
                                    Star ARC



  This program was designed  to  extract  Commodore  ARC  archives  into  disk
images. It cannot create archives out of disk images and it cannot handle  the
completely  different  PKARC  format.  Star ARC  is  an  external  utility  of
The Star Commander but is also distributed separately.

  Portions of this program have been adapted from AX by Chris Smeets.



  1. Usage

  STARARC [-]L <arcname>
  STARARC [-]X <arcname> [-|/4|7|8|C|D|X[D|P|S]|Y] [<diskname>]

  Commands:
  L: list the contents of archives (List)
  X: extract the contents of archives (eXtract)

  <diskname>:
  Type the path and the name of the disk images here (the extension is  always
'.d64' for 1541, '.d71' for 1571 and '.d81' for 1581 disk images). Leave  this
parameter blank to extract the archives into disk images with the  same  name.
You can use long filenames.

  <arcname>:
  Type the path, the name and the extension of the archives here (the  default
extension of ARC archives is '.arc'). You can use wildcards to list or extract
multiple archives and you can use long filenames, too.

  Options:
    4: Extracts data into 1541 disk images (default).
    7: Extracts data into 1571 disk images.
    8: Extracts data into 1581 disk images.
    C: Asks for your confirmation about extracting each file.
    D: Deletes successfully processed source files.
    L: Displays Commodore filenames with the lowercase/uppercase character set
       (default).
    U: Displays Commodore filenames with the uppercase/graphics character set.
    X: Extracts data into 40-track 1541 disk images. You can choose the offset
       of the additional BAM entries by adding "S"  (Speed DOS,  default), "D"
       (Dolphin DOS) or "P" (Prologic DOS) to this option.
    Y: Assumes 'Yes' to all queries, good for running from batch files.

  When decompressing an ARC archive, the program checks if the first  file  in
the archive has the name "title". If it does then this file contains a comment
which is displayed before decompression. However, the display routine can only
handle the control codes $0D (carriage  return),  $0E  and  $8E  (changing  to
lowercase/uppercase and uppercase/graphics character set). All  other  control
codes are omitted.



  2. Error messages

  Unknown command
    The command is unknown.
  Invalid option
    The option is unknown or the syntax of its argument is wrong.
  FILENAME.EXT not found
    The file does not exist.
  Cannot create FILENAME.EXT
    The file could not be created for some reason.
  "filename" exists...
    It is not recommended to put two  files  with  the  same  name  into  disk
    images. You can skip, rename the file or  extract  it  with  its  original
    name.
  Cannot extract "filename" correctly
    The file could not be fully extracted from the  archive.  It  is  possible
    that the disk is full or the archive is corrupted,  e.g.  some  bytes  are
    missing from its end or the checksum doesn't match.
  DISKNAME.D64 is not a valid disk image
    The disk image is corrupted.
  DISKNAME.D64 has an invalid BAM
    The BAM of the disk image is corrupted. Try validating the disk image.
  Directory is full in DISKNAME.D64
    The directory of the disk image is full. You can store a  maximum  of  144
    files in a 1541 or 1571 disk image and 296 files in a 1581 disk image.
  DISKNAME.D64 is full
    The disk image is full. You can store a maximum of 664 blocks in  a  1541,
    749 blocks in an extended 1541, 1328 blocks in a 1571 and 3160 blocks in a
    1581 disk image.
  ARCNAME.ARC is not a valid ARC archive
    The ARC archive is corrupted.
  ARCNAME.ARC has in invalid entry
    The current entry of the ARC archive is corrupted.



  3. Copyright and legal issues

  This program is freeware. You can use it as long as you  wish  and  you  can
spread it as you like provided that it is in the original unmodified  archive.
Don't distribute single files only the whole package and don't ask  for  money
above the normal fee of the distribution media itself. This program may not be
included in any compilation or  sold  on  disk  or  CD-ROM  without  my  prior
permission.



  4. The author

  If you're interested in some similarly useful utilities you can contact me at
the E-mail address "sta@c64.org" or visit my homepage at "http://sta.c64.org".



  31st March, 2002                              Joe Forster/STA
