CPAC Installation with DOSBOX under Windows7 64 bit

[Kunio Yamada]

I have failed to install CPAC with DOSBOX under Windows7 64 bit.
The following message appear during installation from original
diskettes and have not continued.
----Error-------
The compressed files in this directory should be
decompressed. They cannot be used while they are
compressed.
------------------

Does anyone adviｓe to solve it?

Floppy disk is of CPAC F1021B/C and contains below

Disk 1/3
1994/08/29 09:03 391,665 APPS.ARJ
1994/05/04 16:53 59,686 DEARJ.EXE
1994/06/08 15:07 1,022 INSDISK.RI
1994/06/08 14:16 1,024 INSDSK_F.RI
1994/06/08 14:13 1,024 INSDSK_G.RI
1994/06/08 14:17 1,024 INSDSK_S.RI
1994/06/20 15:18 156,980 INSTALL.EXE
1994/06/30 15:50 29,528 INSTEXT.RI
1994/08/08 15:22 30,781 INSTXT_F.RI
1994/08/08 15:24 33,359 INSTXT_G.RI
1994/08/08 15:25 32,251 INSTXT_S.RI
1994/08/29 09:05 111,984 RES_FR.ARJ
1994/08/29 09:05 114,867 RES_GR.ARJ
1994/08/29 09:04 107,867 RES_SP.ARJ
1994/08/29 09:04 96,030 RES_US.ARJ

[Dave Frederickson]

I experienced quite a bit of grief getting CPACK to install in DOSBox. Extract this zip file to the directory /CPACK200: CPACK200

You should then be able to mount the directory in DOSBox and run the apps by running APP200.



Dave

[Dieter]

(06-01-2015 01:59 AM)Kunio Yamada Wrote:  I have failed to install CPAC with DOSBOX under Windows7 64 bit.
The following message appear during installation from original
diskettes and have not continued.
----Error-------
The compressed files in this directory should be
decompressed. They cannot be used while they are
compressed.
------------------

Well, then simply do as the error message tells you: decompress the compressed files. ;-)

These are the ones with the .ARJ suffix. In the 90s, ARJ was a popular compression tool. Like PKzip whose suffix was .zip, which you may be more familiar with. All you need is a suitable program that can handle these files. Maybe this is even possible with common programs like winzip – but I don't know for sure.

EDIT: I once again looked at the file list, and I noticed this:

1994/05/04 16:53 59,686 DEARJ.EXE

This sounds like the decompressor you need. Try it with one of the .arj files, like this:

DEARJ APPS.ARJ

The compressed files within apps.arj now should be extracted.

Dieter

[Kunio Yamada]

Dave

Thank you for your advice.
I can run APP200 successfully.



Dieter

Thank you for your advice.
I have tried command
dearj apps.arj

Result:
Invalid command: apps

Thanks again for your advice.

[Dave Frederickson]

Dieter's solution is valid. The only thing the INSTALL program does is extract the .ARJ files and copy the uncompressed files to the appropriate directory. 7-Zip will work for decompressing the ARJ files. It's only necessary to extract the appropriate language files.

Dave

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

(06-01-2015 03:50 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  Dieter's solution is valid. The only thing the INSTALL program does is extract the .ARJ files and copy the uncompressed files to the appropriate directory. 7-Zip will work for decompressing the ARJ files. It's only necessary to extract the appropriate language files.

Dave

I seem to remember that Install only decompresses files from the floppy drive. For some strange reason, if you copy the files from the floppy and then attempt to run Install, it will fail. But if you leave the files on the floppy and run Install on the floppy, then it will decompress and copy to hard drive.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

[Dave Frederickson]

(06-01-2015 05:40 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote:  

(06-01-2015 03:50 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  Dieter's solution is valid. The only thing the INSTALL program does is extract the .ARJ files and copy the uncompressed files to the appropriate directory. 7-Zip will work for decompressing the ARJ files. It's only necessary to extract the appropriate language files.

Dave

I seem to remember that Install only works from the floppy drive. For some strange reason, if you copy the files from the floppy and then attempt to run Install, it will fail. But if you leave the files on the floppy and run Install on the floppy, then it will decompress and copy to hard drive.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

I believe that's correct. That would explain the "grief" I mentioned in Post #2. In any case, the ARJ files can be manually extracted to the hard drive to create a working installation.

Dave

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

(06-01-2015 05:57 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  In any case, the ARJ files can be manually extracted to the hard drive to create a working installation.

Dave

Okay, I just figured out the format for DEARJ.exe to extract the files.

To extract the files:

dearj e Filename.arj Dirname\

This works fine in Dosbox.

You can also use 7zip to decompress the files.

First time I have run across the ARJ format.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

[Dave Frederickson]

(06-01-2015 06:31 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote:  First time I have run across the ARJ format.

Do you remember when PKZIP was called PKARC?

Here's the Wikipedia entry for ARJ.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-01-2015 06:41 PM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  

(06-01-2015 06:31 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote:  First time I have run across the ARJ format.

Do you remember when PKZIP was called PKARC? :)

Here's the Wikipedia entry for ARJ.

Phil Katz had to find a new name (and better format) because of copyright infringment lawsuit by SEA.
Who remembers SEA now? :)

[Dave Frederickson]

(06-01-2015 06:48 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Phil Katz had to find a new name (and better format) because of copyright infringment lawsuit by SEA.
Who remembers SEA now?

Ironic story. PK lost the lawsuit yet his algorithm became the defacto standard. Also, it's sad to say, he died from alcohol abuse in 2000 at the age of 37.

[striegel]

Seeing the screen grab posted made me pause, because I see it shows version 1.00. My system is running version 1.02 and I believe I have seen elsewhere that a version 1.04 was released.

Does anybody know:

• What is the difference between these minor revisions?
• What is the highest version produced by HP?
  

   

[Dieter]

(06-01-2015 03:06 PM)Kunio Yamada Wrote:  Thank you for your advice.
I have tried command
dearj apps.arj

Result:
Invalid command: apps

OK, then dearj works like the original arj.exe: the first parameter is a command, just as Bill already said: dearj e <filename.arj> seems to extract files from the archive. But this may not be neccessary at all since Dave said the extraction is already done by the install program. ;-)

You could try a simple "arj.exe" (without parameters). The original program then displayed a help screen with the syntax and all possible commands.

Dieter

[rprosperi]

Wow, what a great blast from the past this thread contains...

7zip....pkzip...arj...pkarc...arc...

Guess that age poll was pretty accurate. Glad I'm not the only one that recalls these great old utilities with fondness.

2 Things I did not know are 7zip handles .arj files and that PK died so young. Thanks Dave.