HPRT v1.0 posted on comp.binaries

[fadden@hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu (Andy McFadden)]

I've posted HPRT (HardPressed RunTime) v1.0 on comp.binaries.apple2
(assuming, of course, that posting works from here... news system is
currently screwed up at work).

HPRT is a stripped-down version of HardPressed v1.0.2.  It can only expand
files, it can't compress them.  Also, it only knows about LZSS compression,
so it can't handle HP files compressed with other modules.

What makes HPRT useful is that it's freely distributable, and the entire
thing is in a single 96-block INIT (that's the INIT, the CDA, and the LZSS
module, all rolled into one).  This means that you can send files
compressed with LZSS to friends who don't have HP, and they can view them
without having to uncompress them.  Heck, GNO could ship with the man pages
compressed with LZSS.  (Use in commercial products requires a license from
WestCode... doesn't cost anything, but given how hard it is to sell stuff
these days, we'd like some free advertising in return.)

This was done mostly at the urging of a guy in Germany (I believe it was
Udo Huth) who wanted to do his on-disk user group mailings compressed with
HP.  By shipping HPRT along, he can include a great deal more on every
disk.

For those of you who don't have HardPressed, I've also uploaded a
collection of files that have been compressed with HP.  If you download
HPRT and the demo files, you can see how fast HP is by executing the
programs and viewing the text files.

If you *do* own HP, you may find HPRT useful on 800K system disks, since
it's considerably smaller than the standard set of HardPressed files.


OTHER HP NEWS: The v1.0.2 update is finished, and the updater is written.
Right now I'm waiting on WestCode to finish putting some stuff together.
Should be available within a week or so.

OTHER PERSONAL NEWS: I'm changing companies at the end of the month, so
my current e-mail address (fadden@amdahl.com) will no longer work after
the end of May.  I'll let you know what my new e-mail address is when I
find out myself. :-)