ScuzzBlog: Diaries October 2023 Entry 16th October 2023: Post 1: Unarchiving - The face of decrunching. Unarchiving - The face of decrunching. I was struck the other day on how little interest there was in using the Amiga as an actual computer. Guys seemed very happy to download as many games as humanly possible to feed their Goteks but when it comes to putting the Amiga to work there is almost zero enthusiasm. When suggesting a more practical way to archive and unarchive files by using a file manager the response was quite staggering ' I know that the Amiga can do this other stuff but in truth I am only interested in gaming '. Computing on the Amiga can be now categorised as 'other stuff'. I am truly shocked. I had not been fully aware of the transition. I guess the launch of the A500 mini should have given me some clue as to what was happening. I was left numb by the realisation and somewhat sad that the true purpose of the Amiga was being jettisoned so readily in favour of simple gaming. Upsetting, only insomuch that history I hope doesn't only remember the Amiga as a kids gaming console. Anyway, I have created today the first blog for several years that does not feature a picture. Simply to get across a point without the aid of pretty pics. I simply wanted to emphasise the importance not only of archiving tools but the need to assemble on your Amiga as many of the crunching and de-crunching tools that you can muster. I for one have been using DeCruncherFace or 'DFace' in short for decades and with it a whole raft of de-crunching tools. Most will be aware of LHA and DMS I guess but these are only a few of the ones that today can be downloaded from Aminet. For those unaware of the reason we need archiving tools it harps back to the days when disk space was at a premium. Not only the hard disks we had in machines but more importantly the floppy media that was so limiting in space. So a whole bunch of computer nerds came up with various packers so that we could ship large and complex files into simple archives for ease of transmission and transportation. Given that there were various packers it was necessary to obtain not only the relevant packer but the most up-to-date version. The software or graphical user interface that is DFace is not the packer/unpacker or de-cruncher in its own right. In support of the particular packer you will need the actual tool itself. You will also need to install the tool and maybe even learn how to configure it. I cited at the beginning of this blog the resistance to use a file manager to batch extract LHA files. The reason a file manager is so simple is cus the DOpus tool button for unarchiving has already been set up to undertake a number of tasks that the actual tool itself would require keyboard confirmation. None of which needs to be defined as the file manager does this for you. DFace is a GUI that also takes the grind out of undertaking those de-crunching tasks. This brings home the need to learn that 'other stuff' I was talking about earlier cus this is why it was created in the first place. To better utilise the magical device that is a computer to make life that much easier. Bewildering in this day an age that I find myself having to try to explain that simple fact. Links: DeCruncherFace can be obtained off Aminet. Just search for it. The packers,archivers and crunchers most recommended are: LHA DMS LZX LZH PPack UnRAR UnZip ARJ RUN Its also worth getting VirusZ DeCruncherDface came with Amiga User International Vol 10 06 June 1996. I'm not going to make lazy thumb pushers lives easier by linking in to Aminet all those tools. In doing this yourself you may just get the desire to partake a little more of that 'other stuff'. I do hope so cus its the lifeblood of the platform which appears to be losing the core reason for its purpose. Unarchiving - The face of decrunching. Sorry there are no pictures today

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Last updated 16th October 2023

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