#Help!
8 messages in this thread
Dear Sysop,
I am a new Amiga user and I need some help! I have downloaded a number of
files from various libraries. Now, how do I access these or read them? I have
read till my eyes have crossed but I guess I need to be spoon fed.
There are files ending in .LHA, .LZH, .ARC, .PAK, .TXT, .PAK, .ZIP
Is there somewhere I can learn how to get into these?
Jo-Anne
Dear Jo-Anne
My brother and I are having exactly the same problem, we have
downloaded lots of files, but they all need de-compressing, so we downloaded
several de-compressors, but they were compressed also, I hope someone can help
us both.
Regards William
William –
LHA138.RUN is a self-extracting archive (just execute LHA138.RUN to
extract the file). LHA can be used to unarchive .LHA and .LZH files.
Jeff Schweiger
William,
I have just sent a message to Jo-Anne with VERY detailed instructions for
decompressing files. Since I still have it in the clipboard, I'll just
send along a second copy here to you:
You have the key to what you need when you noticed that the filenames
end in .LHA, .LZH, .ARC, .PAK, .TXT, and .ZIP. I rather doubt that
you have any .PAK files from CIS, since we try to limit the number of
compression methods we use in our libraries, and I don't recall our
ever using anything in that format. But all of those extensions
indicate the way in which your program was packed for uploading to
the library or to a bulletin board. You see, for downloading, it is
best to compress the program. While being compressed, the file size
is 'squeezed' in a special way, and all of the small files needed for
a program are placed into one archive. The archive is then
uploaded. When you download it, you get all the files you need in a
single download, and it takes less time because the size was squeezed
down. But you have to unpack it before you can use it, and you have
to use the same method for unpacking that was used to pack it.
For .LZH and .LHA files, you need LHA138.RUN from Library 16 of
AmigaUser.
For .ARC files, you need ARC.EXE from Library 16.
.TXT files are not compressed, and you should be able to put them into a
word processor or an editor and read them. You should be able to read
them with MORE that came with your Amiga.
For .ZIP files, you can use UNZIP.LHA from Library 16 of AmigaUser, but
this one will have to be unpacked with .LHA before you can use it.
So – you download LHA138.RUN, ARC.EXE, and UNZIP.LHA. Save them all in a
disk, but to make it easy to give instructions, copy them into RAM: while
we get you going.
You must unpack LHA138.RUN, but it is a self-dissolving archive. When you
have it in RAM:, just type:
MAKEDIR RAM:LHARC
CD RAM:LHARC
RAM:LHA138.RUN
This will unpack the program into a directory RAM:LHARC. There will be a
program called LHA, and one that is documentation. You need to copy the
LHA file to your c: directory or another directory that is always
available. To copy it to the C: directory, type:
COPY LHA C:
Then, copy the documentation to some place where you can keep it. I keep
a directory on my hard drive for documentation of such things, called
DOCS. Follow the above pattern to copy your documentation to a place
where you will be able to find it when you need to look up something about
using LHA.
Then, copy ARC.EXE to your c: directory:
COPY RAM:ARC.EXE C:ARC
(That simplifies the use of it, and you don't really need the EXE part in
the name.)
Then, you need to unpack the UNZIP.LHA. Type:
MAKEDIR RAM:UNZIP
CD RAM:UNZIP
lha e ram:unzip.lha
And this one will unpack into the directory Ram:Unzip. Once again, you
will find several files, including UNZIP and a doc file. Copy UNZIP to
your c: directory:
COPY RAM:UNZIP/UNZIP C:
Now, all of the unpackers you need will be safely stored in your c:
directory, ready for use. You will already have used LHA, so you know how
to use it. To use ARC, you do much the same except that you type ARC X
directory:filename
And to use Unzip, you do the same (make a directory, cd to that directory,
etc.) and then type:
UNZIP DIRECTORY:FILENAME
I hope this helps, but I'm sure I will have left out something. Please
ask again about anything that puzzles you.
—Betty
Jo-Anne –
I expect one of the sysop's will jump in here shortly, but both .LHA and
.LZH files can be uncompressed (unarchived) using LHA138.RUN, available
for download from Lib 16 here. LHA138.RUN is a self-extracting archive.
The .TXT files are simple text files that can be read with any text
viewer.
Jeff Schweiger
Jo-Anne,
You have the key to what you need when you noticed that the filenames
end in .LHA, .LZH, .ARC, .PAK, .TXT, and .ZIP. I rather doubt that
you have any .PAK files from CIS, since we try to limit the number of
compression methods we use in our libraries, and I don't recall our
ever using anything in that format. But all of those extensions
indicate the way in which your program was packed for uploading to
the library or to a bulletin board. You see, for downloading, it is
best to compress the program. While being compressed, the file size
is 'squeezed' in a special way, and all of the small files needed for
a program are placed into one archive. The archive is then
uploaded. When you download it, you get all the files you need in a
single download, and it takes less time because the size was squeezed
down. But you have to unpack it before you can use it, and you have
to use the same method for unpacking that was used to pack it.
For .LZH and .LHA files, you need LHA138.RUN from Library 16 of
AmigaUser.
For .ARC files, you need ARC.EXE from Library 16.
.TXT files are not compressed, and you should be able to put them into a
word processor or an editor and read them. You should be able to read
them with MORE that came with your Amiga.
For .ZIP files, you can use UNZIP.LHA from Library 16 of AmigaUser, but
this one will have to be unpacked with .LHA before you can use it.
So – you download LHA138.RUN, ARC.EXE, and UNZIP.LHA. Save them all in a
disk, but to make it easy to give instructions, copy them into RAM: while
we get you going.
You must unpack LHA138.RUN, but it is a self-dissolving archive. When you
have it in RAM:, just type:
MAKEDIR RAM:LHARC
CD RAM:LHARC
RAM:LHA138.RUN
This will unpack the program into a directory RAM:LHARC. There will be a
program called LHA, and one that is documentation. You need to copy the
LHA file to your c: directory or another directory that is always
available. To copy it to the C: directory, type:
COPY LHA C:
Then, copy the documentation to some place where you can keep it. I keep
a directory on my hard drive for documentation of such things, called
DOCS. Follow the above pattern to copy your documentation to a place
where you will be able to find it when you need to look up something about
using LHA.
Then, copy ARC.EXE to your c: directory:
COPY RAM:ARC.EXE C:ARC
(That simplifies the use of it, and you don't really need the EXE part in
the name.)
Then, you need to unpack the UNZIP.LHA. Type:
MAKEDIR RAM:UNZIP
CD RAM:UNZIP
lha e ram:unzip.lha
And this one will unpack into the directory Ram:Unzip. Once again, you
will find several files, including UNZIP and a doc file. Copy UNZIP to
your c: directory:
COPY RAM:UNZIP/UNZIP C:
Now, all of the unpackers you need will be safely stored in your c:
directory, ready for use. You will already have used LHA, so you know how
to use it. To use ARC, you do much the same except that you type
ARC X directory:filename
And to use Unzip, you do the same (make a directory, cd to that directory,
etc.) and then type:
UNZIP DIRECTORY:FILENAME
Try these out, and then let me know if you need help with some of it.
This should help, but I might have left out something.
—Betty
Jo-Anne,
Most files stored for tranfer via telecomm are ' compressed archives'.
This keep all of the related files together and makes the transfer much
faster and less expensive. To unpack these archives, you need the proper
unpacking software. Archives with the file extension .LHA are compressed
with LhARC and requires LHA138.RUN, which you will find (along with all of
the other packing programs) in library 16 of AmigaUser. LHA138.RUN is a
self-extracting-archive and does not require any other program to unpack.
You'll need to COPY LHA to your C: directory… do this in the following
manner:
Let's say you download LHA138.RUN to a floppy in your DF0: so the full
PATH to LHA138.RUN would be:
DF0:LHA138.RUN
First, we have to unpack the self extracting archive (LHA138.RUN), so,
open a shell and type:
CD DF0: this makes DF0: the current directory
Now type:
LHA138.RUN
this executes the self extracting archive… you'll
see the program extracting all of the included files
to the current directory (DF0:)
Now type:
COPY LHA C: this will place LHA (the actual program) in your
C: directory, which is always in the AmigaOS PATH,
making all commands in C: available from anywhere
on the system. You see, the operating system needs
to know where it can always look for certain things
like the COPY command, DIR command, startup-sequences,
etc… so the C: and S: directories are ALWAYS part
of the PATH. By putting commands and frequently used
programs somewhere in the PATH, they do not need to
be 'assigned' because the Amiga will always look in
the current directory, then the PATH, and then the S:
and C: directories for a command issued in a shell.
Now you can use LhA from anywhere…
so let's get something unpacked:
type:
CD <device>:<dir> (whatever the path is to the directory
where you have <filename>.LHA)
then:
LhA -x x <filename>.LHA you'll see LhA extract all of the files
in to the current directory
Jo-Anne,
Look in LIB 16 for LHA138.RUN. It is a self-extracting archive (just type
its path/name in the shell window to start it.) Answer Yes to each
question and then copy LHA to your C: directory and read LHA.MAN for
instructions.
While in Lib 16 you can find the other archivers for ZIP, ARC, and .PAK.
The .TXT one means its a straight text file and can be read with any
editor or textreader.
Hope this helps,
Christopher