File Decompression Hands-On

About this document...

For this exercise, you will need to:

1. Find a compressed file and download it to your disk(ette) - not a self-extracting archive file;
2. Determine what decompression program is needed to decompress it;
3. Find the decompression program (for example, PKUNZIP) and download it;
4. Install the decompression program on your disk(ette);
5. Decompress the compressed file.

Compressed files are discussed in the Decompression Concepts module (NA32c). This exercise will require you to use persitence and ingenuity!

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Where can you get decompression software?

• DOS/Windows at the University of Michigan (gopher://gopher.archive.umich.edu:7055/11/msdos/compression)
• Macintosh at the University of Michigan (gopher://gopher.archive.umich.edu:7055/11/mac/util/compression)

Here are some places you can try for getting compressed files:

• University of Michigan software archives (gopher://gopher.archive.merit.edu:70/11/.software-archives)
• Oakland University's OAK Software Repository (http://www.acs.oakland.edu/oak/oak.html)
• Jim Knopf's shareware distributor's list (http://www.halcyon.com/knopf/distrib.htm)

You can search for files of all types using these search systems:

• Virtual Software Library via Oakland University (http://www.acs.oakland.edu/cgi-bin/vsl-front)
• Sharware.com (http://www.shareware.com)

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Please e-mail your instructor a log showing:

• Name of the compressed file and what archive you found it on
• What (de)compression program you needed to expand it
• A list of files contained in the compressed one
• Any problems or difficulties you encountered.

Author:

Laurence J. Krieg, Washtenaw Community College

Date:

22 March 1996; added resources 28 March 1996; revised 30 Nov 1996