought it was good. Now I'll put these thoughts together.... I hate imploder, powerpacker, bytekiller, and any other crunchers. Why? Because I love the amiga, love it's multitasking, love PURE programs, but I hate trashed memory. LhA doesn't trash memory. It just creates a special achived format (nothing in common with decruncher headers and memory trashing) and is much smaller than any powerpacker/imploder, yet still pure. So.... WHY LhA POWER UTILITIES? I asked myself, why not use the pure and polite LhA files like executables? I then started to put together these simple utilities. WHAT DO THEY DO? They just EXECUTE, PLAY, TYPE, or SHOW any .LHA/.LhAH file without the need to decompress them first! ------------------------------ INSTALLATION 1) Decrunch with your old LhA or with your oldest LHARC 1.30 the included LhA192.LhAH. When decrunched, copy the new "LhA" to your C: directory. 2) Decrunch the MPLAY41.LHA file using "LhA X" and copy the MPLAY file to your C: directory. 3) Decrunch the SSHOW.LHA file using "LhA X" and copy the SSHOW file to your C: directory. 4) Now decrunch the LhAPOWER.LHA archive using "LhA X" and copy LhAEXE, LhATYPE, LhAPLAY, and LhASHOW to your C: directory. --------------------- INSTRUCTIONS Now you are ready to EXECUTE, TYPE, PLAY or SHOW .LHA/.LhAH files. Let's test it out. From a CLI/Shell prompt, type: LhAEXE SYS:AVAIL (You should have the AVAIL.LHA archive in the your SYS: directory) If you have the AVAIL.LHA archive in (for example) DF0:ARCHIVES, you would type: LhAEXE DF0:ARCHIVES/AVAIL What do you get? The same result as if you had used the normal AVAIL command. A bit slower, but the avail you've just loaded is an LhAH or LHA crunched AVAIL that takes up much less disk space and doesn't trash your memory as Imploder or Powerpacker does. What's the syntax? Easy! Call LhAEXE with it's argument being the name of the archive, which MUST ALSO BE the name of the file in the archive! If the file in the archive has a different name than the name of the archive itself, you must use an additional argument with LhAEXE. If the archive where you put AVAIL (or Dir, List or whatever you want..) is called UTILITIES.LHA, then you would type: LhAEXE DF0:ARCHIVES/UTILITIES AVAIL The result is as follows (the same result as above): Type Available In use Maximum Largest chip 923344 116808 1040152 913216 fast 2142280 2051992 4194272 2047824 total 3065624 2168800 5234424 2047824 Powerful huh? So, if you type "LhA L SYS:AVAIL" you'll get: LhA 1.92 Archive/Extract utility - Written By Jonathan Forbes Copyright © 1990, 1991, Xenomiga technology. All rights reserved. Listing of archive 'sys:avail.lha' Original Packed Ratio Date Time Type CRC Name -------- ------ --- --------- -------- ---- ------------ 1964 1231 37% 13-aug-88 18:03:22 -lh5- 53AC Avail -------- ------ --- 1 file(s) As you can see, there is the file AVAIL in the archive AVAIL.LHA. And for example, if you want to call DPAINT with LhAEXE, you first need to put DPaint into an archive: LhA -2 A SYS:DPAINT DF0:DPAINT ...and then type: LhAEXE SYS:DPAINT ...and you're now running Deluxe Paint from an archive without decompressing first!!!! In the first case you are going to add the file DPAINT to one archive that you've called DPAINT and then you will get the DPAINT.LHA archive. But LhAEXE is NOT only for DPaint of course!! You can use it with all amiga executable files that you want! If for example, you have a startup-sequence like this: -------------------------------------------- echo "Workbench disk release 1.3" echo " " setclock l addbuffers df0: 10 FF >NIL -0 Resident CLI L:Shell-Seg system pure add etc. -------------------------------------------- ...you could alter your startup and save disk space with LhAEXE: -------------------------------------------- LhAEXE C:UTILITIES echo "Workbench disk release 1.3" LhAEXE C:UTILITIES echo " " LhAEXE C:UTILITIES setclock l LhAEXE C:UTILITIES addbuffers df0: 10 LhAEXE C:UTILITIES FF >NIL -0 LhAEXE >nil: -RAM L:HANDLERS shell-seg LhAEXE C:UTILITIES resident CLI ram:shell-seg system pure add LhAEXE C:UTILITIES delete ram:shell-seg ------------------------------------------- The result is the same as above, but all files are LhA crunched, saving disk space. This can be a bit slow for 68000 users but can be VERY useful for accelerated Amigas, because the .LHA algorithm is nearly instantaneous on accelerated machines. The -RAM (or -ram) flag means that LhAEXE will create in ram: the file you specify in the second argument of the command line. In this case: LhAEXE -RAM L:HANDLERS shell-seg ...and you'll obtain RAM:SHELL-SEG (that is a pure file). This is the same result as: LhA X L:HANDLERS.LHA shell-seg RAM: ...but shorter and faster, since there are not as many arguments and no screen output. Note that the decrunched LhA files will use double the memory that the file would otherwise require while decrunching because LhAEXE and the other utilities will open a temporary file called POWERTEMP in memory that maintains part of the data of your archive file. It will USE your memory not TRASH it. Now let's continue with examples: If, for example, you have a file called POWERDOC.LHA (included in the main archive - the file you are reading) in your SYS:DOCS/ directory, and you want to read the docs in the archive without decompressing it. It MUST have the name POWERDOC.TXT or the same name of the archive plus the .TXT extension. You would type: LhATYPE SYS:DOCS/POWERDOC And you'll get these docs............ But if you have an archive file in your SYS:DOCS directory called DOCS.LHA that contains POWERDOC.TXT you would type: LhATYPE SYS:DOCS/DOCS POWERDOC.TXT And you'll get these docs again....... To pause the display of the text file you have to use the SPACE key and then the DEL key when you want to resume. If you want to stop the scroll, type ^C (CTRL + C). If you want to read multiple files from an archive, you would type: LhATYPE SYS:DOCS/DOCS POWERDOC.TXT MYMANUAL.DOC DONALDDUCK.MSG ...etc... The first ^C will stop the display of the typing sequence. Let's continue with the other utilities: -------------- To hear the supplied music module SAM.LHA, you MUST have the utility MPLAY in your C: directory. LhAPLAY will load MPLAY and play the module in the .LHA/.LhAH archive. I decided to use a completed program like MPLAY since it plays different formats of SoundTracker/NoiseTracker/Startrekker/ProTracker modules, and also MED/OKTALYZER/FUTURESOUND modules that can be played with proper LhAPLAY arguments. So to hear the modules MOD.SAM in the SAM.LHA archive, you would type: LhAPLAY SYS:SAM (Just press the left mouse button to gradually and softly stop the music.) If you don't use arguments, the name of the file in the archive MUST be the same name as the archive with a prefix of "MOD". For example, if you have an archive called KWIK.LHA/LhAH, the module in the archive must have the name MOD.KWIK This can be very useful for Sysops that want to hear modules without decrunching them. What if the name of the module in the archive does not have the prefix of MOD.??????...... Let's imagine an archive in SYS:MODS/ called MYMODULES.LHA and in it, a module called BACH.OKT). You would type: LhAPLAY SYS:MODS/MYMODULES BACK.OKT And you can hear 8 voice music.... LhAPLAY will use FASTRAM while decrunching modules, and since modules require chip memory to run, LhAPLAY will not trash or use any module's memory. ----------------- And at last, now we want to see the picture in the archive called THUMPER.LHA. This picture has the name THUMPER.PIC, so the picture must have the same name as the archive plus the .PIC extension: LhASHOW SYS:THUMPER And we will see the picture. Exit with the ESC key. The above syntax will show any IFF or HAM picture. It will load the utility SSHOW from the C: directory (supplied in the archive). And also as in previous examples, you can use arguments for pictures with different extensions and different archive names: LhASHOW SYS:PICTURES/COLLECTION NICEGIRL.IFF If you want to show .GIF pictures, all you have to do is to replace the supplied SSHOW utility with your favorite GIF viewer (Showgif and Turbogif tested) by simply renaming it as SSHOW in your C: directory. But don't forget that you can't supply any argument for any picture viewer since they are filtered through LhASHOW. ------------------- COMBINATIONS The following are some examples of different applications of LhAPOWER UTILITES. Here's a scriptfile that will compile your program.c in the current directory: ------------------------------------------------------ LhAEXE -RAM SYS:LATTICE/LATTICE BLINK LhAEXE -RAM SYS:LATTICE/LATTICE LC1 LhAEXE -RAM SYS:LATTICE/LATTICE LC2 LhAEXE -RAM SYS:LATTICE/LATTICE LCERRS.TXT LhAEXE -RAM C:UTILITIES assign ram:assign env: ram: ram:assign include: sys:lattice/compactH ram:assign lib: sys:lattice/lib ram:assign LC: ram: LhAEXE C:UTILITIES delete ram:assign LhAEXE SYS:LATTICE/LATTICE LC -L program.c LhAEXE C:UTILITIES delete ram:blink ram:lc1 ram:lc2 ------------------------------------------------------- You may be thinking that this method will be very slow, but just think how useful it is to run pure programs without trashing memory in this manner, if you have for example, a 68030. Imagine that programs with unlocable hunks such as DPAINT or BBS programs, can be compressed because they will get their data from the POWERTEMP file that the LhAPOWER UTILIES creates in memory when you load the packed files. LhAPOWER UTILITIES are pure, and can be made resident with the AmigaDos resident command. (Be sure their pure bit is set.) In another example, you may want to make the LhAPOWER utilities resident like this: ------------------------------------------------------- LhAEXE >nil: -RAM L:HANDLERS shell-seg LhAEXE C:UTILITIES resident CLI ram:Shell-seg pure add LhAEXE C:UTILITIES delete ram:shell-seg LhAEXE C:UTILITIES mount newcon: LhAEXE C:UTILITIES newshell LhAEXE C:UTILITIES resident C:LhAEXE pure add LhAEXE C:UTILITIES resident C:LhATYPE pure add LhAEXE C:UTILITIES resident C:LhAPLAY pure add LhAEXE C:UTILITIES resident C:LhASHOW pure add LhAEXE C:UTILITIES endcli >nil: ------------------------------------------------------- Heres how my startup-sequence looks: -------------------------------------------------------- LhAEXE C:UTILITIES stack 50000 LhAEXE C:UTILITIES run >nil: LhAEXE C:UTILITIES setclock l LhAEXE C:UTILITIES addbuffers dh0: 500 LhAEXE C:UTILITIES addbuffers dh1: 500 LhAEXE C:UTILITIES dh1:bbs/utilities add LhAEXE C:UTILITIES prompt "-->> " LhAEXE C:UTILITIES netpnet-server unit 1 LhAEXE -RAM C:UTILITIES assign fms: sys:fms ram:assign bbs: dh1:bbs ram:assign xenolink: bbs: LhAEXE C:UTILITIES cd xenolink: ram:assign T: sys:t ram:assign MSG: xenolink:messages ram:assign XLOG: xenolink:log ram:assign XFIDONET: xenolink:fidonet ram:assign XFILECAT: xenolink:filecatalogue ram:assign XTEXT: xenolink:text ram:assign XBULLETINS: xenolink:bulletins ram:assign XMENUS: xenolink:menus ram:assign XMENUTEXT: xenolink:menutext ram:assign XCONFIG: xenolink:configuration ram:assign XQUEST: xenolink:xquest ram:assign XIN: xenolink:in ram:assign XOUT: xenolink:out ram:assign XUSERS: xenolink:users ram:assign XSCRIPTS: xenolink:scripts ram:assign XWAITMAIL: xenolink:waitingmail ram:assign doors: bbs:doors ram:assign DOWNLOADING: xenolink:downloading ram:assign xmsgdl: doors:msgdl ram:assign poll: doors:poll ram:assign ncomm: sys:modem ram:assign pd: xenolink:downloading/amiga ram:assign pc: xenolink:downloading/ibm ram:assign modules: xenolink:downloading/modules ram:assign pictures: xenolink:downloading/pictures ram:assign elite: xenolink:downloading/elite ram:assign text: sys:text ram:assign prg: sys:prg LhAEXE C:UTILITIES delete ram:assign LhAEXE C:UTILITIES run LhAEXE BBS:UTILITIES mt LhAEXE C:UTILITIES wait 7 doors:xed/xedconfig LhAEXE C:UTILITIES run LhAEXE BBS:UTILITIES xenolink -i 1 LhAEXE C:UTILITIES wait 4 LhAEXE C:UTILITIES run LhAEXE BBS:UTILITIES xenolink -i 2 --------------------------------------------------------- And it's pretty fast... But I've got a 68030 at 33mhz :^) LhAPOWER UTILITES work fine with DirectoryOpus and DirectoryOpusPro arguments. ---------------------------------------- THE FUTURE We are working on the LhAPOWER SHELL, which is powerful beyond your wildest dreams. It may or may not be finished...... It depends on how much support we get for LhAPOWER UTILITIES 1.0. Send any suggestions, donations, comments to: Karim Benaddi Via Albano 48N 00179 - ROMA ITALIA Or on my BBS in Rome at +39-6-7842984. You can contact me also at: The Mouse Trap BBS in San Diego, California, USA 619-464-2134 1200/2400/9600HST Over 230 megabytes of downloads for all! English documentation edited by Bruce Lawson ====================================================================== Originally this was concepted for LZ and not for LhA, so do not wonder if there is written about LhA v1.92, etc.