#EPU Use???
20 messages in this thread
Has anyone tried EPU yet? I have been trying to compress files to create
a boot disk before I attempt my harddrive and EPU seems to install fine,
and Recomp indicates it has compressed the files I have asked, but they
don't seem to be compressed. Also, does anyone know if this program will
cause any problems with AutoPilot or programs such as Pagestream etc.?
=Rick=
EPU will compress files, but unless you add the words ("arguments")
NOEXAMINE and/or NOEXNEXT at the end of the line "EPU Device DFX",
directory utlities and LIST will read the file and/or directory as being
their original size, when they're actually compressed. Which is possibly
your case – you may have successfuly compressed your files and don't know
it. But I'd written an inquiry about EPU myself about the same time you
did.
Our Czech cousin's technical English leaves something to be desired. I've
been trying to figure out the techniques to put together a compressed hard
disk myself. Your idea, which appears to be to make a compressed basic
bootable disk, then boot up compressed and proceed from there seems
plausible, but I was czeching around myself to see how to do that. Please
advise if you're successful, and give a painstakingly simple narrative of
your solution, if you arrive at one. Thanks.
I've had no problem using the program. I beta tested the 1.0 version of EPU
for the author and ran into problems with the program running on anything
greater than an Amiga 2000. Now the program works fine under ALL versions of
the operating system and will work fine on ALL machines.
Deryk
Ron,
I didn't have any problems getting EPU to work with a disk partition. I
chose to use it with just one, but there's no reason it can't work
multiple partitions.
As in previous reply, I'd be real careful about compressing files needed
during the boot process.
Gary
Been using EPU for a few days. With the results I have had I can't
recommend its use. It sometimes compresses files, and sometimes it doesn't.
Nothing in the Docs explains this.
I will be taking it off my system due to a strange event last night. Since
I've been using EPU, my system has had memory problems, Recoverable Alerts and
the like. Last night it crashed in Pagestream and when it rebooted it took
forever to boot up, but the hard drive was going nuts. When I double clicked on
the hard drive icon, it took forever for it to bring up all the icons (this on
an accelerated (40mhz 68030) Amiga 1200) Even after all the icons came up, the
hard drive continued to access for about five minutes…I have no idea what it
was doing. I looked at my hard drive stats and it said 100% full even though I
knew I had over 10 MB left on it.
Based on these experiences, I can't recommend it. WOULD A COMMERCIAL
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER PLEASE RELEASE A PRODUCT LIKE STACKER OR DOUBLESPACE!!? EPU
doesn't cut it. \exit
If you want to try something similar (I'm assuming since I've never used
EPU) to EPU try the two files XFH1_3.LHA and XPK.LHA. I installed the
setup this weekend and it seems to be doing fairly well. The
documentation seems to be much better than that comes with EPU.
-Sean
Sean,
EPU is capable of using other compression libraries like XPK and XFH. The one
that I use is the XPK 'NUKE' library. VG compression AND speed.
Deryk
The reason EPU compresses some files and not others is because of the type
of file being stored. It won't compress a pre-compressed file. Stacker
on the Ms-DOG machines as well as DOS 6 suffer the same thing. I
personally use XFH for disk compression on my AMI… much better.
-Jonathan
Jonathan,
Where can I find these compression programs EPU and XFH? I'd like to take
a look at them.
Also, have you had any experience with a driver level disk compression
scheme for MAC called Times Two? I'm considering it for use with my AMAX
drive and all the SyQuest carts that I use with it. It is suppose to do
disk compression at the block level and not compress individual files. It
will supposedly double the capacity of any storage device. If this works
as well as the ads for it say it does I'd love to see an Amiga version.
Chris
Todd,
I have to agree with you – I can't recommend EPU. I've experienced the
phenomenon in which some files compress while others don't. I've also had some
programs (Art Dept. Pro 2 and CanDo to name a couple) which couldn't access
their files in order to run. One other problem is that since .info files get
compressed, they sometimes can't be seen.
EPU is coming off of my hard drive tonight!
BTW – Jumpdisk in California makes a program they say compresses
drives. You might want to try that.
Bob Kuzmeski
I haven't tried compressing any .info files yet since I don't use them for the
particular files I've used EPU on, but I don't see why Workbench wouldn't see
the uncompressed version when it loads them.
I've been using EPU on my 3000 for floppies, and the only weird thing I've had
happen was when I mis-estimated how well a file would compress when moving it
to a floppy. The disk got full, I hit "cancel" on the requester, and the CLI
was hung. I had to reboot to remove the incomplete file, but that's no big
deal. (The command I was using was ARP's "move" command, if it makes any
difference.)
"…and it said 100% full even though I knew I had over 10 MB left…"
Nothing strange was going on, the OS was validating one or more
partitions. This is evident by the constant disk activity and the 100%
full & write-protected status. Occasionally this is required when the
system crashes before it can finish writing information to disk (i.e. a
crash during a disk write may cause a validation process after
rebooting).
As for what _caused_ the crash in the first place, if it was EPU and
you're sure it does this frequently then yes you should get rid of it, at
least for now. But even now PageStream can cause system crashes. You
decide.
-Chris
Todd,
The reason that EPU doesn't compress some files is the fact that they might
already be compressed with another program ie PowerPacker etc…
Now, to all….I would advise against compressing your fonts directory and if
you have it, the BaudBandit.device. These are the only problems that I've run
into yet….Any other questions?
Deryk
I've tried it…
If you start EPU with the default parameters, when you do a DIR, or LIST,
or display a directory in a dirutil, the decompressed size is displayed.
So, it still looks like it's the same size. The only thing that's
different, is the amount of space available on the drive.
As to Autopilot working on a compressed drive, it wont. 🙁
Bob Comer
On Autopilot, from Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Autopilot is running on an XFH drive (compressed) on my machine…
-Jonathan
I was using EPU with NUKE, and Autopilot wouldn't let me reply to any
messages…
I think I'll have to try XFH…
Bob Comer
On Autopilot, from Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.A.
Rick…
If I remember correctly, the DOC's for EPU tell you that some file length
reporting programs will lie about the compressed file's size. Where you
should see the difference is in the free space indicated for the hard
drive partition (or floppy for that matter).
Also, be very careful about compressing files used for booting. If you
compress files needed before EPU is functioning, you're dead meat. I use
EPU with AP and other terminal programs with no ill effect…except it
takes them a little longer to load. All my downloaded messages are EPU'd
and it saves great deal of space.
Gary – low & slow on AutoPilot
Gary,
The Doc's are a little confusing, maybe you can clear something up for me.
Once EPU is installed, all created files and files that are written to a
device will be compressed correct? What happens when re-storing a backup,
will every file then become compressed, even those that weren't when the
backup was made? And speaking of backups, how well does EPU work with
backup programs like Quarterback?
=Rick=
Rick,
Yes, every file written to the designated device will be compressed. And
yes a backup would perform the same way.
As to Quarterback, I am working on a new 1200 with a useless A3070 tape
drive awaiting a SCSI driver, so I haven't yet backed anything up thru
EPU. Expecting a Viper 1230 with SCSI within a week to ten days, and will
report back to you on my results.
Gary