Download format

[nilsA]

For a charity I am trying to make video material available for download. This will include 2x2 DVD stuctures (NTSC and PAL). To make this simple, I have been thinking: Why not zip the whole thing? But so far I have had no luck. I have tried right-clicking on the folder holding the disk structure and choose compress to zip - but it did not work.

I know there will be no real compression here, just a convenient way of letting people download, unzip and burn. (There will also be .iso versions, but I aim to make things simple for different persons.)

Any ideas what I do wrong? Or should I just ... you know ... boot the other way and let winzip do the job?

[Runaway1956]

Re: Download format

59 views, no replies.

Let me ask what archiving software is installed, first. The only thing I see that was installed on my Gutsy Gibbon by default is Ark. Look for it in menu > utilities It should be the first item in the list. Once you've started it up, click File > new and you should get a popup window. In that popup, browse to the directory which contains the files you want to compress, select those files, then tell Ark to compress them.

You can go into settings, and set some default behaviours there. I do not see a setting for compression levels in Ark. Before I do any archiving, I'll probably install some other program, so that I can set default to high compression. Poorly compressed archives tend to drive up bandwidth usage/cost.


EDIT - gzip is installed by default. I should have known that without even thinking, as many programs for Linux are only available in .tar.gz format.

In general detail, you need to open a console, then navigate to the folder containing the files you wish to zip. gzip -c file1 > foo.gz

If there are a lot of files you wish to zip, it is often easier to go up on directory, then gzip the entire directory. (to *nix like systems, a directory is just another file)

Full user's manual here: http://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/manual/gzip.html

[Runaway1956]

Re: Download format

An added note. I opened Adept Manager, did a search for "compression".

Those who are migrating from Windows will likely be comfortable with Xarchive and/or Xarchiver. Those are GUI frontends for several compression engines, including zip, gzip, 7zip, and more.

There are other compression tools listed, but they may require a little homework to learn how to use them.

[Monster_user]

Re: Download format

Xarchive? Xarchiver?

I think 7-Zip has a Linux front-end.

I think the Gnome "File Roller" application is pretty good.

[nilsA]

Re: Download format

Thank you all. After looking at the options and trying several, the only one I am able to start trying is Q7Z - the 7 zip frontend.

However, I get this error message:

7-Zip 4.57 Copyright (c) 1999-2007 Igor Pavlov 2007-12-06 p7zip Version 4.57 (locale=nb_NO.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,1 CPU) Error: /home/nils1/Dokumenter/RTeng//DVDNTSC_1.zip is not supported archive System error: Operation not permitted

What does this mean?

[Goeroeboeroe]

Re: Download format

Hi,
I use exactly the same trick you do on my site. I make a zip with Ark, you can install that in the usual way with synaptic.
The zips unpack good on Windows too, even with XP's standard-unzip.

[MoonRise]

Re: Download format

Thank you all. After looking at the options and trying several, the only one I am able to start trying is Q7Z - the 7 zip frontend.

However, I get this error message:

7-Zip 4.57 Copyright (c) 1999-2007 Igor Pavlov 2007-12-06 p7zip Version 4.57 (locale=nb_NO.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,1 CPU) Error: /home/nils1/Dokumenter/RTeng//DVDNTSC_1.zip is not supported archive System error: Operation not permitted

What does this mean?

I could be mistaken about this error, but it looks as though you hav etwo "/" just prior to the actual .zip file name. That could be causing that error.

Error: /home/nils1/Dokumenter/RTeng//DVDNTSC_1.zip

[nilsA]

Re: Download format

Hi,
I use exactly the same trick you do on my site. I make a zip with Ark, you can install that in the usual way with synaptic.
The zips unpack good on Windows too, even with XP's standard-unzip.

This is what I first did try - but I get a "output too large error". I can get this by just right-clicking on the folder; or adding new, adding folder in Ark. (The words may vary, I use the Norwegian version).

[nilsA]

Re: Download format

Thank you all. After looking at the options and trying several, the only one I am able to start trying is Q7Z - the 7 zip frontend.

However, I get this error message:

7-Zip 4.57 Copyright (c) 1999-2007 Igor Pavlov 2007-12-06 p7zip Version 4.57 (locale=nb_NO.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,1 CPU) Error: /home/nils1/Dokumenter/RTeng//DVDNTSC_1.zip is not supported archive System error: Operation not permitted

What does this mean?

I could be mistaken about this error, but it looks as though you hav etwo "/" just prior to the actual .zip file name. That could be causing that error.

Error: /home/nils1/Dokumenter/RTeng//DVDNTSC_1.zip

Yes, I als noted this as strage. If something is introduced, it is in the front end; I just clicked and chose.

[MoonRise]

Re: Download format

Hmmm. That's interesting. Sounds like bug to me on that part. The rest I'm not to sure about. I use 7ZIP, but very little and usually not anything to terribly big.