Down loaded ARC files...

[DavidMil]

I downloaded a couple of arc files, but I don't have any way to look at them. I went out on the web and every site wants to put all kinds

of CRAP on you PC before you can download anything. Does someone have the app that I can get a copy of, or know of a place I can get

a copy without having to agree to all kinds of crap?

 

Thanks,

David

[+Nezgar]

I had the same issue, and found IZarc for windows:

https://www.izarc.org

 

It supports a lot of older formats including ARC, LHA, LZH, ARJ, and newer stuff.

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

Try SuperUnArc by Bob Puff. You can find it at my Special Stuff Page.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

[_The Doctor__]

I use izarc2go (it's portable and no silly installs)

https://www.izarc.org/download/

https://www.izarc.org/download/IZArc2Go_4.3.exe

I use spartados's included arc (realdos and spartados x) and their respective construction/toolkit disks

http://sdx.atari8.info/index.php

http://www.mixinc.net/atari/download_a8/sdsys.htm

http://seriouscomputerist.atariverse.com/pages/dos/dos.sparta.htm

http://realdos.net/realdos.html

and I use Bob Puffs utilities. (SuperUnarc being one of them)

http://nleaudio.com/css/Files.htm

Edited November 5, 2018 by _The Doctor__

[AtariGeezer]

Or, you can load them in Altirra and save it as an ATR

[+Nezgar]

I had the same issue, and found IZarc for windows:

https://www.izarc.org

 

It supports a lot of older formats including ARC, LHA, LZH, ARJ, and newer stuff.

Just to add... IZarc appears that it can decompress from ARC, but can't compress to ARC.

[DavidMil]

Thanks gentleman. That's more info than I can shake a stick at.

 

David

[Kyle22]

I save the ARC file on a PCLink share then (in SDX) type ARC X (filename).

 

very easy.

[fujidude]

Peazip has an ARC capability, but I don't remember if handles .ARCs in the old format that Atari ARC utilities use. I've been using Linux for a wghile now, and just use the ARC command available for Linux by Howardd Chu.

[_The Doctor__]

On the Arc, like everything else it's good to have two of everything... two ARCS are better than one!

(I know I know, I just couldn't resist)

[DavidMil]

On the Arc, like everything else it's good to have two of everything... two ARCS are better than one!

(I know I know, I just couldn't resist)

 

Oh Doc, have you stopped taking your medicine?

But that was cute...

 

David

[Mclaneinc]

izarc is nice but it won't work with all atari arc files, throws up an error sometimes..

 

Nice for what it does tho..

[Mclaneinc]

Or, you can load them in Altirra and save it as an ATR

 

How are you doing that exactly...Just for info.....I can't think of a way to do it but I wonder if you have found an easier way

[_The Doctor__]

update your izarc... it helps... but we run into that sort of thing enough that I included a bunch of ways to get it done on esp. on the Atari itself...

[+Nezgar]

How are you doing that exactly...Just for info.....I can't think of a way to do it but I wonder if you have found an easier way

For any mounted ATR there's a disk explorer option where you can drag files in/out of the disk image. So you'd drag the ARC file into the ATR - do the unarc from an Atari program running inside Altirra, then if you need the unarced files on the PC side, just drag the resulting files out of the disk image after.

 

Same process is possible using AspeQt/RespeQt, just a real Atari doing the ARC processing.

 

With Altira, I guess you could just map a windows directory to H: and operate directly on the PC file bypassing using an ATR.

 

With RespeQt you can read/write files directly in a PC folder from a real Atari with SpartaDOS X & PCLINK.SYS while maintaining date/time stamps too.

 

AspeQt and RespeQt also support a simpler live disk image 'simulation' in AtariDOS format from a PC folder. More limited and no time/date sync, but compatible with more DOS's.

[AtariGeezer]

 

How are you doing that exactly...Just for info.....I can't think of a way to do it but I wonder if you have found an easier way

From the File Menu, -> Open Image... An ARC loads just as if it was an ATR It's pretty slick...

[+Nezgar]

From the File Menu, -> Open Image... An ARC loads just as if it was an ATR It's pretty slick...

Even better! Learn something new every day.

[Kyle22]

That's nice, but I still find it easier to use SDX.

[1050]

While I prefer MS-DOS on win98 using the original

System Enhancement Associates ARC 5.0 which is

exactly what Puff's SuperARC and SuperUNARC are based

on.

 

But caution is advised - this is the very program that

would hound Phil Katz to his untimely end and very

first flame war to end all flame wars. Posting it

would then be against copyright law even if no-one

cares anymore. I used to post a link to it but the

University of Texas apparently had better use of the

server space that used to host it. It's gone now.

But the curse lives on:

"If you fail to abide by the terms of this license,

then your conscience will haunt you for the rest

of your life."

 

It will do both ways perfect every time, but you

missed your chance unless you can find it on your

own now.

[+Nezgar]

Yeesh, I didn't know about that nasty history.. (good write-up on Wikipedia) Explains the downfall of ARC, and the rise of ZIP ! Author of ARC withdrew from software development due to the barrage of hate mail, and author of PK Zip died in 2000 at age 37... How tragic.

And I read mentions previously of some ARC files being incompatible, this from the FAQ: https://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/12/02/0094.php- "Super Arc uses 3 of the 5 total types of compression: Storing, Packing, and Crunching, which is the method most often used." - What were the other 2 methods? Edit: Answered my own question! - from http://apple2.org.za/gswv/a2zine/GS.WorldView/Resources/The.MacShrinkIt.Project/ARCHIVES.TXT :

       COMPRESSION METHOD
       ------------------

       NAME        METHOD  DESCRIPTION
       ----------- ------ --------------------------------------------
       Stored        0     No compression used
       Packed        1     Repeated running length encoding (RLE)
       Squeezed      2     Huffman encoding
       Crunched      3     LZW with 4K buffer, 12 bits codes
       Crunched      4     First packing, then LZW 4K buffer with 12 bits
       Crunched      5     Packing, LZW, 4K buffer, vari len (9-12 bits)
       Squashed      6     LZW, 8K buffer, variable length (9-13 bits)
       Crushed       7     Packing, then LZW 8K buffer, 2-13 bits (PAK 1.0)
       Distill       8     Dynamic Huffman with 8K buffer (PAK 2.0)

So SuperArc supports 0, 1, not sure about 3, and one or more variants of crunch, 3, 4 or 5... PAK mathods 6,7,8 were from later PK era, so understandable not supported.

 

I found these working links to download the latest SEA & PK ARC programs for MS-DOS: (As 16-bit executables, they don't work in Windows 64-bit - maybe they'll run with DOSBox.. or a VM)
This site has some of the original DOS programs: http://sta.c64.org/dosprg.html
PKARC 3.5 (1987-04-27), archiver that handles ARC archives (© by PKWARE Inc., 1986-1987) [pkarc35.zip, 65.144 bytes]
PKPAK 3.61 (1988-08-02), archiver that handles PAK archives (© by PKWARE Inc., 1986-1988) [pk361.zip, 113.209 bytes]
ARCView 7.1 (1995-06-21) , lists and extracts files in various archive formats interactively(© by Sergey Nazarenko, 1990-1995) [arcv_7_1.zip, 89.179 bytes]

And: http://archives.thebbs.org/ra31c.htm
ARC602.EXE 135K 10-03-1988 ARC version 6.02 by System Enhancement Associates.

An ARC utility at CD.Textfiles.com (arc51.exe)

[Mclaneinc]

Thanks guys, its the methods I use, wondered if I'd missed something you devils had found out

 

Slight word re the booting arc files, yes it works if its in a dos files format ie has dos files in it otherwise it treats it as a non dos disk..

 

I try and avoid lots of typing if I can do something another way just to be easy on the fingers and the arthritis, that's why I don't talk about the Superun.com etc, to be honest I set up my PC Directory opus so selected files and programs can work together from a single click with anything I can....(That's PC programs in general)

Edited November 7, 2018 by Mclaneinc

[fujidude]

Okay I remember now what I used to use on Windows to deal with ARC files; specifically older style ARC files like are used with Atari 8-bit computers. See this post on AA from some time ago for more detail.

 

The program is called Universal Extractor and you can get it here.

[+Larry]

I've run into this same issue a few times. 95% of the time AlZip (was freeware) works just fine, but every so often, I'll d/l an ARC file that gives me a "corrupted" error message, and I'm usually quite sure that the ARC is not corrupted. So I have to go to Puff's Super UnArc. Very slow, but sure. Thanks, I'll try this Universal Extractor.

 

Edit: See Wikipedia for AlZip history.

[Atari_Ace]

To add to the options, when I was facing a similar problem a few years back, I found the CLI tool nomarch at http://www.svgalib.org/rus/nomarch.html.

 

I believe I had to compile it myself for Windows, so I've attached my copy.

nomarch14.zip

[redman]

Okay I remember now what I used to use on Windows to deal with ARC files; specifically older style ARC files like are used with Atari 8-bit computers. See this post on AA from some time ago for more detail.

 

The program is called Universal Extractor and you can get it here.

Works great! Thanks a lot!