UltraCompressor II (AIP-NL)
Datacompressing archiver: easy to use,
10-50% better compression, fast extraction,
fast updates, disk error recovery, OS/2
support, can manage multiple versions of a
file, multimedia banners, etc.
! UC2INS.EXE has been sealed with USEAL !

UltraCompressor II (AIP-NL)
Datacompressing archiver: easy to use,
10-50% better compression, fast extraction,
fast updates, disk error recovery, OS/2
support, can manage multiple versions of a
file, multimedia banners, etc.
! UC2INS.EXE has been sealed with USEAL !
1. README: how to get started, features etc.
============================================

JUST GIVE THE UC COMMAND TO GET ACCESS TO THE HELP MENU!

This document describes the purpose of UltraCompressor II (tm),
UltraCrypt and UltraSafe.

UltraCompressor II, UltraCrypt and UltraSafe ARE NOT FREE PRODUCTS.
You have to pay for them if you use them. Read LICENSE.DOC for more
information. They are 'try-before-you-buy' programs so you can try them
before you buy them. LICENSE.DOC also contains the AIP-NL license
agreement. By using this package, you are agreeing to be bound by the
terms of this agreement. You can order UltraCompressor II,
UltraCrypt, UltraSafe and UltraSeal by filling out ORDER.FRM and sending
it to Ad Infinitum Programs.

This document contains the following paragraphs:

- A. What is Ultra Compressor II?
- B. Support, feedback
- C. Ultra Compressor main feature overview
- D. UltraCrypt and UltraSafe
- E. Manual overview
- F. Included files

To jump to a certain paragraph, press the corresponding letter. To
jump to a specific document/chapter, press the corresponding digit.
See chapter 1 paragraph E for an overview of all documentation.


1.A WHAT IS ULTRA COMPRESSOR II?
================================

UltraCompressor II from Ad Infinitum Programs (AIP-NL) is an
archiver. An archiver is a file handling and compression utility. It
will make most of your files significantly smaller and it can keep
related files together. When you need the files, you can decompress
them with the same UC utility. UC is very easy to use, thanks to its
simple user interface and has support for all archiving needs.

An archive behaves just like a floppy disk. It has a directory
structure, you can copy from the archive with extraction and copy to
the archive by adding. It is also possible to delete files from the
archive.

UC can also make such an archive DAMAGE PROTECTED, so ALL files in the
archive are safe, even if there are disk errors (within reasonable
limits).

With UC an archive can contain multiple versions of the same file.

With a clear manual and a limited number of commands, UC will turn out
to be very easy to use. Most of the options are configurable, so the
commands are very simple and easy to remember.

In general UC is very fast, especially when updating archives or
extracting files from archives. At the same time it has superior
compression. UC can handle near unlimited collections of files, in
multi-gigabyte archives, even on an XT. For a detailed overview of the
features of UC, see paragraph C.


1.B SUPPORT, FEEDBACK.
======================

How to contact AIP-NL:
----------------------
Mail : AIP-NL
P.O. Box 1432
3430 BK Nieuwegein
The Netherlands

=> Internet : [email protected] <== prefered

CompuServe : 100115,2303

Phone : +31-30-662107

FAX : +31-30-616571

BBS : +31-3402-55707

Helpdesk (support)
------------------
When you have any questions about the use of UC, just ask us. We
will answer your questions as soon as possible.

Help us!
--------
Help us to make this product even better. Tell us what you want us
to improve in UC and all our other products. AIP-NL applications are
always designed in close cooperation with the people who use them.
Comment on the manuals in general, or on a manual in a specific
language, is also very welcome.

Dealers
-------
We welcome dealer inquiries.


1.C ULTRA COMPRESSOR MAIN FEATURE OVERVIEW.
===========================================

Most topics refer to another part of the documentation where you can
get more information.

GENERAL FEATURES
----------------

* BETTER COMPRESSION
On an average 10%, but often above 50%, better compression than
competing software.
(See chapter 4 paragraph A options TF, TN, TT; chapter 6
paragraph A.)

* SPEED
Compression is fast and configurable to favour compression speed
or archive size. Extraction is very fast. UC is also very fast
when it UPDATES an archive, even if this archive is large,
stored on a network server or stored on a slow (floppy) disk.
(See chapter 4 paragraph A options TF and I; paragraph F
'smart skipping'; chapter 6 paragraph A.)

* RELIABILITY
Archives can optionally be protected against damage, allowing
them to recover from most disk-errors without any loss of data.
UC always works 'transaction oriented' allowing recovery from
most crashes without any loss of data. It has optional
double-verification, preventing data loss in case of hardware or
software problems.
(See chapter 4 paragraph A the P command; chapter 6 paragraph
A 'reliability level'.)

* EASY TO USE (INTEGRATED HELP)
UC has integrated help and an, easy to use, integrated
configuration tool. Only a few commands are needed to manage
archives with UC. UC can automatically deal with ARC, ARJ,
LZH, ZIP etc. archives as if they are UC archives.
(See chapter 3; chapter 6.)

* FULL SUPPORT OF OS/2 2.X EXTENDED ATTRIBUTES
OS/2 2.x extended attributes (such as icons, WPS long icon
names, WordPerfect 5.2 for OS/2 summary information etc.) can
be kept in an archive. They are managed automatically.
(See chapter 6 paragraph A 'Store OS/2 2.x extended
attributes'.)


BUSINESS USE
------------

* SCRIPT FILES
A 'script' file can contain a large list of files (e.g. to be
compressed). A script file can also be used as a substitute
for multiple (complex) commands. Script files can be nested,
to allow the construction of 'building blocks'. Script files
can be extremely long (multi-megabyte).
(See chapter 4 paragraph F 'script files'.)

* CAPABLE OF HEAVY DUTY TASKS
There is almost no limit to the amount of files in an archive
or to the amount of files processed in a single command. Where
some other programs get into trouble with more than 10,000
files, UC can easily handle a much larger number of files. Even
a simple PC-XT can (given time) handle this workload.
(See chapter 7 paragraph A.)

* ERROR HANDLING AND LOGGING
UC has advanced error handling and logging. This is
especially important when large collections of files are
archived from shared (network) disks. In almost all cases UC
allows you to solve severe problems and enables you to
continue the operation.
(See chapter 4 paragraph F 'superior error handling'.)

* STATE OF THE ART ENCRYPTION
UltraCrypt (a separate AIP-NL product) can protect your data
with heavy duty enhanced-triple-DES (Digital Encryption
Standard) encryption. Faster encryption is included as well.
(UCRYPT is a separate tool with its own manual.)

* STATE OF THE ART AUTHENTICITY VERIFICATION
UltraSeal and UltraSafe, separate AIP-NL products, can help you
protect your data against undetected changes (e.g. virus
infections or data falsifications). They do not use 'security by
obscurity', but they use digital signatures based on Lucas
Exponentiation.
(USAFE and USEAL are separate tools with their own manuals.)


PROGRAMMERS
-----------

* FILE VERSION MANAGEMENT
File version management allows you to recover previous 'states'
of your projects ("... but this worked two weeks ago, what
changed?").

Multiple versions of a file (e.g. the MAY 2 21:33:18 and the
MAY 3 02:17:22 version) can be kept in an archive. UC version
management is very simple to use. Extracting collections of
files from the past is trivial with the 'Dynamic Time Travel'
option.
(See chapter 4 paragraph E.)

* VERY FAST UPDATES
UC is very fast in updating large archives while maintaining
superior compression and reliability. No complex commands or
options are needed for this.
(See chapter 4 paragraph A options TF and I; paragraph F
'smart skipping'; chapter 6 paragraph A.)

* TRIVIAL PATH MANAGEMENT
With UC it is very easy to copy any set of files from anywhere
on disk to anywhere in the archive and vice versa.
(See chapter 4 paragraphs A and B, the # option.)


BBS SYSOPS
----------

* MULTIMEDIA BANNERS
UC allows you to add multimedia banners (text, graphics, sound
and music) to an archive, or to a collection of archives.
(See chapter 5 paragraph B.)

* EASY CONVERSION COMBINED WITH VIRUS SCANNING
UC can convert collections of archives of almost any kind with
just one simple command. If preferred, UC will scan archive
contents for viruses during conversion.
(See chapter 5 paragraph A.)

* GET RID OF VIRUSES FOREVER
The industrial strength authenticity verification software (see
'business use') can help you to get rid of viruses forever by
protecting archives against unauthorized changes.
(USAFE and USEAL are separate tools with their own manuals.)

* NEEDS ONLY 32KB FREE MEMORY TO RUN
UC can be used together with other large programs, perfect for
mailers and other (large) programs that need to call UC.
(See chapter 5 paragraph C.)


1.D ULTRA-CRYPT AND ULTRA-SAFE.
===============================

UCRYPT (distributed in separate package)
----------------------------------------
UltraCrypt (a separate UC companion) can protect your data with
heavy duty enhanced-triple-DES (Digital Encryption Standard)
encryption.

USAFE/USEAL (distributed in separate package)
---------------------------------------------
UltraSeal and UltraSafe (separate UC companions) can help you
protecting your data against undetected changes (e.g. virus
infections or data falsifications). UltraSafe uses on Lucas
Exponentiation based digital signatures.


1.E MANUAL OVERVIEW.
====================

1. README: how to get started, features etc.
1.A What is Ultra Compressor II?
1.B Support, feedback
1.C UltraCompressor main feature overview
1.D UltraCrypt and UltraSafe
1.E Manual overview
1.F Included files

2. LICENSE: the licenses, warranty etc.
2.A Limited warranty
2.B Documentation
2.C Trial use license (only valid during 30 days evaluation period)
2.D General license agreement (not valid during evaluation period)
2.E Distribution restrictions

3. BASIC: the most essential commands of UC
3.A Decompressing a complete UC archive
3.B Compressing a complete directory (tree) into an archive
3.C Making an archive DAMAGE PROTECTED
3.D Verbose list of the archive
3.Z Summary

4. MAIN: the use of the UC command in detail
4.A Command/option summary
4.B Adding files, listing contents
4.C Extracting files
4.D Other commands and options
4.E Version management
4.F Features and automatics
4.G Credits
4.H Acknowledgements
4.Z Summary

5. BBS: special features for BBS sysops
5.A Archive conversion (with virus checking)
5.B Multimedia banners
5.C UltraStealth (run UC with only 32k free memory)
5.Z Summary

6. CONFIG: how to configure UC
6.A General options
6.B System options
6.C Quick setup
6.D Batch files
6.E Optimizing performance

7. BACKGRND: concepts, program design, compressor design, benchmarks
7.A Inside of UC
7.B Compression technology
7.C Damage protection technology
7.D Benchmarking

. UCRYPT: the use of the UCRYPT command
A. Command summary
B. Encryption
C. Encryption with destruction of the original archive
D. Decryption
Z. Summary

. USAFE: the use of the USAFE command
A. Command
B. How secure are these seals?
C. How to create seals?
D. Very important note!
E. Error levels
Z. Summary



1.F INCLUDED FILES.
===================

Please note UC2INS.EXE and CRYSAF.UC2 are both protected by UltraSeal.
You can use UltraSafe to verify whether you have an original version.


UC2INS.EXE UltraCompressor II install package
----------------------------------------------

Main executable. (See chapter 4.)

UC.EXE UltraCompressor II executable

Documentation and order forms.

README.DOC how to get started, features etc.
LICENSE.DOC the licenses, warranty etc.
BASIC.DOC the most essential commands of UC
MAIN.DOC the use of the UC command in detail
BBS.DOC special features for BBS sysops
CONFIG.DOC how to configure UC
BACKGRND.DOC concepts, program design, compressor design, benchmarks

ORDER.FRM order form
SYSOP.FRM special order form for BBS sysops
USEAL.FRM special order form for USEAL

FILE_ID.DIZ short description of UC2INS.EXE for sysops

Supporting batch files. (See chapter 6 paragraph D.)

U2_CHECK.BAT virus checking
U2_EDIT.BAT text editing
U2_FLUSH.BAT flush disk-cache
U2_XTRA.BAT user defined conversion specifics
U2_SHOW.BAT show multimedia banners

U2_EXHPK.BAT expand HPACK archives
U2_EXARC.BAT expand ARC archives
U2_EXARJ.BAT expand ARJ archives
U2_EXHA.BAT expand HA archives
U2_EXHYP.BAT expand HYPER archives
U2_EXLZH.BAT expand LHA/LHArc archives
U2_EXPAK.BAT expand PAK archives
U2_EXUCN.BAT expand new UC2 archives
U2_EXZIP.BAT expand ZIP archives
U2_EXZOO.BAT expand ZOO archives

UltraStealth executables. (See chapter 5 paragraph C.)

US.EXE install UltraStealth
UUC.EXE use UltraStealth


CRYSAF.UC2 package UltraCrypt and UltraSafe
--------------------------------------------

Executables.

USAFE.EXE UltraSafe executable
UCRYPT.EXE UltraCrypt executable

Documentation and order forms.

README.DOC how to get started, features etc.
LICENSE.DOC the licenses, warranty etc.
UCRYPT.DOC the use of the UCRYPT command
USAFE.DOC the use of the USAFE command

ORDER.FRM order form
SYSOP.FRM special order form for BBS sysops
USEAL.FRM special order form for USEAL

FILE_ID.DIZ short description of CRYSAF.UC2 for sysops