BSCEE beta 1 report

[brian.hammack@rook.wa.com (Brian Hammack)]

Previously today I mentioned (in a reply to Doede's 1993 FidoApple user
list) Tom Larson's latest work, a new Binscii encode/decode thingie.  I
received a beta-test copy today and it's pretty darn good.  He sayeth:
- - -
 1. What's done.

    A. Decode
    This is the default mode. Supports multiple files. Pressing V in
    the the browser enables verbose mode which currently just shows the
    byte count.

    B. Encode
    Press D in the browser to toggle between encode & decode (this will
    change). Currently stores 1 segment per file. Pressing V in browser
    enables verbose mode which currently shows byte count.

 2. What's next.

    A. Interface
       - Encode dialog (newline mode, segments per file).
       - Browse for destination.

    B. Shell mode (startup)
       Not currently implemented, and probably will be decode-only.
- - -
Having put it through its paces:  BSCEE works *faster* than Binscii
1.0.3 and has a helpful user interface (arrow keys and such to move
between directories and select files to work with), and being an 8-bit
program doesn't take up vital RAM like GSCII+ (and moves at full
throttle by default).  As mentioned in note 2:A above, what he has
passed me is just the code-test and is not ready for public use yet --
I figure the save-to pathsetter and messaging shouldn't take too long to
incorporate if he can keep working on this (he has a life outside
programming, sort of).  I'm trying to talk him into putting an expanded
encoding (more characters used, thus shorter encoded text) option in.

Also sent was LFCR (pronounced like "lucifer"), yet another linefeed and
carriage return adder/subtracter for textfiles.  He didn't have one and
neither did I until now.  :)  It has the same interface as above (he
seems to get off on the "minibrauser" concept he put in 2qwk!/Qfix/GZPK)
and is intuitive -- select a text and it looks at it to find out whether
linefeeds need to be added or deleted.  It saves the digested file under
the same name + ".c", a safety feature you can turn off at will.

Email *me* for details, he's busy and still has a flaky email system.

Actually available lately from Lysergic Software:  QFIX 2.0 GT, the
ProDOS file patcher to allow MS-DOS names; GZPK 2.0, the 8-bit app to
convert .gz files from FTP archives to standard PKZIP files; 2qwk! 2.03U
-- the greatest 8-bit offline reader for the Apple // series (c) 10/96.

                                            << mushroom >>
                                            brian.hammack@rook.wa.com


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 * 2qwk! 2.03 * KATZ:  Patron saint of file compression.
--                                                                   -- 
yet another annoying post by brian.hammack@rook.wa.com -- deal with it.