README for PKAT V0.2 QH, March 1997
===================================

  Welcome to the first official release of PKAT (PK's Archive Tool)!

  PKAT (pronounce "pee-cat" :-) converts different C=64 archive files into
  each other. At the moment the following archive formats are supported:

           o ZIPCODE (example: "1!file", "2!file", "3!file", "4!file")
           o D64     (.d64 suffix, 174848 bytes long, example: "mydisk.d64")

  Other archive formats will follow...

WHAT IS ZIPCODE ?
=================
  Zipcode is just another archive format in the C=64 world. You can determine
  whether a set of file is zipcoded by looking at the filenames:
  Zipcode uses four files. The filenames consist of the filename, say "disk1",
  and "1!", "2!", "3!", "4!" as prefix. This would result in four files named

           1!disk1
           2!disk1
           3!disk1
           4!disk1

  =>> Don't mix it up with the .zip format! A 'zipped' (not 'zipcoded') <<=
  =>> file is just one single file (like "anotherdisk.zip") and has     <<=
  =>> nothing to do with zipcode.                                       <<=

WHAT is a D64 file?
===================
  A .d64 file contains all 683 sectors of a C=1541 disk. The most common type
  of a d64 just contains these 683 sectors. Each sector contains 256 bytes,
  so the file length is 683*256=174848 bytes. Some .d64 files include error
  information. PKAT is able to load this 'extended' type but doesn't check
  this information (since it's not really needed).

WHAT DO I NEED TO COMPILE ?
===========================
  * You'll need a C++ compiler to compile PKAT. I tested it successfully
    with GCC-2.7.2 and everything worked fine.
  * DOS users may get some problems caused by the 8+3 filename length
    restriction. These problems doesn't occur on Unix/Linux systems (of
    course :).

HOW DO I COMPILE AND INSTALL ?
==============================
  Just type 'make' (or 'gmake'). After successful compilation there should
  be an executable named 'pkat' in the current directory.
  This file is all you need.

ONLINE HELP
===========
  An online help will be displayed by just typing 'pkat' and pressing ENTER.
  It looks like this:

     Usage:   pkat [options | filenames]
     Options: [-z]  convert to zipcode
              [-d]  convert to d64
              [-v]  verbose
              [-vv] more verbose
              [-y]  assume 'yes' on all queries

  (the -h or --help option will be supported later, see BUGS)

OK, HOW DOES IT WORK ?
======================

  * Easy. :-)

  * Converting a D64 file to a set of 4 zipcoded files:

              pkat -z mydisk.d64

    It's also possible to convert more than one D64 file, for example:

              pkat -z *.d64

  * Convert a set of 4 zipcoded files to a single D64 file:

    If you have a set of four zipcoded files, say

              "1!mydisk"
              "2!mydisk"
              "3!mydisk"
              "4!mydisk"

    and want to convert it to D64, you just have to type

              pkat -d mydisk
    or        pkat -d 1*       (or 2* or 3* or 4*)
    or        pkat -d *

    PKAT will (hopefully ;-) convert these four files into one D64 file with
    the name "mydisk.d64". The last two commands ("pkat -d 1*" and
    "pkat -d *") convert more than one set of zipcoded files IF more than
    one exists.

  * Convert 1(2,3,4)!zipdisk to a D64 and myd64.d64 at the same time:

              pkat -d zipdisk -z myd64.d64

  * You can suppress "File exists, replace it?" messages with the -y
    option, assuming 'yes' on all queries.


  * FOR "EXPERTS" ONLY:
    Explanation of the letters 'R', 'W' and 'F' when using the -vv
    (more verbose) option:

    Zipcode uses three different methods for storing data. Each disk sector
    uses exactly one of the three methods:

        F (Fill): All 256 sector bytes are filled with the same value.
                  BEST COMPRESSION

        R (RLE (Run Length Encoding)): "Experts" know what is is :)
                  2ND BEST COMPRESSION

        W (Write Through): Writes sector as it is...
                  NO COMPRESSION AT ALL


  * The -y, -v and -vv options can be placed anywhere on the command line,
    the -d and -z options only work in front of a filename (to make it
    possible to convert to different targets).

HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO PAY ?
===========================

  ==========================================================================
  = You DON'T have to pay ANYTHING for it! I'd just like to know how many  =
  = people use this tool, so please do me a favour and send an E-MAIL to   =
  =                                                                        =
  =                   mepk@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de                  =
  =                                                                        =
  = telling me THAT you use it. You don't have to write a whole book,      =
  = a short sentence like "Yep, I use pkat!" will do.   THANKS IN ADVANCE! =
  ==========================================================================

COPYRIGHT
=========
All files in this package are (C)1997 by Christian Janoff. No warranty!

BUGS / FEATURES / WARNINGS
==========================

  * This is just a 'quick hack' (that's what 'qh' in the version info stands
    for ;-) but it works very well for me (and the zipcoder compresses at the
    highest possible compression rate :-).

  * No -h or --help option. Yet... (Just typing 'pkat' without any options
    will do the appropriate thing)

  * Unix command line redirection ( >filename ) doesn't work properly.

ADVERTISING
===========
  For more information about the Commodore 64 check out PK's Commodore 64 Page:

      *** http://www.student.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/~mepk/c64.html ***

  NOW!!! :-)

      (In the near future the latest release of PKAT can be found there)
