walter_J64bit Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Yup, just like what I said in the topic, I like to get my hands on one something like what Homesofts use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezz Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 (edited) Yup, just like what I said in the topic, I like to get my hands on one something like what Homesofts use.LZW Pack http://madteam.atari8.info/uzytki/lzwpack.zip Super Packer v3.1 22/06/09 http://madteam.atari8.info/uzytki/sp.7z and PC command line Squash 1.4 http://madteam.atari8.info/uzytki/sqz.7z Edited October 15, 2009 by Tezz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Yup, just like what I said in the topic, I like to get my hands on one something like what Homesofts use. Is this a loader that uses compression, self extractor, or what??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I think you might be looking for a "packer". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 If it's a packer you are looking for: http://hem.bredband.net/magli143/exo/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted October 15, 2009 Author Share Posted October 15, 2009 Yup, just like what I said in the topic, I like to get my hands on one something like what Homesofts use. Is this a loader that uses compression, self extractor, or what??? Hmmm, It's like a self extractor but the files runs after you load from a DOS or a game menu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 (edited) Yup, just like what I said in the topic, I like to get my hands on one something like what Homesofts use. Is this a loader that uses compression, self extractor, or what??? Hmmm, It's like a self extractor but the files runs after you load from a DOS or a game menu. That's a packer. The one I linked to is very portable and fast but it might not have the greatest compression. I found a comparison of several different packers but you'd have to port the code from the Z80. The compressor would be the same between different systems. For those that don't know about this, to reduce file sizes and load times a program is compressed, the decompressor and compression table are tacked onto the front. When you execute the program, the decompressor extracts and executes the actual program you want to run. Edited October 15, 2009 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted October 15, 2009 Author Share Posted October 15, 2009 (edited) Yup, just like what I said in the topic, I like to get my hands on one something like what Homesofts use. Is this a loader that uses compression, self extractor, or what??? Hmmm, It's like a self extractprogramor but the files runs after you load from a DOS or a game menu. That's a packer. The one I linked to is very portable and fast but it might not have the greatest compression. I found a comparison of several different packers but you'd have to port the code from the Z80. The compressor would be the same between different systems. For those that don't know about this, to reduce file sizes and load times a program is compressed, the decompressor and compression table are tacked onto the front. When you execute the program, the decompressor extracts and executes the actual program you want to run. I wish, I could program the A8 but I need a packer that's ready to run. I'm going to see what I can do with LZW Pack Edited October 15, 2009 by walter_J64bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Dev/pucrunch/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Bewesoft Superpacker is a native a8 packer which is good to start. http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/145682-super-packer-gui-for-deflater-and-exomizer/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Well, afaik Homesoft currently uses one of the bit/byte crunchers - the ones that remove zeros from an ML file (therefore you get dozens if not hundreds of short data-segments, I really hate this). These crunchers were one of the first packers (if not the first) on the A8. If you want one of them look out for: - The Cruncher by Olaf Hausiek - The Compactor by Stephan Baucke - Zageszacz (sp? a program from Poland) - Bin-Compressor and many other similar programs. The programs packed with these crunchers can only be loaded from a gamedos... Now, if you are looking for a packer with other/better compression and automatic depacker, search for: - Fast PAcker by SRU (uses page 4 to depack !) - Dj Packer 1 (uses page 1 + page 4 to depack) - Dj Packer 2 (uses page 5 + page 6 to depack) - Code3 Cruncher 2.2D (64k disk version) - Code3 Cruncher 3.0 (128k XRAM version) - Superpacker by Bewesoft - Flash Packer by FoX - Power Packer by Thorsten Karwoth (uses page 4 to depack) - Packer & Linker by Thorsten Karwoth (uses page 4 to depack) - Magnus Cruncher 4.x or 5.0 by Magnus (version 5 requires afaik 128k RAM) just to name a few. Of course there are also PC programs available that can pack A8 ML programs, so that they unpack on the A8 automatically. There is the Exomizer and my favourite SuperPacker by TeBe (which also includes Exomizer). Attached you find some of the above mentioned A8 packers (file versions only, thus some Code3 and Magnus crunchers are missing here)... -Andreas Koch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted October 17, 2009 Author Share Posted October 17, 2009 Well, afaik Homesoft currently uses one of the bit/byte crunchers - the ones that remove zeros from an ML file (therefore you get dozens if not hundreds of short data-segments, I really hate this). These crunchers were one of the first packers (if not the first) on the A8. If you want one of them look out for: - The Cruncher by Olaf Hausiek - The Compactor by Stephan Baucke - Zageszacz (sp? a program from Poland) - Bin-Compressor and many other similar programs. The programs packed with these crunchers can only be loaded from a gamedos... Now, if you are looking for a packer with other/better compression and automatic depacker, search for: - Fast PAcker by SRU (uses page 4 to depack !) - Dj Packer 1 (uses page 1 + page 4 to depack) - Dj Packer 2 (uses page 5 + page 6 to depack) - Code3 Cruncher 2.2D (64k disk version) - Code3 Cruncher 3.0 (128k XRAM version) - Superpacker by Bewesoft - Flash Packer by FoX - Power Packer by Thorsten Karwoth (uses page 4 to depack) - Packer & Linker by Thorsten Karwoth (uses page 4 to depack) - Magnus Cruncher 4.x or 5.0 by Magnus (version 5 requires afaik 128k RAM) just to name a few. Of course there are also PC programs available that can pack A8 ML programs, so that they unpack on the A8 automatically. There is the Exomizer and my favourite SuperPacker by TeBe (which also includes Exomizer). Attached you find some of the above mentioned A8 packers (file versions only, thus some Code3 and Magnus crunchers are missing here)... -Andreas Koch. Thanks, I'll look at what you have posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchorvat Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 hello fellow atari friends, could anyone share the following packers mentioned above? - Fast Packer by SRU - DJ packer 1+2 - Code 3 Cruncher i am somehow unable to find these tools online anymore... thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Have you looked at atarionline.pl? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 (edited) Well, atarionline.pl now has a search function for programs, here you can find some (but not all) packers you are looking for: http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=G.%20Archiwizowanie%20i%20kompresowanie&PHPSESSID=772jr96b67c0ih50fupkd7g3c1 Attached you will find some packers I used from time to time (nowadays I mostly use Superpacker/Exomizer). PACKER1.zip Edited February 12, 2018 by CharlieChaplin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1050 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Somewhat off topic, but anything out there only RLE? Could write my own, but man it would be nice to not have to go there if it's already been done. Even a PC version might work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Rle encoder? http://madteam.atari8.info/index.php?prod=uzytki And MADS assembler has rle packer and source code included in examples. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 (edited) Hmmm, afaik A8 Superpacker 1.0 by Bewesoft has Huffman, Run-Length-Encoded and Lempel-Ziv... (think Run-Length in this packer means RLE) Huffman and RLE pack fast but not good, Lempel-Ziv takes extremely long, too long for my patience and therefore I prefered DJ-Packer and Code3 Cruncher which got better packing results or higher packing efficiency and also depacked faster; it is possible in Superpacker to freely use one, two or all three packing methods, e.g. RLE-only. http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=G.%20Archiwizowanie%20i%20kompresowanie&tg=Super%20Packer&PHPSESSID=0q969da820l9si5i19bg9gb3q3#Super%20Packer Bewe's Super-Packer is also on the zipped ATR above... If I remember correctly, for R,G,B pictures (Colourview) there was the Basic program Colourview-Squash by Clay Halliwell which RLE-packed them into one *.RGB file, instead of three separate 62-sector pictures... to view these RLE-packed pictures then you needed the program Coloursquash-View http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=2.%20Grafika&tg=ColorSquash#ColorSquash http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=2.%20Grafika&tg=Colorsquashview#Colorsquashview Edited February 13, 2018 by CharlieChaplin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchorvat Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Have you looked at atarionline.pl? nope. but having a look now. seems like a very nice site to look for a8 software thanks! Well, atarionline.pl now has a search function for programs, here you can find some (but not all) packers you are looking for: http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=G.%20Archiwizowanie%20i%20kompresowanie&PHPSESSID=772jr96b67c0ih50fupkd7g3c1 Attached you will find some packers I used from time to time (nowadays I mostly use Superpacker/Exomizer). thank you! Exomizer somehow did not work for me. Tried different configurations (and packers) in SuperPacker on PC, which includes exomizer to no avail. The file i need to pack is a big one - $700 to $BC00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrathchild Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 (edited) Is the file an executable binary (i.e. has header) or just a block? exomizer sfx <run address> -t 168 -Di_table_addr=$600 -Di_load_addr=<new binary's load address> -o <Target Name>.xex <Source Name>.xex for example: exomizer sfx $1200 -t 168 -Di_table_addr=$600 -Di_load_addr=$2800 -o LNinja3Sid.xex Ln3Sid.xex This way the resulting binary loads from $2800 and so doesn't interfere with the loaded DOS. In theory exomizer should be able to determine a run address from an executable but I don't think this is implemented for the Atari target yet [-t 168]. If your data file is just a block then you need to state its loading address, e.g. (note this was for the 5200 and so the table address was of $300 was legit): exomizer sfx $2000 -n -t 168 -Di_table_addr=$300 -Di_load_addr=$8000 -o Embargo.sfx Embargo.rom@$2000 Edited February 13, 2018 by Wrathchild 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1050 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Rle encoder? Sorry, I thought I had answered this earlier. But no, extractor and only RLE for BMP pictures as well. But source for encoder better than nothing which is what I got right now if Charlie Chaplin's offerings don't pan out like I need. Thanks to both of you. Animated Splash screen for Win98 is RLE inside io.sys and EPA energy star logo is inside BIOS as RLE bitmap too. You can spot them by the RLE ascii snippet that starts them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheddy Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Sorry if this is obvious, but you are decoding some rle bmp from Windows, converting to a8 and then doing rle suitable for a8? The rle in Windows will be very different than a8 so make sure picture is decoded properly from bmp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Rle encoder? http://madteam.atari8.info/index.php?prod=uzytki And MADS assembler has rle packer and source code included in examples. Wish I'd known that before writing one. Thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Yup, just like what I said in the topic, I like to get my hands on one something like what Homesofts use. Hi- Just curious... In these days of "HUGE storage," what do you find particularly useful about file compressors (for the Atari)? -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baktra Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Hi- Just curious... In these days of "HUGE storage," what do you find particularly useful about file compressors (for the Atari)? -Larry Most of the 8-bit Atari computers still have only 64 KB RAM. Wisely used compression can make a difference between a game that needs to read levels from a floppy and a game that is distributed as a single binary load file (with all its advantages). Or a difference between a program that needs 128 KB RAM or 64 KB RAM. Tapes are mostly out of the game now, but reduced loading time isn't that bad. If only the programs released on tapes in early 1980s were well compressed... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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