EIGHT BIT MAGAZINE issue 16
Archiving at 8BS
You may recall a few months ago my request for an easy to use Archive/Dearchive
utility for the BBC. Well I am pleased to be able to say that Andrew Black has
provided the utility which is on this months disc.
As the content of 8BS discs increases through the expansion of this magazine
and the extra software submitted by 8BS members, it has become necessary to
find a solution to the 31 filename limit per disc surface imposed by the
standard DFS. Switching to ADFS was out of the question as many members do not
possess this ROM (and the 1770 FDC hardware required). Archiving seemed to be
the only answer but the archivers currently in the PD world were either too
complicated to use or required SWR which (again) some members did not have
access to.
Andrew's Archive/Dearchive utility will run on an unexpanded BBC and is as easy
to use as falling off a log. In order to give you the chance to get familiar
with the Archiver, a number of ARCed files are included on this months disc
which you will have to DeARC in order to run them. Such files include this
months Music selection and the second part of Hugh Williams' sorting article.
All ARCed programs are on side 2 of this months disc in the C directory. The
Archiver itself is loadable from the main menu, and the program itself is
stored on side 2 under the name $.Archive. It is wise to DeARC onto a blank
disc so please have a blank 80 track formatted disc standing by before you
follow these basic steps ...
1. Copy the ARCed file (ie. C.Music) to your blank disc
2. Insert your issue 16 disc and either CHAIN the program $.Archive
from side 2 of this months disc or alternatively select it from the
disc program menu after booting.
3. You should see a title screen with a question asking you which
drive to use. Remove your issue 16 disc at this point and insert
the disc containing the Archive as you prepared in step 1.
4. Enter the drive surface on which the ARCed file is stored
(if you are following these instructions closely then the drive
surface will be 0 (zero) - Press Return after input.
5. Select D to Decompress the Archive in response to the next prompt.
Press Return to register your input.
6. The computer will ask for a source file. Enter this and press
the Return key. For example C.MUSIC <Return>
That is all there is to it. The computer will then tell you how long
(in seconds) it is going to take for the process to complete. After
the process is complete you might like to delete the ARCed file from
the disc if you wish.
The process of De-Archiving has been made as easy to use as possible
as 8BS intends to make this a regular occurrence. I would therefore
like to know about any difficulties experienced when de-archiving the
software. For fuller instructions on the ARCVER utility including how
to ARC your own software please refer to the accompanying article
within the magazine.
WHAT ARE THE ARCed FILES?
You will need to use the above program to DeARC the following files.
All files are on side 2 of this months disc along with the ARCVER
utility itself ...
C.MUSIC - Contains the better beeb music programs available including
the excellent Captain Pugwash Remix.
C.PICTURE - Contains a couple of digitised compressed pictures that
can be viewed using the *LDPIC command which is also
contained within C.PICTURE. There is also a *SVPIC
command within the archive that can be used to SAVE
screenshots to disc which can then subsequently be
re-displayed using *LDPIC <filename>. This has not been
tested due to time constraints so I would be interested to
hear how any of you get on with this.
After the file has DeARCed you can display the pictures
by using this command ...
*LDPIC P.ARNEE Arnold Schwartzenegger.
*LDPIC P.WWOLF Apple Mac Werewolf Picture.
C.709 - An Archive of Hugh Williams' Sorting Article part 2. The
final part will be next month. Hugh is very keen to know
how well this series has been received, and I would like to
know what other area of computing you would like covered in
this way so please let me know if found this interesting and/
or useful. CHAIN"LOADER" to start the article running after
decompressing is complete.
C.BSHIPS - One of the first games for a computer must have been
battleships (yawn!). This archive containes 3 versions
of the populat (!) game ranging from one of the first
ever to hit the Beeb World, to one of the latest all
gadgets version. All programs are CHAINed.