CompuServe Thread

Joan, 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 it unpacked: type: CD WORK:AUTOPILOT (or whatever the path is to the directory where you have AP.LHA) then: LhA -x x AP.LHA you'll see LhA extract all of the AP files Now, before you can run and set up AP, you must add the following ASSIGN to your S:user-startup: ASSIGN AP: <PATH:>AUTOPILOT where <PATH:> is the full path prior to the AUTOPILOT directory you made. Example, if the directory containing the AUTOPILOT files is named AUTOPILOT and is in your WORK: partition, the ASSIGN would be: ASSIGN AP: WORK:AUTOPILOT In this way (after you reboot your computer) anytime the AutoPilot program wants to read or write a file to the 'virtual' device "AP:", AmigaDos will automatically use WORK:AUTOPILOT… it's just like a forwarding address! It's easy to add the ASSIGN statement: from the shell type: ED s:user-startup you'll see the user-sartup file appear Now, with the cursor positioned at the first charachter on the first line of the file, Type: <control>-A (by holding down the CTRL key and pressing the A key)… this will insert a new blank line… now enter the proper ASSIGN statement. That's it… save the file by typing: <ESC>x <return> to use an ESC command, you press and release the ESC key, then press and release the command key ('x' in this case). When you press the ESC key, you'll see an asterick appear at the bottom of the file… this tells you that you are in command mode and ED is waiting for a command. When you press x, ED saves the file back out to its original filename and exits. Just adding the ASSIGN to your user-starup file doesn't do anything until that file is actually executed… and the easiest way to execute it is to just re-satrt the computer: Now, reboot your computer (hold down the ALT, R-Amiga and L-Amiga keys simultaneously (this often called the "three-finger salute). At this point, you will be able to click on your work partition, click on the AutoPilot drawer, click on the AutoPilot icon, and begin the program setup by choosing the SETUP menu from the main screen.

Joan, You cannot purchase AutoPilot on disk. They only way to get it is to download it, unpack it, and set it up. I have been as careful as I can be in giving you instructions – making sure that I give you everything that you need to type with the one exception that I did not know the path to where you have put your downloads. Now, if I understand your most recent message, you have them in HD1:Downloads – or it could be called Work:Downloads. Is that right? If you are at a CLI prompt and you type DIR WORK:Downloads do you see the files AP.LHA and APDOCS.LHA in the directory list of files? If not, exactly what DO you see when you type that command? Are you sure that you kept the names AP.LHA and APDOCS.LHA exactly the same as this when you downloaded them? If you changed even a single letter or symbol, the Amiga cannot find them. Starting again from the beginning: (1) From a CLI, type DIR WORK:DOWNLOADS, and make sure you have AP.LHA and APDOCS.LHA in that directory. CHeck the spelling to make sure they are EXACTLY like the names in the preceding sentence. (2) From a CLI, type DIR C:L#?, and make sure that LHA is one of the files that is listed from that command. IF both of those work well, then you will be ready to unpack the AP files. Did you keep the message I wrote before? I gave you step by step instructions for doing them, telling you exactly what to type each time. You just have to change the word PATH: to WORK:DOWNLOADS/. Anyway, let me know if you have done steps 1 and 2 and if they were successful. Then, tell me once again the path to your files and I'll go through it again. —Betty