============================================================================= = - UGA NEWS -------------------------------------------------------------- = ============================================================================= UGA releases November: - Powerfonts II, the second license disk with more Iff colour fonts Artists: H.Holt and J. Grote Punt. - Powerutility 4, Powermenu V2.0. A complete menudesigner to create professional menu's for disk and harddisk users. Iff compatible. Check out the info file on this disk. Coded by Patrick Huitema. - Powerutility 5, Huge Pro. Check out the demoversion for full details. Programmed by Nick Bozines who lives in Greece. - Powerutility 6, Kill da Virus Pro. A professional viruskiller produced by Mike Hansell from Australia. Check your disks for file/link/boot viruses to avoid damage to your data. - Powerutility 1, update of AMIGA's finest cruncher. Powerpacker 4.0!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a list of all the new features of PowerPacker 4.0a. Features of V3.0a and 3.0b are also included for people who only know the shareware version of PowerPacker, version 2.3b. PowerPacker 4.0a is provided in two versions: a version for Kickstart 1.2/1.3 and one for Kickstart 2.0 or higher. Both versions support Kickstart 2.0, but the special 2.0 version has more features. VERSION 3.0a o FIRST COMMERCIAL VERSION, *MAJOR* UPDATE! o FAST!! 40-50 times faster crunching than previous versions!! Three different speeds selectable. Multitask switch removed, no longer needed. o Full overlay support!! (crunches e.g. DPaint III) o Decrunching 20% faster. o Crunches up to 5% (yippee :-) o Recrunch now supports 'TurboSqueeze', 'Titanics' and 'Imploder'. o Decrunch header more memory efficient, you can now also decrunch and run programs larger than 250K on a 512K machine. o Script much more powerful: - Insert #, Delete #. - New commands: Skip crunched files. - Delete source files (safe or quick). - Maximum number of script commands user-definable. o Automatic hunklab and automatic recrunch switches. o Recrunches data files. o Encrypted executables!! Protect your programs as well as data! o File requester much improved: - user-friendlier sorting, no more file-chasing! - files / directories seperated. - show/hide .info files. - extended selection possible (including ALL and CLEAR gadgets, for use in script). - drag-bar, position is remembered for the next time you use it. - shows all devices attached as well as all assigns made. - 7 entries on screen at once (previously 6). - supports Shift-Return "standard" to jump from file to dir gadget. o Switch for BCPL programs added (WorkBench 1.3 c: directory) o Position of the small sleep-window is remembered, so the window will open where you last left it. o Read (crunched) text files from within PowerPacker. (using PPMore) o Sound alarm. o Extended menu selecting now supported. o Script prints statistics after execution. o Before saving, length of crunched file is compared to original length. o Abort now only works when PowerPacker screen is active, no more problems when multitasking. o CLI commands improved: - are reentrant, can be made resident and run from several CLI's at once. - also 40-50 times faster. - shorter code - 'Crunch NOSUFFIX' bug fixed, used to delete original file if source and destination where the same and crunching was aborted. VERSION 3.0b o Revamped user interface, all new 'Workbench 2.0' 3D look :-) Still runs on Kickstart 1.3! o Supports 'powerpacker.library'. You can now save executables with a much smaller decrunch header that uses 'powerpacker.library'. o Screen colors are now saved with preferences so they can be changed by the user. o Small bug fixed in script auto-delete. Wouldn't delete data files after DE-crunching them. o When run on Kickstart 2.0 the PowerPacker screen is made public. o Some bug fixes: - Fixed 'Auto Recrunch' bug, it simply didn't work :-( - Script now correctly records 'Auto Recrunch'. - Recrunching of data files is now fully functional. VERSION 4.0a o Uses and requires 'powerpacker.library' version 35 or higher. o Uses and requires 'reqtools.library' version 37 or higher. o Crunches commands up to 10% better! o Full ARexx interface implemented! If you find PowerPacker's script functions too limiting you can now write your own ARexx macros. ARexx port name is POWERPACKER. o Menus are larger and (hopefully) clearer. All important items have keyboard shortcuts. o Now possible to crunch LoadSeg files. This includes libraries and devices. Crunched LoadSeg files are saved in a special format for use with PPLoadSeg 1.1 or higher. o Screen will auto-adjust to Workbench screen size. o A standard wait pointer is used while loading and saving. o Starting PowerPacker twice will bring up a requester asking you if you want to run another copy or pop the old copy to the front. o Crunching progress is displayed using a progress bar, much nicer :-) Crunching can now be stopped by clicking a 'Stop' gadget or pressing Ctrl-C. o 'Set # Commands' now displays current number of commands (ReqTools). o Script destination can be automatically set to source directory. o 'Save To...' function added to menu: has a different buffer than the other requesters. This makes it much easier to load some files from one directory and save them to another. o 'Sleep' is now called 'Iconify'. o 'Verify Sleep' switch removed. Buffers are no longer purged because you can still ask PowerPacker to (de)crunch files using ARexx while it is iconified. o 'Color Crunch' switch removed, was rather silly. o Improved requesters, much nicer looking (ReqTools). o File requester much improved, uses screen font, shows more files on screen and has a pattern gadget (ReqTools). o File requester buffer is updated automatically by PowerPacker whenever a file is added, removed or changed (saved, deleted,...). o Colors can be changed using a palette requester (ReqTools). o 'Save Prefs...' moved to Project menu. o Copies and deletes icons belonging to files (if icon.library is available). o Recrunching supports Imploder 1.0 to Imploder 4.0, including library imploded files and overlayed imploded files. o Added 'Decrunch Only...' to Recrunch menu. o Has been fully tested using enforcer and mungwall debugging tools. o Processor caches are cleared in decrunch headers after loading and relocating code. This should insure 68040 compatibility. Only applies to Amigas running Kickstart 2.0 (V37). I have not been able to test this. *** Kickstart 2.0 only! *** The following features are only available in the Kickstart 2.0 version of PowerPacker. This version requires release 2.0 of the Amiga operating system to run. It is advised you use it in combination with the special 2.0 version of reqtools.library. o Contains embedded version string (for use with 2.0 Version command). o Possible to open PowerPacker screen in a multitude of resolutions (interlace, productivity,...). o Screen will auto-adjust to current overscan settings. o Screen font is user-definable. Any non-proportional font can be selected using a font requester (ReqTools). o Password entry improved: cursor now moves to give better feedback. o 'Sleep' is now called 'Iconify' and does EXACTLY that. It uses the new Workbench 2.0 AppIcon feature. o Shell commands rewritten for Kickstart 2.0, shorter code. o ARexx output console opens on PowerPacker screen, instead of Workbench. o Has an ARexx menu with the possibility to enter your 10 favourite scripts. It is also possible to load and save these script names. ReqTools -------- PowerPacker 4.0a uses reqtools.library, a brand new library containing lots of requesters. ReqTools is provided in two versions: one for Kickstart 1.2/1.3 and one for Kickstart 2.0 or higher. A list of some of the features follows: All requesters: o have a pixel-perfect Workbench 2.0 3D look, also on Kickstart 1.3. o adjust to interlaced screens and to the screen's font (rtEZRequest, rtGetLong, rtGetString) or to any fixed-width font if the screen's font is proportional (rtPaletteRequest, rtFileRequest or rtFontRequest). o are extensively tested using enforcer and mungwall debugging tools. The query or notify requester: o easy keyboard shortcuts: o Amiga V and Amiga B (like the standard requesters). o Y for positive response. o N, R, Esc for negative response. o Return can also be used as a shortcut and can be associated with any response. The gadget in question will have its text printed bold. Default response for Return is the positive response. o buttons give visual feedback when keyboard shortcuts are used. The file requester: o similar in use and look-and-feel as Asl file requester. o buffers directories in memory. o supports multiple selection of files and optionally of directories. o when multi-select is on All, Clear and Match.. buttons are available. All selects, and Clear unselects all files. Match.. brings up a requester where the user can enter a pattern to select files. o can be used as a directory requester (showing no files). o pattern gadget to match files on. o shows all devices (with volume names) and all assigns made. o supports TABCYCLE under 2.0 o pattern matching in supports _ALL_ AmigaDOS 2.0 patterns. The font requester: o buffers all fonts in memory. o shows sample of font you click on. o can be also be used to select the font's style. o supports color fonts, can change the screen's palette. o supports scaled fonts (AmigaDOS Release 2 only). o supports TABCYCLE under 2.0 The palette requester: o features Copy, Swap and Spread functions. o current values of red, green and blue are displayed. The number requester: o displays the minimum and maximum number accepted. ============================================================================= = - UGA NEWS -------------------------------------------------------------- = =============================================================================