Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    RE: .0   I needed to "arc x voice.zoo" to extract from VOICE.ZOO.
    
    	It's a friendly greeting meant to be run at startup.
    
    	I also added the memo pad to my startup that will remind me
    of any scheduled activities for the day.  (yes other things then
    the Amiga)...  %^<}
    

    After downloading FISHTANK.ZOO last night, I attempted to install
    it off of my DH0:demos directory.  I did a ZOO e// fishtank.zoo,
    and several files extracted without any problems.  It started
    to extract TANK and mid-way through, my system crapped out entirely.
    The workbench screen was throughly mucked, but I was able to
    warm boot my 2000.
    
    On booting I received several errors, and I am unable to delete
    any files on DH0:.  I get a "disk needs to be validated" error.
    
    So, I decide to try it again on DH1:, my other 32M partition.
    Same scenario, this time the system dies with less spectacular
    results (Yellow screen), and I cannot warm boot it.  I power it
    on and off.  I find that I am able to delete on DH1:.
    
    It seems that the archive is messed up, and a zoo -l proves this
    by sending my Amiga into an alternate character set.  The archive
    must have been corrupted somehow during downloading.  This I can
    take.  What I cannot understand is the horrible error handling
    of ZOO!  Are the majority of the utilities so badly written that
    they cannot handle _basic_ errors, and crap out a system entirely?
    
    I had thought that the popular utilities would be robust enough
    to avoid these situations.
    
    Well, enough complaining...
    How do I go about validating DH0:?  ( Please don't tell me I have
                                          to use DISKdoctor! Arghhh! )
    
    Steve

RE:.3 

    Steve,
	Sounds like you had a bad download if you were able to extract some
	of the files. The other question is which version of ZOO are you 
	running? You need at least V2.0 ( I ran into some buggy early
	versions of ZOO - can't remember what the version numbers were as
	I nuked them shortly after they did the same to me )

		One of the biggest problems people have in downloading PD
	software is that the file formats tend to be split about 50/50 
	between being VAX compatible and Amiga compatible.  I don't know
	how many times I have downloaded a huge file only to find out that
	it is the wrong format. Until people get consistant in what form
	they post things, the only way around this problem is to do an
	ARC l foo.ARC or ZOO l foo.ZOO on the VAX first. If you get a 
	listing then you have to CVTARV v foo.whatever amiga-foo.whatever.

	I would like to suggest that we start marking files with the following
	extensions to not only get rid of the file format confusion but
	to specify the version of tools necessary to unpack them.
		e.g.    foo.AARCnn
			foo.VARCnn
			foo.AZOOnn
			foo.VZOOnn
			foo.AUUEnn
			foo.VUUEnn
			foo.AWRPnn

		Dick
    
ps. FISHTANK eats a lot of chip ram, most every thing else has to be killed
	before running it.

    re: .4---We don't need to mung the names, you can tell the format
    using DIRECTORY/FULL.
        John Sauter

    
    Re .4
    
    This has been mentioned before  but  may  have  to  be spelled out
    again for some:
    
        Kermit wants fixed file format (cvtarc v infile outfile)
        Xmodem want stream_lf file format (cvtarc u infile outfile)
        Zmodem ***DOES NOT CARE*** (no extra bull#@*& required)
                  =============
    
    I have downloaded mega stuff with Zmodem and have not  had  a  bad
    download yet  (that  includes  downloads that were interrupted and
    restarted).  Before  I discovered it, I used Kermit and crashed my
    machine many a time trying to run ARC on a corrupted archive.
    
    Previous notes describe in detail how to get and use Zmodem.

    The bottom line is GET ZMODEM.
    
        Regards.....   Clint

    I have downloaded _many_ meg the past few months, using XMODEM and
    YMODEM.  Never a problem downloading or un-archiving (or un-zooing).  
    I will upgrade to ZOO v2.0 and to ZMODEM.
    
    My problem now... =*= How do I validate my hard drive ? =*=

    Steve

Re .5 & .6
	Fair enough on ZMODEM but the original problem in .3 hasn't been
	addressed - if the file being transfered requires a certain
	version tool to unpack it ( as is the case with ZOO files ), this
	should somehow be specified.  Zoo 2.X will unpack a 1.X file but
	not the other way around. There is also a problem where files
	may be called ARC but are SHAR or ZOO but are ARC, etc. Look at 
	VOICE.ZOO that was recently posted, it is actually VOICE.ARC!

	I'm not trying to stir up a debate, but just thought we could ease
	the pain for new Amiga owners that are filling up the notes file
	with requests for help in downloading PD software that they are
	unable to get unpacked and running on their Amiga's

		Dick

    During the transition from ZOO V1.0 to ZOO V2.0, I always received
    the following message as a result of doing a "Zoo -list file.zoo"
    using V1.0 ZOO where V2.0 was needed.
    
    "I am unable to handle the contents of this ZOO file ! "
    		" You need a newer version of ZOO "
    
    I thought it was a nice touch. Since upgrading to V2.0 it has neither 
    complained or failed to deZOO any of the older files.
    
    -bruce
    

    re: .7  how to validate the hard drive
    
    It is looking for Disk-Validator on your Workbench Disk.  I believe
    it should be in the Devs directory.  Then mount the partition and
    go away for a while, the validator will go thru the partition fixing
    up things it doesn't like in the file structure.  If the validation
    fails then you will need DiskSalv or DiskDoctor to salvage what
    you can.
    
    re: uploads/downloads
    Is there a ZOO v2.0 for VMS?  CSCMAS has v1.60A but that can't repack
    the zoo when you delete a file.
    
    Other nits not mentioned so far...  I copy the files to an ibmpc
    clone, you know, the kind with 8 character filenames with 3 letter
    extensions.  So I'm not too thrilled with the idea of putting the
    version numbers in the extension.  The other problem is when the
    ZOO file is larger than 720K (the amount of storage on a 2S2D 3.5"
    ibmpc format floppy).
    
    But look at it as way to increase demands for porting pc and unix
    tools to VMS.  After I got past the initial hassle of figuring out how
    it works... the usenet was a great help in showing me what unix users
    expect command syntax to look like, makes it easier to guess that
    the reason some switch is failing to work is because of case
    sensitivity or that it doesn't have a "-" in front of it, etc.
    
    Thanks to my Amiga, I now know how to ZOO, UUENCODE/DECODE, SHAR,
    ARC, KERMIT, etc. on VMS.  It is even work related, I use Zoo to
    reduce the disk quota I need, does wonders for specs and memos.
    
    -Dave

    
    One thing to keep in mind when you re-validate your HD (that is
    let the disk-validator do the job) is that it can take quite some
    time. On an Old-FileSystem partition this could take more than 30
    minutes, a FFS partition will be MUCH faster. Like in .10 mentioned
    you should use DiskSalv or DiskDoctor (and in that order) if something
    got corrupted permanently.
    
    -	<CB>
    

    re .10
    
    Dave, I'm running V2.01 of ZOO.EXE and it seems to unpack and pack
    fine.  It looks just like the Amiga version.  I think I found it
    on WJG::.  Check it out!
    
    ...Ed
    

    re:.12
    
    Thanks Ed, I hunt it down.
    
    next question: I just got an Ultrix account, anybody got a pointer
    to where I can get a version of ZOO for Ultrix?  ARC for Ultrix?
    
    -Dave