oak archives file formats

[Ken]

I was looking at some of the archived files on:

http://z80cpu.eu/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/

Many of the .doc files have been compressed and are of type .dqc
and .asm files are compressed and are of type .aqm
What compression program was used and how do I read these files?

Likewise, in the CPMUG directory, files are in .ark (not .arc) format.
Is there a program which will open an .ark file under XP or VISTA?

[s100guy]

On Mar 24, 10:56 am, Ken <kvaugh...@comcast.net> wrote:

> Many of the .doc files have been compressed and are of type .dqc
> and .asm files are compressed and are of type .aqm
> What compression program was used and how do I read these files?

These are "squeezed" files. Use SQ/USQ.

> Likewise, in the CPMUG directory, files are in .ark (not .arc) format.
> Is there a program which will open an .ark file under XP or VISTA?

You might try CFX. Works great on most archive formats, but it is a
DOS app. Don't know if it will work on XP or VISTA. Search for CFX
on-line.

Roger

[Bruce Morgen]

Ken <kvau...@comcast.net> wrote:

>I was looking at some of the archived files on:
>
>http://z80cpu.eu/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/
>
>Many of the .doc files have been compressed and are of type .dqc
>and .asm files are compressed and are of type .aqm
>What compression program was used and how do I read these files?

That's the old "squeeze"
format -- if the files
are part of an .LBR
archive, then most
extraction programs (e.g.
CFX.EXE for DOS or the
Windoze command prompt)
will unsqueeze the member
files automatically.

>
>Likewise, in the CPMUG directory, files are in .ark (not .arc) format.
>Is there a program which will open an .ark file under XP or VISTA?

IIRC the .ARK suffix just
indicates an early type
of .ARC file -- the "K"
was simply to distinguish
an archive containing
CP/M-related files, not
a different file format.
Any program that can work
with .ARC files can also
handle .ARK files

[Ken]

On Mar 24, 12:20 pm, Bruce Morgen <edi...@juno.com> wrote:

> Ken <kvaugh...@comcast.net> wrote:
> >I was looking at some of the archived files on:
>
> >http://z80cpu.eu/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/

(snip)

Thanks Bruce and Roger for your replies. I have a DOS only system
(486DX) so I will get a copy of CFX -- there are some interesting
files on the OAK archives.

[Katzy]

Hello.

Ken wrote in message ...

A month ago I wrote about extract.exe:

> EXTRACT.EXE (50k - Self-extracting archive)
> A collection of DOS programs that will extract every
> type of archived or compressed CP/M file...including
> .ARC, .ARK, .LBR, xQx, xYx and xZx.

It's in the CPM-86 repository software archive, a mirror can be found here:

www.nostalgia8.nl/mirrors/cpm86/dosfiles.htm

Bye, Katzy.

[Herbert Johnson]

> I was looking at some of the archived files on:
>
> http://z80cpu.eu/mirrors/oak.oakland.edu/

> What compression program was used and how do I read these files?

The Walnut Creek CP/M CD-ROM has a number of CP/M and MS-DOS utilities
for decompressing the various compressed and libraried, etc. files one
finds in CP/M (and MS-DOS) archives. The "oakland" archive probably
has a similar set of such programs. They are usually in a "utility"
directory.

The CP/M programs can be run with MS-DOS based CP/M emulators in the
"DOS window" of most Windows systems. The MS-DOS programs (usually in
a "MSDOS" directory) will run directly in the MS-DOS window. I presume
Linux has both CP/M emulators and MS-DOS emulators. (If Vista or 7
doesn't support the DOS window, find an older Windows system.)

The "dot" extension of the file, usually provides a clue as to how
these were compressed. Look for on the Web (and in those archives) for
notes on CP/M compression, library, squeeze, ark, arc, etc.

There are also more recent CP/M decompression utilities for Windows,
Linux. But some of the oldest or oddest formats may not be covered.
(shrug) I've accumulated a number of MS-DOS programs, and a few CP/M
programs, to do the decompression I need on an XP box.

Herb Johnson

[Peter Dassow]

On 24.03.2011 21:53, Herbert Johnson wrote:
> [...] I presume

> Linux has both CP/M emulators and MS-DOS emulators. (If Vista or 7
> doesn't support the DOS window, find an older Windows system.)
>

> There are also more recent CP/M decompression utilities for Windows,
> Linux. But some of the oldest or oddest formats may not be covered.
> (shrug) I've accumulated a number of MS-DOS programs, and a few CP/M
> programs, to do the decompression I need on an XP box.

I am a bit surprised now.
There was already a discussion about decompression programs a few weeks
ago here. There is not only a DOS compatible (16bit application) CFX
version. There is also a 32bit console version of CFX available.
So there is NO NEED of an emulator or an XP box at least for
decompression. Just use the CFX version I offer on my page at
http://www.z80.eu/cpmcomp.html (see at the very end of that page for the
32bit console version which runs smooth even with Windows 7 64bit) ...

Regards
Peter