#PKAZIP.LZH ?
9 messages in this thread
Betty, I finally did something right! I was able to read ARCHLP.EXE. It wasn't
too helpful, since he refers to a unzipping file I can't find! The file is
PKAZIP.LZH. Do you know which library it's in? I only have my 1987 Intro To The
Amiga. I don't have, and can no longer get, any books on AmigaDOS, so I'm VERY
limited in using CLI, since they make no mention of downloading, unpacking, or
anything like that. I have followed your instructions TO THE LETTER, and I
printed out my results, such as typing- cd df0:lha, and the computer telling
me, "df0:lha is a file not a directory". If I could get past that, maybe I can
move one step closer to reading this zip file which is now on my GIF floppy
disk. I keep telling you everything about my setup- why don't you write it
down? I have lots of sheets of paper documenting your attempts to help me, but
as you see above, the computer doesn't like what you tell it! Here goes, one
more time, though I don't care about GIF files any more, but just to show you
that I typed EXACTLY what you told me. MAKEDIR df0:lha "df0:lha already exists"
cd df0:lha "df0:lha is a file not a directory" ed df0:lha/lha.man "Invalid file
name" My Terminus software lets me Print Screen, so I have a hard copy of all
your instructions. Did you leave out something? Is the problem WB1.3? If so,
the local Amiga dealer (A WHAT???) still has the upgrade software for OS 2.01
on back order. He said that was the latest upgrade, but why do I see references
to 2.04? So, if getting the newer OS will help, I'm trying to get it! In the
mean time, will this Amigasaurus let me read a Zip file? How? Rusty
Rusty,
I am just sifting through the messages in this section and came
upon yours. While I can't give you much in the way of help —
certainly not better than Betty or the other Amiga Pros around
here, I can give you some words of encouragement.
First of all, I remember very well coming here about 2 years
ago (seems longer) for help learning about my Amiga. I could only
take baby steps and none of the lingo made any sense at the time.
*I* even had the manuals! <gasp>
So please take it easy and give yourself some time. I can see you are
frantic and angry –with a $70+ CIS bill, that's understandable.
You're not very far from breaking through to where it will all start
to make sense. Till that happens have you considered calling some
local (free) BBX's? Many local bbx's have a section dedicated to
the Amiga. How about looking for an Amiga User Group to
join? For the cost of a membership fee (usually quite modest) you
can get their newsletter and take advantage of their member's only
BBS. A user group's swap meet would be an excellent place to locate
an older Amiga DOS book.
When I was shopping for OS2.01 and later OS2.04, I was told by
nearly every mail order shop that I called that the item was on
back order. Well, I don't give up easily –I called EVERY place
in nearly every Amiga magazine I had until I located a dealer who
had one in stock and was willing to ship it the next day. (No,
I didn't pay more than the going price either.) <g>
You've got spirit and you'll do alright with the Amiga. Just
hang in here and it'll start to gel. Don't be miffed at folk
suggesting you spend time in GO PRACTICE even if you've logged many
hours on other BBX's.
Even though I've used an Amiga for about 4 years now, I still don't
use CLI to it's fullest potential. In fact, purely for taunt (I believe),
CLI has nicknamed me UNKNOWN COMMAND. CIS software has likewise followed
suit and identified me as INVALID COMMAND. <g> You'll never know
the names I've called them.
Cheer up, it could be worse… you could be Amiga-less!
Vicki
Thanks, Vicki! Up until now, my Amiga has been my friend, passing along titles
to my videotapes via a Supergen, and passing along letters to my printer-
that's my only two uses so far. I'm now on the edge of getting both into MIDI
software, and now a struggle with CLI. I understand what Don told me, because
there is a file called lha that I was told to put in my C: dir. by Betty and
did. Thanks for the encouraging words! Rusty
Rusty, In my humble opinion: The Amiga is an amazingly versatile and competent
machine. Unfortunately, the down side is you have to weed through it yourself.
I have been able to make stready progress but with the same frustration you are
displaying. It in there somewhere. Just a wild guess, but when you say cd
dh0: leave off the file name lha, and see if that lists the contents of
dh0. Obviously, out of my element here. Good luck.
Rusty,
If you still have your original download of LHA138.RUN, put it on a clean
disk and let's try from the beginning. I don't know what is on the disk
you've been working with. If you can put the original LHA138.RUN on a
clean disk, naming it exactly as it is above, then the original
instructions I gave you would work. If the only thing on the disk is
LHA138.RUN, you can type:
MAKEDIR DF0:LHA
CD DF0:LHA
DF0:LHA138.RUN
This will NOT work if you already have a file or a directory on that disk
named LHA, because you cannot have but one file of the same name on the
disk. But if it is on a clean disk, it will work fine.
Now, if the above works right, as it will if you have it on a clean disk,
you can then type DIR and get a list of the files that were unpacked from
LHA138.RUN. One of the files will be LHA and another will be the docs for
the program.
Now – LHA is not going to unpack a file that has a name ending in .ZIP.
For those, you have to have UNZIP.LHA, and it needs to be in the root
directory of DF0:(just use DF0:UNZIP.LHA for the filename when you
download it). Once you have unpacked LHA138.RUN and have copied LHA to
your c: directory, you can unpack UNZIP.LHA by typing:
MAKEDIR DF0:UNZIP
cd DF0:UNZIP
LHA e df0:unzip.lha
Then type DIR to see all the files that unpacked from the archive. Read
the docs, and copy UNZIP to your c: directory.
Rusty, I know this is frustrating to you – and to us, as well – because we
cannot see what is on your screen, and between messages, we forget exactly
what has happened. We try as hard as we can, but there is just no way we
can do as well online as we could if we could sit beside you for a few
minutes and show you how to do it. I do wish we could.
I'm not sure we still have PKAZIP.LHA. A new version of that came out for
other computers, but one was not written for the Amiga. I believe that
you will need to use UNZIP.LHA now, instead. It is in Library 16 of
AmigaUser.
—Betty
Betty, I think thge problem is that I've already unpacked LHA, since my dir.
shows a bunch of lha files with extentions- that's why I tried to open lha.man
thinking it was the doc file to tell me what to do. Whsat is the doc file
called? I will try it on another disk tonight and let you know how I do. Rusty
Rusty,
I don't recall the exact name of the doc file. I'm sorry – but we have
hundreds of files in our libraries, and I just cannot remember all of
their names, much less the files within them. I downloaded LHA138.RUN and
unpacked it *so* long ago! Once I knew how to use it, I erased everything
except LHA itself.
I suspect you are right that you unpacked the file already. But since I
cannot see the directory of your disk, the only thing I knew to do that
would be certain to work would be to start with a fresh disk containing
only LHA138.RUN. I suspect that you originally unpacked it without
putting it in a separate directory, so that all of its files are in your
root directory, and you don't know which ones belong to LHA and which
belong to something else you unpacked. That is the reason I always advise
making a separate directory for each item you unpack, and making sure that
each new file gets unpacked into its own directory. It keeps them from
getting mixed together.
—Betty
OK Betty, II have lha138.run on a seperate disk, and it's on the screen right
above my readout here! The files are Benchm.txt, Future.txt, Lha.man.,
Orderform
Update.txt, CONTACT, Lha, LICENSE.man, and ReleaseNotes. After I make lha the
cd, I get the prompt, "Util.dsk:lha>" just typing one of the file names gets me
the "Vicki" message, "…not an object module" The thing's unpacked, and I
copied lha to c:, just like before. Now what? Rusty
Good work, Rusty. Thanks for listing the files.
You won't have much need for Benchm.txt, though you can read it. It will
tell you how fast LHA works in comparison to some other programs.
Future.TXT is a file you can also read with MORE or ED. It will tell you
what the programmer plans to add to the program in the future.
LHA.MAN will be the documentation file. You need to print that out, or
else read it online with MORE or with ED. To read it with MORE, you will
type, in a CLI:
MORE UTIL..DSK:LHA/LHA.MAN
or
MORE DF0:LHA/LHA.MAN
I'm not sure what CONTACT is, but probably another text file to read.
LICENSE.MAN is another text file to read as above. and RELEASE NOTES will
tell you what is new in this version since the last one before it.
So – you can see that it is really necessary that you read only LHA.MAN,
in order to learn how to use the program fully.
However, I believe you have also downloaded UNZIP.LHA, and you wanted to
unpack it. Is it also on UTIL.DSK? In the root directory? Then you can
unpack it by typing at the CLI:
MAKEDIR UTIL.DSK:UNZIP
CD UTIL.DSK.UNZIP
lha e UTIL.DSK:UNZIP.LHA
and it should unpack itself and you can get a list of the files from it.
One should be UNZIP itself, which you copy to the C: directory, and there
will be a documentation file, which could say README, xxx.TXT, xxx.MAN, or
something of that sort, and you will need to read the instructions.
You're coming along, Rusty – almost there, in fact. Feels good when it
starts working right, doesn't it?
—Betty