#De-Arc problems
11 messages in this thread
4/21/88
That muffled thump you hear is the towel hitting the floor.
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I have tried to download and de-arc the PROJECTOR series of
video animation files. Several things happened strangely. I was
assured in one of the Readme files that I would get a projector
icon to click on while I was in the Workbench. I didn't. I did,
however, get a file called Projector.in. I RENAME'd this to
Projector.info and poof! the icon popped up. After that, the
program seemed to have all the modules necessary to work.
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The file for the SOAP animation wasn't so fortunate. After de-
arcing I got a series of files called "p1" thru "p15". Two files
that also popped up during de-arc were "Ex.me" and another very
similar. The Readme file assures me that you have to execute Ex.me
to "rename all the files". DOS, however, had very different ideas.
IT insists that it was "UNABLE TO LOAD EX.ME: FILE IS NOT AN
OBJECT MODULE". Both files do this.
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I'm dead in the water. I have absolutely no idea what the
system wants me to do. Projector will not run the p1 thru p15
files in their present form.
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When I do the arc/de-arc dance over on my IBM (hiss, boo),
I get all the .EXE and .COM files returned in perfect order. I
down-loaded PC-TALKC using this technique and it works very well.
(I know it's Share-Ware and yes, I paid for it).
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Any ideas??
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Captain Video
Greg, when the docs say to 'execute Ex.me' it doesn't mean to try and run
Ex.me by typing "Ex.me" in the CLI. Ex.me is a text file, than needs to be
executed with the AmigaDos "Execute' command. From CLI type "execute Ex.me",
without the quotes. You can see what actions the Ex.me file will do by
typing in the CLI "type Ex.me", before you EXECUTE it.
GreG
Capn',
It's a real batch, isn't it? 8) Follow GreG's instructions about
Execute-ing the file, and remember to either CD or path to it.
Enjoy!
Doug
If you can't EXECUTE the ex.me files then type them out and do each rename
manually from CLI – we haven't had any complaints about the file so I don't
know why it won't execute.
Marlene
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OK, in order of appearance:
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GreG:
Yes, thank you. I executed "EXECUTE" at the right times and
places and the movie emerged in fine shape, projector icon and
all. I am now intensely curious as to why you need to go through
all that. Won't the C'Serve mainframes handle the filenames
directly?
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Doug:
Yes, I understand life's a batch, and then you cold re-
boot.
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Marlene:
Thank you very much also. I got it working perfectly, see
above note to GreG.
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Captain Video
Greg, ARC has limitations on the length of the filename – I don't remember
exactly what the limitation is I think it's 8 charters and a 3 character
extender. CIS limits filenames to 6 chars and 3 char extender.
Marlene
I'm not sure whether C'serve will handle the filenames directly or not,
but we've chosen here to use ARC which was originally written for the (say it
softly) IBM-PC world. As you may be aware, MS-DOS and such primitive OSs
cannot handle long filenames. We've chosen to stay compatable with that
compress-uncompress program for a variety of reasons, and we put up with
short filenames as a consequence.
Gregory, glad to see you got it going! As you may have noticed, files in our
DL's are limited to six chars for filename, 3 chars for extender. That is
not the problem though. The "problem" lies with ARC. In order to be
compatible with the IBM version of ARC, the AMIGA version restricts filenames
contained in the ARChive to 12 characters. Something like "Projector.info"
has too many characters, so it's renamed to "Projector.in" To make your life
easier, script files or Execute.me files are created to rename everything to
thier FULL names. Other actions may be performed also, such as creating
required directories, copying files to required directories, etc. It's
always a good idea to TYPE out an Execute.me file before you execute it.
That way you know what it will do.
GreG
Capn',
Tain't the CIS mainframes, but ARC that be the culprit in this case. Won't
handle long lifenames, so they get shortened or don't go in.
Cheers,
Doug
re: 'long lifenames' do you mean, e.g. Woodrow Wilson Smith?
Vic,
You mean the book written by Einhlein? 8)
Doug