ANNC: CiderPress v1.2
David E. Smith
[ From: Andy McFadden <fad...@fadden.com> ]
[ Subject: ANNC: CiderPress v1.2 ]
[ Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2,comp.emulators.apple2 ]
[ Message-ID: <sTTEa.891$%3.8...@typhoon.sonic.net> ]
We are pleased to announce the release of CiderPress v1.2. This version
includes one major new feature and several significant enhancements.
Quick summary:
- Create ProDOS volumes, ranging in size from 140K to 32MB, and fill
them with files from ShrinkIt archives.
- Create ShrinkIt file archives directly from disk images.
- Edit file attributes, such as file type and access permissions, of
files in ShrinkIt archives.
- Unpack and create DDD (Dalton's Disk Disintegrator) archives. DDD
files from DDD 2.1+ and DDD Pro 1.1+ can be unpacked, and the output
of the image compressor is identical to DDD Pro 1.1.
- View and extract files from SSI RDOS disks, including nibble images
of original disks.
- Disk image converter can be used in a "bulk convert" mode.
- A few minor improvements.
In detail:
CiderPress can now create ProDOS disk images. Instead of formatting a
disk and then adding files one at a time, CiderPress lets you pull a set
of files from a ShrinkIt archive in one shot. A handy "compute size"
button lets you know how big a disk you're going to need, eliminating
trial and error. Choose from 140K, 800K, 5MB, 16MB, 20MB, and 32MB.
It's just as easy to move files the other direction, from a disk archive to
a ShrinkIt file archive. The two features combined provide a handy way to
resize ProDOS disks, converting a mostly-empty 800K disk into a 140K disk,
or up-sizing your 20MB floptical image to a full 32MB hard drive partition.
Empty folders can be preserved (ShrinkIt normally ignores them).
If you already have your files under Windows and want to put them on a
ProDOS disk, just add them to a ShrinkIt archive and then set the file
types with CiderPress. Creating a .PO disk image requires a couple of
mouse clicks, and the handy disk image converter can transform the image
into several different formats if you have specific needs.
If you prefer DDD to ShrinkIt, you can now unpack DDD archives directly
from DOS disks, ProDOS disks, or ".ddd" files under Windows. The Disk
Image Converter tool can convert 140K images to and from DDD format. The
output is identical to DDD Pro v1.1.
CiderPress now supports SSI'S RDOS filesystem. Older games used 13-sector
RDOS 2.1 (a/k/a RDOS 3.2), while newer games used 16-sector RDOS 3.3.
Many games exist as "cracked" 16-sector copies of the 13-sector disks,
referred to as RDOS 3. All three formats are supported, and CiderPress is
able to "see through" the copy protection on nibble images of many games.
The disk image converter can now operate in "bulk conversion" mode,
operating on a large set of disk images. This is useful for converting
a collection of ShrinkIt-compressed disk images to something directly
usable by an Apple II emulator (and vice-versa).
Some minor enhancements have been made:
The Apple Preferred Format SHR image viewer now handles arbitrary-sized
images up to 1024x1024.
Folders on ProDOS disk images are now shown in the file list. Viewing
a folder produces output similar to the ProDOS 8 "catalog" command.
Resource forks are now split into individual resources and displayed
as hex dumps. "Official" resource types are labeled.
The icon that indicates the presence of a comment in a ShrinkIt archive
now has a different appearance when there's actually a comment. (All
archives created by GS/ShrinkIt have at least one comment, but it's
usually empty.)
--
Send mail to fad...@fadden.com (Andy McFadden) - http://www.fadden.com/
CD-Recordable FAQ - http://www.cdrfaq.org/
CiderPress Apple II archive utility for Windows - http://www.faddensoft.com/
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