Re: DOS 3.3 File Compression

["Jeff Blakeney" <jeff.blakeney@a2central.com.remove-yw1-this>]

  To: Jeff Blakeney
On Thu, 4 Dec 2008 14:39:46 -0500, Jeff Blakeney wrote:

[snip]
> By adding this header, you are storing the original archive's
> name, type, creation date and a few other bits of information.  When the
> Binary II header is removed after downloading, the archive will have
> those pieces of information set.  By using this you can have a file
> available for download with the name "Apple IIgs System Software
> v6.0.1", which isn't a legal ProDOS name, but when the Binary II header
> is removed it will have a file name of "System6.0.1" which is a legal
> ProDOS name.  Using communications software that automatically removes
> Binary II headers, you never need to worry about editing a filename that
> you download to be ProDOS legal.
[snip]

Two things I just thought about with respect to Binary II wrappers.
Back in the day, some BBS systems were running on MS-DOS so only had the
8 character filename with a 3 character extension while ProDOS had a 15
character filename.  Using a Binary II wrapper the file on the BBS could
have a name of "SYS601.BXY" but could become "System6.0.1.BXY" on a
ProDOS disk.  The other thing that I didn't mention is that, because
Binary II also preserves the file type, you don't even need an extension
on the filename on your ProDOS disk.  Using the example above,
"SYS601.BXY" could become "IIgsSystem6.0.1" and as the file type is
preserved, you could still double click on it in the Finder and it would
launch GSHK (if you have Finder set to do that).