ACT Title - by Jody Sullivan
(ACT 2.0) - March 2000 Edition

WHAT'S NEW:

March 12, 2000

Pfew, now that all the Y2K problems have just been cleaned up I had some time to release another edition of ACT. ;-) Ok, so I guess I can't use that as an excuse since the world didn't come to an end as some predicted. Since Christmas I have been doing a lot of cryptography work so ACT kept falling behind. I have the DOS/Windows version ready now and I hope to be updating the Mac version with a few more archivers within the next week or two.

Geocities now has the option to use shorter URLs which is great since it is really hard to memorize the old style. You can now access the ACT Geocities mirror by using this shorter URL (the old one will still work too): http://www.geocities.com/archive_test/

New programs tested for the DOS/Windows version this month:

ARHANGEL 1.40 BIX 1.00b7 BSA 2.0 R1.10
DeepFreezer 1.05a PPMC3h PPMD vE
RK 1.02b5 WAVARC 1.1 WAVPACK 3.1
ZIPCentral 2.06 ZZIP 0.32b  
     
ASPACK 2.00.1 PECOMPACT 1.22 UPX 0.99.2w
XE 1.4.3    

December 6, 1999

Phase 1 of the new changes to ACT are now complete. I have recently acquired an Apple iMac computer so I have added a benchmark section for Mactintosh compression software. In Phase 2, I will be changing some of the web pages around to give more information, adding a couple of new pages, and I will also finish the new ACT archiver index page.

New programs tested for the Macintosh this month:

MacGZIP 1.1 MacTar 4.2.1 PKZIP 2.03
SmartZip 1.0.1 Stuffit Deluxe 5.5 ZipIt 1.4

November 17, 1999

The new ACT has finally arrived! I didn't get a chance to test all the new archivers I have since I wanted to get this release out but I will be making another update in the middle of December before the big year 2000 chaos.

New programs tested this month:

7ZIP 2.0 ARHANGEL 1.40a1 BA 0.99b
BZIP 0.9.5d DROPSTUFF 5.0 EPRESS beta0
ERI 4.0fre ERI 4.4fre LZOP 1.0
RAR 2.60 RAR32 2.60 RK 1.01b1
WAVARC 1.0    
     
ASPACK 1.08.04 PECOMPACT 0.98b UPX 0.84w
UPX 0.90w WWPACK32 1.20b2  

November 6, 1999

A small update. The new ACT should be out hopefully by the end of next weekend. After that I will be working on some very exciting changes and additions to ACT. The only hint I will give for now is: G3.

The Russian ACT mirror site has changed locations. You can now find it at: http://www.shomonopoly.com/arctest

October 2, 1999

Just when you thought ACT should be finally coming out soon, something happens to delay it again. The first problem started when the incompetant telephone company in my province accidentally shut off my phone and high speed internet service. It took their computers all of 30 seconds to shut me down but took me 4 days to get them to get everything fixed. I didn't have my internet access to update the ACT page and let you know about the delay earlier.

The main problem is that I have a test computer for benchmarking the ACT programs and a laptop computer that I use to enter the results. Well, the same day that all the telephone chaos started happening my laptop computer died on me. About 50% of the tests were finished but now I have lost all that data and will have to start over. I am moving to a new house in 2 weeks which means that most of my time will be spent getting ready for the move and actually moving. I will also be away for a week later in October.

So this basically means that ACT will be delayed for a while and at the moment I have no idea when the next one will be released. I'm hoping by the beginning of November and maybe earlier if I am really lucky.

September 5, 1999

Unfortunately the September ACT will be late. Vacation I was suppose to take earlier in the summer was postponed and I have been travelling for the past couple of weeks so I didn't have time to prepare ACT for the first of the month. It will probably be at least 2 more weeks before it is released so any last minute releases can still make it in for testing.

August 13, 1999

I would like to announce a new ACT mirror site in the Czech Republic. Adam Petr <adamp@trb.czn.cz> has been kind enough to translate the web site into Czech. The mirror site can be found at http://alias.trb.cz/ada/act/act.html.

August 2, 1999

I have added more entries to the new INDEX page. The listings now show the entries from A to L and I will continue to add the rest over time.

July 3, 1999

New programs tested this month:

AKT32 0.62b ARJ32 3.01b COOLZIP 1.01
ERI32 3.8fre IMP 1.1b PAR 1.49b
PPMD RKUC 1.03 SEMONE 0.6b0
SHORTEN 2.3a TAR 3.21g WINIMP 0.93
XPA32 1.02    
     
ASPACK 1.08.03 PETITE 2.1 UPX 0.72w

The next ACT will be released at the beginning of September, 1999, after which I hope to get back on the monthly release schedule.

Note: There was a bug in RKUC 1.03 that prevented it from decompressing properly in some cases and thus the 'N/A' results. The author has found the bug but it was not available in time to retest the fixed version. Decompression time is about the same as compression time.

I will be at a conference next week in Las Vegas and will probably be taking the last week in July off for vacation so don't be surprised if I don't reply to my e-mail right away.

May 9, 1999

This is a new section to ACT 2.0 that will keep you informed of what is going on. This page will be updated more often than the other ACT pages.

I have also put up the start of the new INDEX page. I have only had time to include some entries but I will be adding the rest eventually.

With the nice weather in Canada during the summer, it is a very busy time for me since I like to spend a lot of my free time outside or doing other recreational activities with my girlfriend and friends. This is why there was no April ACT, I just didn't have the time. Over the summer, ACT will probably only be published every other month so expect the next release in July. If I do for some reason have extra time I will try to put out a release more often but don't count on it. When September rolls around, things should be back on schedule again.

New programs tested this month:

7ZIP 2.0b3 AKT 0.5b ARHANGEL 1.39a5
ARS 2.1 BIX 1.0b3 NPACK 1.0
PKZIP 2.50 RAR 2.50 SEMONE 0.4b1
SBX 1.4 XTREME 1.06  
     
ASPACK 1.082 NEOLITE 2.0 PEPACK 1.0
PETITE 2.0 SHRINKER 3.4 UPX 0.70
XE 1.4.1    

 

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