Short:    Packs DFx, DHx etc., XPK support, V1.3
Author:   Christian Wasner
Uploader: u241045@niesel.dkrz.d400.de
Type:     util/arc

With  this program you can read or write data directly from/to a disk.  The
blocks of the disk are read and stored into a file.  All types of disks can
be read (i.e.  DHx:  RAD:  DFx:  etc., but not CD Roms).  When handling DOS
disks,  only  the  used blocks are read/written if not specified otherwise.
All  blocks  are  handled if the disk has no known filesystem (e.g.  PeeCee
disks  or  demo  disks with trackloaders.  The data can also be packed with
any bugfree XPK packer.  The program currently only has a shell interface.

All  this  sounds  like "Oh no, another DMS clone", but DMS can only handle
floppy  disks or devices with the size of floppy disks.  Even Non-DOS disks
can be handled (then all blocks are read, of course).  Another advantage of
PackDev  is  that  is  doesn't  use stolen code like the authors of DMS do.
PackDev  supports  the  xpk packer system thus it's much more flexible than
DMS.   You  can  use any xpk packer you like, e.g.  a disk with pictures or
sounds  or  anything  else  can be packed with an xpk packer customized for
that type of data.  When comparing size, you see that DevPack is only 22 KB
long !  If you pack it with PowerPacker, it would be less than 13 KB !

Have fun

Christian




History

Aug-14 1994 V1.0 - Initial release, never released I think...

Aug-18 1994 V1.1 - Minor bugs fixed

Apr-16 1995 V1.2 - Problems  with  OFS disks fixed (PackDev didn't know the
                   number of free/used blocks)
                 - ALL, NOVERBOSE, QUIET and NOCONFIRM keyword added
                 - Doc file corrected and improved
                 - Filesystem  type  is  now  read  from block 0 instead of
                   reading  it from the DOS node, because the latter always
                   contains DOS\0 for Amiga floppies
                 - Minor bugfixes

Apr-30 1995 V1.3 - If the partition with LIBS: on it is to be handled,
                   PackDev could not open XPK (sub-)libraries, fixed
                 - Minimum XPK buffer size corrected
                 - TESTFILE parameter added
                 - Checksums installed, in case an xpk packer doesn't keep
                   them..
                 - Argument handling changed (you got me, Christian...)
                 - BLOCKLIST parameter added
                 - PASSWORD parameter added


============================= Archive contents =============================

Original  Packed Ratio    Date     Time    Name
-------- ------- ----- --------- --------  -------------
     358     200 44.1% 01-May-95 11:09:48  FILE_ID.DIZ
   23372   11097 52.5% 06-May-95 07:55:44  PackDev
   21965    8566 61.0% 06-May-95 07:56:42  PackDev.doc
-------- ------- ----- --------- --------
   45695   19863 56.5% 09-May-95 13:37:10   3 files