+-----------------------------------------+
| LOCATING ARCHIVERS FOR DOWNLOAD |
+-----------------------------------------+
The easiest way to download the archivers listed in A.C.T. is
to use the WWW version of A.C.T. If you cannot access the WWW then most
of the archivers can be found on the following four FTP sites. Try them
in this order:
ftp.elf.stuba.sk /pub/pc/pack (10 Anonymous Users Allowed)
ftp.kiae.su /msdos/arcers (20 Anonymous Users Allowed)
ftp.simtel.net /pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers (900+ Anon Users Allowed)
ftp.coast.net /SimTel/msdos/archiver (400+ Anonymous Users Allowed)
garbo.uwasa.fi /pc/arcers (100 Anonymous Users Allowed)
ELF.STUBA.SK MIRROR SITES
-------------------------
sunsite.univie.ac.at /pub/compression/ftp.elf.stuba.sk (Austria)
ftp.vse.cz /pub/msdos/SAC/pc/pack (Czech)
ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de /pub/msdos/mirrors/stuba/pc/pack (Germany)
ftp-beer.bke.hu /vol1/pub/sac/pc/pack (Hungary)
cert.unisa.it /pub/PC/SAC/pack (Italy)
ftp.pwr.wroc.pl /pub/pc/sac/pack (Poland)
ftp.nsysu.edu.tw /PC/SAC/pack (Taiwan)
EXE-PACKER SITES:
----------------
ftp.elf.stuba.sk /pub/pc/pack
ftp.simtel.net /pub/simtelnet/msdos/execomp
garbo.uwasa.fi /pc/execomp
ftp.kiae.su /msdos/execomp
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you may or may not have noticed, I have been releasing these
test results about once a month. I have decided to release the results
near the beginning of each month and name these tests A.C.T.
* Please note that the best overall selection is based entirely on the
archiver's compression/speed ratio. It is NOT based on the reliability,
price, technical support or the options available in the archiver.
I have decided to add an Options List which shows what archivers
support certain major options. If you think I should add another
category to the list or you see an error, please let me know. If there
is an error, please tell me what switch will activate the command that
I missed.
+----------------------+
| OPTIONS LIST |
+----------------------+
MULTI MIN. WIN95
DISK AUTH. 'SOLID' DATA CPU/ LONG
ARCHIVER SPAN VERI. CRYPT ARCHIVES SFX PROT GUI RAM FILES
-------- ----- ----- ----- -------- --- ---- --- ------ -----
ACB 1.29b X X-??? X X 486/16
ACB 1.14a X X-??? X X 386/8
AIN 2.32 X X-??? X x86
AMGC 2.3 X X-??? x86
AR 1.10 x86
ARC 6.02 X-??? x86
ARI 2.15 X X-??? X X X 386
ARI 2.18b6 X X-??? X X X 386
ARJ 2.50a X X X-XOR X x86
ARJ 2.55b X X X-GOST X X x86 X
ARX 1.00 x86
BSARC 2.0.0 X X x86
BZIP 0.21 386/2 X
CODEC 3.21 X-??? X x86
CROSSEPAC 1.35 x86
CRUSH 1.8 X x86
CRUSHER 3.12 X-??? X x86
DPA 1.1a 386
MULTI MIN. WIN95
DISK AUTH. 'SOLID' DATA CPU/ LONG
ARCHIVER SPAN VERI. CRYPT ARCHIVES SFX PROT GUI RAM FILES
-------- ----- ----- ----- -------- --- ---- --- ------ -----
DWC 5.10 X-??? X x86
ESP 1.8 X X-??? X X X x86
GAS 2.0 x86
GZIP 1.2.4 x86
HA 0.999b x86
HAP 3.05bp x86
HAP 4.03 X x86
HPACK 0.79a0 X X X-PGP X X x86
HYPER 2.6 x86
INFO-ZIP 2.1 * X-??? X x86 X
JAM - Aug1996 X-XOR x86
JAR16 1.01d X X X-GOST X X x86
JAR32 1.01d X X X-GOST X X 386 X
JRCHIVE 1.10 X X x86
LARC 3.33 X x86
LHA 2.67 X 386
LHARK 0.4b X-??? X x86 X
LIMIT 1.2 286
MULTI MIN. WIN95
DISK AUTH. 'SOLID' DATA CPU/ LONG
ARCHIVER SPAN VERI. CRYPT ARCHIVES SFX PROT GUI RAM FILES
-------- ----- ----- ----- -------- --- ---- --- ------ -----
MDCD 1.0 x86
NULIB 3.24 x86
PAK 2.51 X X-??? X X x86
PKARC 3.5 X-??? X x86
PKPAK 3.61 X-??? X x86
PKZIP 2.04g X X X-??? X x86
PKZIP 2.5W95 X X X-??? X X 386 X
PUT 3.41 X x86
QUANTUM 0.97 X 386
QUARK 1.0beta X X-??? X x86
RAR 2.0 X X X-??? X X X X x86
RKIVE 1.3 X 386/4 X
SAR 1.0 x86
SARJ 1.20 X X X-XOR X X x86 X
SPLINT 2.1 X-??? x86
SQWEZ 2.2 X X x86
SQZ 1.08.3 X x86
SUPER PACK 2.0 X X-??? X X x86
MULTI MIN. WIN95
DISK AUTH. 'SOLID' DATA CPU/ LONG
ARCHIVER SPAN VERI. CRYPT ARCHIVES SFX PROT GUI RAM FILES
-------- ----- ----- ----- -------- --- ---- --- ------ -----
TAR 3.20+ X x86
TSCOMP 1.3.21 x86
UC2 3.0 PRO * X X-3DES % X X X x86 X
UC 2.37 beta * X X-3DES % X X X x86 X
UFA32 0.01 X-??? 386/2
WINRAR 2.0 X X X-??? X X X X 386/2 X
WINZIP95 6.2 X X-??? X 386/2 X
X1 0.94m X X 386/4 X
YAC 1.02 X X x86
ZET 0.10b X x86
ZIP-ARCHIV 2.0 X-??? x86
ZIPNAV 2.03 X X X 286
ZIPSERVER 2.12 X X-??? 386/4 X
ZOO 2.10 x86
MULTI-DISK SPAN = Ability to span an archive over two or more disks
AUTH. VERI. = Authentication Verification (Security Envelope)
DATA PROT = Data Protection Encoding (Stores Error Recovery Info)
CRYPT = Ability to encrypt files in archive with password (Garble)
SFX = Ability to create Self-Extracting Archives (.EXE)
GUI = Graphical or Text Shell to manage archiver functions and select
files for compression/decompression
MIN. CPU/RAM = Minimum PC CPU and RAM (in megabytes) to run archiver
If no value for RAM is given, archiver will run in 640k
WIN95 LONG FILES = Ability to store and extract Windows95 long filenames
* - UC2 comes with a utility (SAS.EXE) to SPLIT archives into chunks
and then rebuild them after. This is not nearly as nice as
multi-disk spanning.
- INFO-ZIP comes with a utility called ZIPSPLIT which does the same
thing as UC2's SAS utility.
% - UC2 uses shared dictionaries between file collections to utilize
similarities between files.
+---------------+
| INDEX |
+---------------+
ARCHIVER RELEASE AUTHOR & (INTERNET E-MAIL)
-------- ------- ------------------------------------------------------
TYPE PLATFORMS SUPPORTED FREE UNCOMPRESS
---------- --------------------------------- ---------------
ACB Nov '96 George Buyanovsky (acb@online.ru)
v1.29b Shareware DOS No
AIN Nov '96 Transas Marine (UK) Ltd. (100125.3526@compuserve.com)
v2.32 Shareware DOS No
AINEXE Nov '96 Transas Marine (UK) Ltd. (100125.3526@compuserve.com)
v2.32 Shareware DOS N/A
AMGC Aug '95 Milen Georgiev
v2.3 Freeware DOS Yes
AR Mar '94 Haruhiko Okumura (74050.1022@compuserve.com)
v1.10 Freeware DOS Yes
ARC Jan '89 S.E.A. Inc.
v6.02 Shareware DOS,Amiga No
ARI Mar '97 RAO Inc. (ras@okibox.iae.nsk.su)
v2.15 Shareware DOS No
ARI Mar '97 RAO Inc. (ras@okibox.iae.nsk.su)
v2.18b6 NonPublicBeta DOS No
ARJ Dec '95 Robert Jung (robjung@world.std.com)
v2.50a Shareware DOS,Windows,Amiga,MAC Yes,with source
ARJ Jul '96 Robert Jung (robjung@world.std.com)
v2.55b Shareware DOS,Windows,Amiga,MAC Yes,with source
ARJZ Apr '95 (Bulat.Ziganshin@f10.n5049.z2.fidonet.org)
v0.15 Shareware DOS,Windows NT,OS/2 Yes
ARX Jan '95 Michael A. Kosior (mkosior@acad.bryant.edu)
v1.00 Shareware DOS No
AVPACK Apr '93 Andrei Volkov
v1.22 Shareware DOS (Free for non-commerical use) N/A
AXE Jan '89 S.E.A. Inc.
v2.2 Shareware DOS No
BSARC May '95 Serg Babitchew
v2.0.0 Shareware DOS,Win,Win NT,OS/2,QNX,Unix No
BZIP Aug '96 Julian Seward (sewardj@cs.man.ac.uk)
v0.21 Freeware UNIX,Win 95,Win NT (C Source Code) Yes
CODEC Apr '95 Telvox Teleinform. (telvox.teleinf@bologna.nettuno.it)
v3.21 Shareware DOS,Win,OS/2,Unix,VMS,PowerPC,more No
COMPACK Nov '91 Prominence Computer Services Ltd.
v4.5 Shareware DOS N/A
CROSSEPAC Oct '94 Digital Strategies, Inc.
v1.35 Shareware DOS No
CRUNCH Aug '89 Ori Berger
v1.0 Shareware DOS N/A
CRUSH Feb '95 J. Rollason (100031.3537@compuserve.com)
v1.8 Shareware DOS No
CRUSHER Nov '95 DC Micro Development (support@dcmicro.com)
v3.12 Shareware DOS,Win No
DIET Jun '92 Teddy Matsumoto
v1.45f Freeware DOS Yes
DPA Apr '96 Dirk Paehl (dpaehl@welfen-netz.com)
v1.1a Freeware DOS Yes
DWC Mar '90 Dean W. Cooper (dwcooper@ix.netcom.com)
v5.10 Freeware DOS Yes
ESP Jan '97 GyikSoft (garpad@sparta.banki.hu)
v1.8 Freeware DOS Yes
GAS May '93 Ricky Bhatti
v2.0 Shareware DOS No
GZIP Aug '93 Jean-loup Gailly (gzip@prep.ai.mit.edu)
v1.2.4 Freeware DOS,WinNT,Unix,VMS,OS/2,Atari,Amiga Yes
HA Jan '95 Harri Hirvola (harri.hirvola@vaisala.infonet.com)
v0.999b Freeware DOS,OS/2,UNIX Yes,with source
HAP Apr '96 Harald Feldmann (feldmann@xs4all.nl)
v4.03 Commercial (v3.05 Shareware) DOS No
HPACK May '93 Peter Gutmann (pgut@cs.aukuni.ac.nz)
v0.79a0 Shareware DOS,OS/2,Unix,MAC,Amiga,Atari,Archimedes No
HYPER May '92 P. Sawatzki & K. Nischkle (in307@dhafeu11.bitnet)
v2.6 Shareware DOS No
INFOZIP Apr '96 Info-ZIP (zip-bugs@wkuvx1.wku.edu)
v2.1 Freeware DOS,WinNT,Unix,OS/2,Amiga,Atari,VMS Yes,with source
JAM Aug '96 W. Jiang (wjiang@xmu.edu.cn)
vAug-1996 Freeware DOS Yes,with source
JAR Feb '97 Robert Jung (robjung@world.std.com)
v1.01d Shareware DOS,Win95,WinNT No
JRCHIVE May '95 JAYAR Systems (jrsys@io.org)
v1.10 Shareware DOS No
LARC Feb '89 K. Miki, H. Okumura, K. Masuyama
v3.33 Shareware DOS No
LHA Oct '95 Haruyasu Yoshizaki (SDI00506@niftyserve.or.jp)
v2.67 Freeware DOS,Amiga,Mac,UNIX,Win95,WinNT Yes
LHARK Dec '96 Kerwin F. Medina (kerwin@infoserve.net)
v0.4b Freeware DOS Yes
LIMIT Feb '94 J Y Lim (jlim@cs.stanford.edu)
v1.2 Shareware DOS No
LZEXE Jan '90 Fabrice Bellard
v0.91 Freeware DOS Yes
MDCD Oct '88 Mike Davenport (miked@ionet.net)
v1.0 Freeware DOS Yes,with source
NULIB Jan '93 Andy McFadden (fadden@uts.amdahl.com)
v3.24 Freeware DOS Yes
PACKWIN Jun '94 Yellow Rose Workgroup
v1.0alpha Shareware DOS N/A
PAK Oct '90 NoGate Consulting
v2.51 Shareware DOS No
PGMPAK Apr '90 Todor Todorov
v0.13 Shareware DOS No
PKARC Apr '87 PKWARE Inc. (support@pkware.com)
v3.5 Shareware DOS No
PKPAK Aug '88 PKWARE Inc. (support@pkware.com)
v3.61 Shareware DOS No
PKLITE Mar '96 PKWARE Inc. (support@pkware.com)
v2.01 Shareware DOS No
PKZIP Feb '93 PKWARE Inc. (support@pkware.com)
v2.04g Shareware DOS,Windows,OS/2 No
PKZIP WIN Sep '96 PKWARE Inc. (support@pkware.com)
v2.5 Shareware Windows,Win95,WinNT No
PUT Jan '95 Jim Hass (73057.3113@compuserve.com)
v3.41 Shareware DOS No
QUANTUM May '95 Cinematronics (davids@cruzio.com)
v0.97 Freeware DOS,Windows No
QUARK May '93 Kunz Robert
v1.0beta Shareware DOS No
RAR May '96 Eugene Roshal (andrey@vybor.chel.su)
v2.0 Shareware DOS,OS/2,UNIX,Win95,WinNT,Win32s Yes
RJCRUSH May '96 Roland Skinner (rjs@lia.co.za)
v1.10 Shareware DOS No
RKIVE Oct '96 Malcolm Taylor (malcolm@manawatu.gen.nz)
v1.4 Shareware DOS No
SAR Mar '93 Streamline Design
v1.0 Shareware DOS No
SARJ Jan '96 Frederic Taes (fta@info.fundp.ac.be)
v1.21 Freeware DOS Yes
SPLINT Apr '89 Kenji Rikitake (Kenji@dctwcs.das.net)
v2.1 Freeware DOS,UNIX Yes,with source
SQWEZ Nov '94 Jim Miller (74131.1704@compuserve.com)
v2.2 Shareware DOS No
SQZ Jan '93 Jonas Hammarberg (100417.2002@compuserve.com)
v1.08.3 Shareware DOS No
SUPER PACK Apr'95 Kai Gossens (Future-Dreams Entertainment)
v2.0 Freeware DOS Yes
TAR Jan '95 Tim V. Shaporev (tim@shaporev.msk.su)
v3.20+ Shareware DOS,Unix,Amiga No
TINYPROG Mar '94 Tranzoa, Co.
v3.9 Shareware DOS N/A
TSCOMP 1991 The Stirling Group
v1.3.21 Shareware DOS No
UC2 Jun '95 Ad Infinitum Products (desk@aip.nl)
v3.0 Shareware(Free for non-commercial use) DOS Yes
UC Apr '96 Ad Infinitum Products (desk@aip.nl)
v2.37beta Shareware(Free for non-commercial use) DOS Yes
UCEXE Apr '96 Ad Infinitum Products (desk@aip.nl)
v2.4 Shareware DOS Yes
UFA32 Mar '97 Igor Pavlov (igorp@albea.rb.ru)
v0.01 Shareware Win95,WinNT No
WINZIP Oct '96 Nico Mak (support@winzip.com)
v6.2 Shareware Windows,Win95,WinNT No
WWPACK Jan '97 Piotr Warezak (awarezak@krysia.uni.lodz.pl)
Rafal Wierzbicki (Wierzba@free.polbox.pl)
v3.05b5 Shareware DOS No
X1 Sep '96 Stig Valentini (x1develop@internet.dk)
v0.94m Freeware DOS,OS/2,Win95,WinNT Yes
XPACK Oct '96 JauMing Tseng (s8203143@simon.pu.edu.tw)
v1.64 Shareware DOS Yes
XPACK Feb '97 JauMing Tseng (s8203143@simon.pu.edu.tw)
v1.65b9 Shareware DOS Yes
YAC Sep '95 Aleksandras Surna (as@ashurna.msk.ru)
v1.02 Freeware DOS Yes
ZET Mar '94 Oleg V. Zaimkin
v0.10b Shareware DOS No
ZIP-ARCHIV ??? Peter Troxler
v2.0 Shareware DOS No
ZIPNAV Jul '95 FlashPoint (FlashPoint@msn.com)
v2.03 Shareware Windows No
ZIPSERVER Oct '96 Redei Enterprises (71744.3633@compuserve.com)
v2.12.2 Shareware Windows No
ZOO Jul '91 Rahul Dhesi (dhesi@bsu-cu.bsu.edu)
v2.10 Shareware DOS,Unix,Amiga No
The information above may not be 100% accurate so if anyone
notices any errors or finds something I left out, please let me know.
+--------------------+
| WHAT'S NEW |
+--------------------+
*** INFORMATION REQUESTED ***
If anyone knows the encryption methods that are (???) unknown in
the archiver Option List, please email and let me know. Thanks!
ARI 2.15 - The latest public release of ARI includes better compression
on BMP files and is slightly faster than 2.14.
For more info e-mail: ras@okibox.iae.nsk.su
To get a copy: ftp.elf.stuba.sk /pub/pc/pack/ari215.exe
ARI 2.18b6 - This release of ARI is a non-public beta copy so you
will not be able to get a copy until the full version
is released. A major change in this version is that
ARI now uses the DOS4GW extender. It now supports much
larger dictionary sizes so it can compress better and is
faster in some cases. This new beta has a large speed
increase and better compression over beta 1.
For more info e-mail: ras@okibox.iae.nsk.su
UFA32 0.01 - This new release of UFA has some major changes in it.
UFA is no longer a DOS app but a 32bit Win95/NT app.
It supports dictionary sizes up to 1024K and has a new
multimedia type compression. UFA now takes first place
in the EXE and BMP tests. UFA32 0.01 uses a format that
is not compatible with UFA 0.00.
For more info e-mail: igorp@albea.rb.ru
To get a copy: ftp.elf.stuba.sk /pub/pc/pack/ufa001.zip
ZET 0.10b - This Russian archiver compresses fairly well considering it
is virtually unknown. It includes a very basic set of
features.
+------------------+
| PGP INFO |
+------------------+
Anyone wishing to send me updated versions of archivers or email
may use PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) v2.6 or above to encrypt the info.
Listed below is my PGP public key which you can use to encrypt a binary
file or ascii file into RADIX-64 ascii format. After you have encrypted
the file, you can then send it to me via email at my Internet address
listed below. When you use my public key to encrypt something with PGP,
only I can decrypt the file so you can be certain that whatever you send
will only be seen by me.
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6.3ia
mQCNAy53etMAAAEEAM9FrKHl4ZSsNl15zzbtYZoC48e4WT83AsdH5vHr7P0npRIM
unbDNUdBbQ0ZGppG4a0ccYpLs8EAkGJLGL28JCZzk4LDCLxCn14VoeVZSV25S0mj
1ApwoTUrzqWsrdbaeGdeJ1IBxG2zc9SMMDq3htPcGzb/KQvAbbgiZykcOlgBAAUR
tCJKZWZmIEdpbGNocmlzdCA8amVmZmdAbmJuZXQubmIuY2E+iQCVAgUQMmlDrrgi
ZykcOlgBAQFo5QP+PNjx3g8Qr7PdfaKusPj2vNbqz5Eof2l/RhyzPd3tPAFhtDWB
Nq/pi5+LIMQuCjLIN2rFhkjkQKDlj/8moixJGqxKt2k9yAk6pwkiMPxKXXN8HUeA
hWh0J+6gJSaszMD/4QICbGp7YbrrYoH9URgaO0/Qn7JLvz4TnD5dQarosR60HUpl
ZmYgR2lsY2hyaXN0IDxqZWZmZ0BtaS5uZXQ+iQCVAgUQMYeBg7giZykcOlgBAQG2
lAQAkxkDz4UqiRE9dA2uZjrcR51UO5qKt0X54FfNg5NfYmogW+n25ExJvuedevRg
5C8tNZRtaPsgBY9wV2hqX23zI5oqgf/w1GRwvxuBMSoyk7V2L/BaC/0rIeHV8ON6
95nd2OnbdExVp7aYoE0XuLj4398Lc+e5IzS8WmZ7ybaH3t0=
=5h8b
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to
send me some EMAIL and I will try and reply as soon as I can.
INTERNET: jeffg@nbnet.nb.ca
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| HOW TO GET THE LATEST COPY OF THE ARCHIVE COMPARISON TEST |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
** Official Distribution Sites **
Via BBS/Online Service
----------------------
DANGER UNLiMiTED (Canada) SysOp: Kit Thong
+1-403-280-3778 300bps - 28,800bps
Login ID: DISTRO No password required.
UNDER THE SUN BBS (Spain) SysOps: Nebulus & Parallax
+34-6-3610206 300bps - 28,800bps v.34/vFC
Login ID: ACT Password: ACTEST Open: 23:00 to 06:00 GMT
COMPUSERVE
Forum SysOp: Joel Diamond GO WINUTIL
Via FIDONET File-Request (FREQ)
-------------------------------
LineLife M/F (Germany) SysOp: Horst Hackenbruch
FREQable under the magic name: ACT
Most archivers also available on this site.
2:2433/940 (300 - 128,000bps Zyxel/v.34/v.110/v.120/x.75/DMS100)
Phone: +49-2173-967910
2:2433/941 (ISDN: ELINK EL310, x.75 ESDD-1)
Phone: +49-2173-967911
Via Internet
------------
WWW: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/jeffg/act.html
WWW: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/4264/act.html
FTP: ftp.simtel.net /pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers/actest??.zip
FTP: ftp.elf.stuba.sk /pub/pc/pack/actest??.zip
FINGER: s0b8@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca
MAILING LIST: A.C.T. E-mail Mailing List
------------
To subscribe, send an e-mail to: jeffg@nbnet.nb.ca
with ONE of the following five in the SUBJECT of the message.
SUBSCRIBE ACT-FULL
SUBSCRIBE ACT-TOP50
SUBSCRIBE ACT-MIME
SUBSCRIBE ACT-UUENCODED
SUBSCRIBE ACT-INFO
ACT-FULL - The full Archive Comparison Test in ASCII format.
(Around 75k)
ACT-TOP50 - Smaller version of A.C.T. with top 50 entries of
each section in ASCII format.
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|
b (W
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(E
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PRN
LPT1
.ZIP
COM1
Searching ZIP:
file:
already exists. Overwrite (y/n/a/r)?
Unknown compression type:
inconsistent local header for file:
file fails CRC check
OK
has errors!
Testing:
Extracting:
UnShrinking:
Expanding:
Exploding:
Inflating:
PKUNZIP
file has bad table
Invalid Shrunk file
Invalid filename:
No update needed.
More -(
)- Space for next screen, Enter for next line, Esc to skip file
End ob NdBcreate Self-Extracting Archives (.EXE)
GUI = Graphical or Text Shell to manage archiver functions and select
files for compression/decompression
MIN. CPU/RAM = Minimum PC CPU and RAM (in megabytes) to run archiver
If no value for RAM is given, archiver w
---------------
|