geoBEAP v2.1
1.0 Released on LoadStar Issue #145
1.5 Released on LoadStar Issue #179
2.0 Released as Shareware on 8/11/2001
2.1 Released in 2002?
Updated in 2009 for Wheels 4.4
Download geoBEAP 2.1
Download geoBEAP 2.1 w/o source
Download geoBEAP Source (* Requires geoModules)
geoBEAP is Born!
"geoBEAP" stands for Bo's Excellent Archive Program, and was born from a need to convert
.D64 emulator images onto regular 1541 disks. Unhappy with the default speed of my
Commodore drives, I turned to GEOS, hoping to take advantage of its turbo routines. At
the same time, I was taking a course in college in which we were studying data compression.
With all this going for me, I sat down in front of the Commodore SX-64 I kept at work and
wrote the original geoBEAP 1.0. This version and the follow-up, geoBEAP 1.5, were sold
to LoadStar.
geoBeap 1.0
So, how did this new version come to be?
Over the years, I entertained the notion of writing a companion to geoBEAP (called geoBEFAP)
that would have included a few file archive formats, including one that would use the .BEP
compression algorithm. I also thought about rewriting geoBEAP 1.5
to take advantage of my geoModules project. Eventually, some
idle time in the Summer of 2001 gave me an opportunity to do both at once!
geoBeap 2.0
The new geoBEAP 2.0, unlike the old, is a VLIR application based entirely on the geoModules
foundation. In fact, two new modules were born during its writing: a module for doing
the GEOS Convert function, and another for copying any and all file types (including GEOS,
VLIR, and relative files!). Its interface resembles the old to an extent, but was actually
based off the code from The Major ReOrg.
So, what does the new version do?
Lots! geoBEAP 2.0 will create (pack) and dissolve (or
unpack) the following disk images: .D64 (standard C= emulator 1541 disks), .D71 (standard C=
emulator 1571 disks), .D81 (standard C= emulator 1581 disks), ZipCode 4-packs (by DarkStar,
the original disk image archiver), EMUTIL single compressed images (supports ANY drive type,
and gets better compression than .D64 or ZipCode), EMUTIL multi-file compressed images (same
as above, but multiple files), and the original .BEP format (unchanged since 1.5). geoBEAP
2.0 ALSO supports the following FILE archive formats: GEOS Convert (.cvt) files, LYNX (.lnx)
archives (includes relative file support, and support for EVERY version of LYNX I know of),
and ARK (.ark) archives (including relative file support). The LYNX support also includes
geoPack files, making geoBEAP a direct replacement for that aging application.
geoBEAP 2.0 is being released as shareware!
There is a lot of great plans I have in the
future for geoBEAP, and it was only exhaustion staring at the same kind of code every day
that made me want to just STOP. I was poised to add .T64 (C= emulator tape image) format,
as well as .LBR (library 64 and library 128) formats. During my research, I also discovered
that Wraptor V3 uses LZW. This gives great hope that perhaps it may be added at some point
also, since I am familiar with that algorithm and may be able to reverse engineer it. A lot
depends on how much interest is expressed in this program however, so register it soon!
Revision Notes:
1/30/98 geoBEAP has been updated to version 1.5! It now supports CMD
Native mode direcories for creating and unpacking .BEP format archives. Wheels
support has also been added. Lastly, geoBEAP will now run under GEOS 128 in both
40 and 80 columns. Ask for issue #145!
8/11/01 geoBEAP has been rewritten! In addition to D64s and .BEP archives,
geoBEAP now supports Convert (.cvt) files, .D71 files, .D81 files,
EMUTIL Single Compressed disk images, EMUTIL multi-file Compressed
disk images, ZipCode 4-packs, LYNX (all versions) file archives, and
ARK file archives.
2/12/02 geoBEAP 2.0a released with a few minor bug fixes in the RLE format code.
If you find anything in here you have questions or comments about, feel
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