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    CRIDERS COMPRESSION SYSTEM: 

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- 1984 by G. C. Crider



Have you ever wished you could

cram a few more games on your

favorite game disk?  Have you

wished your backup files took up a

little less of your total disk

library?  Or maybe you wished that

some of your files took a little

less time to transmit on your

modem.  If so, then CRIDER'S

COMPRESSION SYSTEM (CCS) is just

the thing you need.



WHAT DOES CCS DO?



CCS will compress duplicate

concatenous characters into a four

byte algorithm, thus reducing the

size of any file or program which

contains such strings.  When you

want to use the file, you may

expand it back to its original

form or, in the case of binary load

programs, load and run them

directly from the compressed format

using a CCS menu.



The nature of the file

determines the amount of com-

pression you will get.  Tokenized

BASIC files tend to compress very

little.  Many games which contain

large amounts of formatted screen

memory will compress as much as

40-50%.  My experience on machine

language games indicates a tendency

to recover about 15-20% of the

sectors on each disk that I

compress (100-140 sectors).  My

games are generally on double-

density disks.



CCS will work on double or

single density disks, using any

DOS.  The load menu contains it's

own load routine, thus making it

DOS independent (as long as the

files are ATARI DOS 2.0

compatible).  OS/A+ version 2,

DOS/XL, SMARTDOS, MYDOS, and K-DOS

are all compatible.  OS/A+ version

4 is not compatible.





CCSCOMP:

********



This is the machine language

compression program used to

compress a single file.

1. Use the load binary file

feature of DOS or your favorite

menu to load the program and begin

execution.  DOS must be resident.

2. Insert the source and

destination diskette(s) in the

drive(s).



3. Enter the file specs

(including Dn:) of your input

(normal) file and output

(compressed) file as requested by

the program.  Use of wild cards

could produce incorrect results or

loss of data.

     Do not use the input file as

the output file.  This will result

in an ERROR 0.

     CCS will be able to determine

the correct density if the drive

has been properly configured prior

to execution of CCSCOMP.  The new

ATARI DOS 3 "double density" that

is actually closer to density and a

half will probably not work.



4. Compression begins

immediately and is complete when

the compression statistics and the

words "END OF JOB" appear on the

screen.



Note: Use CCSEXP to uncompress

(expand) a CCS compressed program.





AFTERWORD



If you would like the latest

versions of all of the above

mentioned utilities, send me a

disk, self-addressed mailer and

postage along with $5 to cover

copying costs and I will return the

diskette with the programs and

documentation files.  If you want

to send me some software you think

I might like, forget the $5 charge!

It is O.K. if I already have it.

It is the thought that counts.



If you encounter difficulties

with this or any of my programs, do

not hesitate to call or write.  I

don't guarantee a fix, but maybe I

can offer a little sympathy.



     Gary C. Crider

     1105 Burgess Ct.

     Arlington, TX 76015

     (817) 467-1114