Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (Reviewer with no e-mail address) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Source Code CD-ROM disc, March 1992 edition Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.programmer Date: 15 Feb 1993 00:39:36 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 150 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1lmoo8INNcm8@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: CD-ROM, C, UNIX, source code, programming, commercial [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review is by Thomas Baetzler, who does not currently have an e-mail address. He may be reached on FidoNet on the Medic BBS, 2:241/7509.2, or by mail: Thomas Baetzler, Herrenstr. 62, 7500 Karlsruhe, FRG. - Dan] PRODUCT NAME Source Code CD-ROM disc, March 1992 edition BRIEF DESCRIPTION A data CD-ROM containing the source code to over 600 MB of freely-distributable programs, taken from various Internet archive sites. Most of the source code is written in C. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Walnut Creek CDROM Address: 1547 Palos Verdes Mall Suite 260 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 Telephone: (800) 786-9907 (510) 947-5996 Fax: (510) 947-1644 You may download product information by ftp, including pricelists and catalogs, from cdrom.com (192.153.46.254). LIST PRICE Suggested retail price is $39.95 (US). [MODERATOR'S NOTE: If you are the author of any software on this CD-ROM, Walnut Creek will send you a free copy of the disc. In addition, Walnut Creek occasionally announces special pricing for people on USENET; for example, buy one copy, and get additional copies for half price. - Dan] SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS You'll need a CD-ROM drive as well as a suitable driver to read this disc. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING The Source Code CD-ROM is used regularly on an A2500/030 running OS 2.04, using a GVP Series II host adapter, a NEC CDR 74 CD-ROM drive, and Asimware's AsimCDFS. I have not tested this disc on a CDTV. REVIEW The Source Code CD-ROM (SCCD) is mastered using ISO 9660 Level 1 format and should thus be compatible with all Amiga and PC CD-ROM filesystems. It contains a large collection of miscellaneous MS/DOS source code, the SIMTEL-20 Unix-C archive, and last but not least a "USENET" directory that contains the archives of the alt.sources and the comp.sources.* newsgroups. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This includes alt.sources.amiga and comp.sources.amiga. - Dan] Each of the three main sections features its own storage mechanism: the MS/DOS files are compressed using ZIP, while TAR archives prevail in the "UNIX_C" directory. The UseNet sourcecodes aren't packed at all, but just saved as they were posted: mostly multipart shar files. While the original PKAZip sometimes had problems decoding a particular compression scheme of the MS/DOS ZIP files, the less comfortable UnZip 5.1 worked fine for me. TAR files are best tackled with GNU Tar these days -- at least if you've got OS 2.04 or newer installed. Older ports of Tar did not work for me. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: Several versions of "unshar" exist for the Amiga on Fish Disks to unpack shar archives too. I use Unshar 1.3 by Eddy Carroll from Fish Disk 345, modified slightly to skip whitespace at the beginning of lines. - Dan] Since the disc is clearly a multi-system effort, there's no special Amiga support included -- but the potential customer should not be daunted by this. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: Many of these programs compile on the Amiga with little effort. - Dan] The only way for finding a program for a particular task is to grep [search] the supplied index-file for a keyword. Be sure to examine all listed entries, since there are sometimes quite a lot of different versions of the same programs around! I found the organization of the SCCD to be straightforward, and I had no problems whatsoever finding things I was looking for. DOCUMENTATION None. LIKES AND DISLIKES The SCCD can be lots of fun for programmers, like when you browse through old entries to alt.sources: you'll never believe how many weird, useless and downright funny programs there are. If you're looking for things to port over to the Amiga, you'll find them there. BUGS The directory /USENET/COMPSRC/AMIGA/VOLUME08/DOS is trashed: The file "DOSDEV.C" is really "COMMAND.C" from a DME distribution. According to Walnut Creek, this error is contained in the original archive site from where they drew their master. Since the missing file dates back to some time in 1987, one really can live with that. CONCLUSIONS The Source Code CD-ROM is a great resource for programmers, giving immediate access to tons of usable C code. Although the emphasis is on Unix and MS/DOS, there's plenty of usable programs for the Amiga, too. If you are a programmer, and you've been looking for your very own software archive -- here it is! COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1993 Thomas Baetzler. All rights reserved. Sorry, I do not have a working email address at the moment. You can contact me on FidoNet on Medic BBS, 2:241/7509.2 Thomas Baetzler, Herrenstr. 62, D7500 Karlsruhe, FRG Voice: ++49 (0)721 29872 Data: ++49 (0)721 694986 --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu