Easy-GZ Information

Simple, Effective Compression

Easy-GZ is a compression tool which allows extremely tight compression and quick decompression. Based on the GZip standard and optimized for the Macintosh platform, an easy-to-use, effective GZ compressor has finally been brought to the Mac OS.

Easy-GZ takes advantage of the latest advantages of the Mac OS 8. Its user interface is designed entirely around the new Appearance Manager, and it supports Navigation Services if installed. If you don't have the Appearance Manager installed, you can download it directly from the Easy-GZ web site.

Several recently released programs are able to recognize and open GZ-compressed files automatically. Current versions of SNES9X, Virtual Gameboy and Handy/MacOS already support this standard, and many more software titles promise to support the GZ format soon.

Frequently Asked Questions

* Can I use Easy-GZ to compress my applications?
- Currently, no. The GZ format is limited to data files only; it is unable to parse information in the resource fork of a file (where Mac OS-specific information is stored). If you try to compress a file with Easy-GZ that contains a resource fork, the resource information will be discarded-this would make normal Mac OS applications unusable. However, almost all data files are fully GZ-compressible. (A future version of Easy-GZ may attempt to address this limitation.)

* Easy-GZ won't start; it wants "AppearanceLib."
- Easy-GZ is very reliant on the newest features of Mac OS 8. It uses the Appearance Manager to improve the look and feel of the Mac OS interface. You can download this extension from the Easy-GZ web site; install it and restart to get Easy-GZ to run.

* Once I compress a file with Easy-GZ, how can I get GZ-compatible software to recognize it? Double-clicking from the Finder just decompresses it again.
- Start SNES9X or Handy/MacOS from the Finder, then use the application's "Open..." command to select the file. If the Finder icon changes from a shrinking document to a cartridge image, the file can be opened by double-clicking in the future.

* I transferred an Easy-GZ file over the Internet, and when others decompress it, it comes out as a generic "document" icon instead of the proper kind of file.
- Easy-GZ currently stores Mac OS type/creator information in the comments field of a file. Several popular utilities fail to retain the comments field when transferring files over the Internet-for example, Hotline will replace the comments field with the name of the server that the file was downloaded from. The type/creator can be easily restored with any decent file editing utility-if you are looking for one, I highly recommend "FileBuddy."

About the Author

Easy-GZ was written by John Stiles, who also maintains a web site called emulation.net and ports several emulators to the Macintosh. Easy-GZ was originally designed as a ROM compression tool for emulators, but quickly grew in scope as the project progressed.

Easy-GZ is freeware; please distribute it however you wish.

Version History

* 1.1:
- Updated ZLIB core to version 1.1.3.
- The progress window will no longer move back to the center of the screen when multiple files are being processed.
- An option is now available to keep files from changing their type/creator after compression. This is recommended only if you're compressing ROMs for an emulator.
- An option is now available to keep files from being decompressed after being dropped on Easy-GZ (if, for example, you wanted to compress everything in a folder which already contained a few compressed files).
- Miscellaneous code cleanup resulted in a small size reduction for the application.
- 68K Macs without Appearance Manager installed will now bail out more gracefully.

* 1.0:
- Initial release.

Original file name: Easy-GZ Information - converted on Thursday, 3 February 2000, 00:10