------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOCUMENT TYPE : X1 NEWS INFORMATION LANGUAGE : ENGLISH TEXT TYPE : NON-FORMATTED ASCII CHARACTER SET : LOWER 128 ASCII CHARACTERS PROGRAM VERSION DESCRIBED : X1 v0.94h (beta) LAST UPDATE (YEAR MONTH DAY): 960623 LAST UPDATE NOTE : PRELIMINARY TEXT -- LATER CHANGES MAY OCCUR TYPED BY : S.V. CHANGES BY : - OTHER DOCUMENTS : X1 USER MANUAL X1 DISCLAIMER, X1 CHANGE HISTORY, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intro ===== Nothing fancy in this release. I'm waiting until I get more RAM (beyond my 8Mb) in order to be capable of improving compression ratio. Meanwhile I'm preparing for a GUI solution. Thanks goes to Sven Verdoolaege, who helps putting me in the right direction. Mainly bugfixes in this release. Still cannot work with PC-DOS v7.0 because I can't differentiate the darn thing from Win95 in DOS mode... In X1 version 0.94e,0.94f I removed older methods 2,3 and even inserted a new method 2. Sombody actually noticed that, and I've temporarily put the original methods back. For the future, I will not ``re-cycle'' methods (as method 2), but rather use entirely new numbers. Sorry for possible confusement. For the record, methods 6,7,10 are supported - but only on a temporary stage. Please notice, that only methods 1,4 are 'official' (supported with certainty in future releases). Methods 2,3 are going obsolete - the 'm#' option makes no use of them any more. The will probably disappear in one of the future releases. I still (hmm..always) need: (1) people reporting errors (beta-testers). (2) language translators (docs and screen-messages). Editing is done in a small language module, which I provide (e-mail me!). (3) 'sanctuary' ftp site, for new releases. ftp.elf.stuba.sk is the official site for RAR, so I was asked not promote it as the prime site for ``x1''. From the 'sanctuary' site I expect: (1) >=1 anonymous users possible (2) Will last for >1 year (3) Backed up regularly (a crash won't wipe all files) (4) Decent ftp transfer time (machine not tortured by huge ``jobs''). (5) Possiblity to remove fake uploads (myself, or having somebody do it) (6) Allow uploads with frequent intervals. I usually fix all reported errors within a 24hrs range (have nothing better to do) - and might want to upload frequently in periods. In return, I'll upload newest versions of X1 for all platforms. The site will be mentioned in all docs and mail-trailers by me - and if/when I get my homepage back, I'll provide a link. Cannot actually *pay* people for their efforts - but will naturally credit people accordingly in the documentation. My hardware is..hmmm...below average standards. Because of RAM shortage, algorithms may not have been tested with large memory models. In other cases, I have not even provided possiblity for usage of larger memory models. I hope to overcome this soon. I have a dial-up connection and not(!) a v34 modem or a local line to the internet provider... So please warn me before sending something major (>20kb) -- no coredumps, please:) Well, left is only to say that I hope you enjoy the show. And if you do, please tell it to a friend. Sincerely, Stig Valentini General information about platform porting ========================================== X1 handles multiplatform attributes internally. Fx. writing 'UNIX' in the attribute field, when trying to display UNIX attributes on a non-UNIX platform. It's a major problem that some archivers haven't properly defined an OS id number for all platforms - which makes it diffucult to set OS id properly in all archiver formats across all platforms. ``X1'' is not assembler hand-tuned in any way (only a small patch for a 32bit arithmic coder). Except from the latest Win95 stuff, only standard-C is used. So despite a few problems (fx. endianne), it should be possible to go multiplatform at some point - perhaps when I get access to decent platforms through a job. DOS/Win95/NT/OS2 supported so far. Linux pending.. Some of the executables actually runs across several (compatible) platforms. But some platforms provide ``special'' attributes (extended attributes in OS/2 comes into mind), which is why attributes are not fully implemented in all X1 releases. Naturally, I'm going to implement full attribute support on all platforms, which I have access to. DOS(v6.23) Win95 WinNT OS/2 Linux32bit | | | | | Disk label support * * X1 attribute support * * X1DOS.EXE * * * X1NT.EXE * * X1OS2.EXE * Advice: if you're running Win95, X1NT should be preferred. Loads faster (absence of DOS extender), may run faster (no DOS extender setup, HPFS disks possible) and should be more stable (no DOS extender conflicts/flaws). Source? ======= ``X1'' source is not intended to be - and should not be - distributed publicly. I have only made ``two'' personal exceptions from that policy - under non-disclosure conditions - for porting purposes. Will not! make additional exceptions like that. I'm unemployed (heading for longterm unemployment) - those who need compression assistance should offer me a job - prefereably with a decent salary :-() I have serious time invested in "X1" (believe it or not) - but it is still !very! little known. I would like to avoid somebody else running off with the show...