Whilst investigating the recovery of the other media, I happened to find a ZIP 100 drive. You may remember ZIP as the Iomega attempt at a high capacity floppy disk. It was a good idea, but was unfortunately surpassed by rewritable CD and DVDs.
There was one blank looking ZIP 100 disk in the backup box. Maybe it had nothing on it. Who knows?
So I decided to attach this drive to a PC and find out. To my surprise, I found a trove of backup files, including the source code for Magnetic Windows and the Magnetic Scrolls build tools and "C" emulator.
Sadly, no sign of the source code to the original games. So I shall have to keep searching, nevertheless this was an interesting and fruitful find.
One of the files on the ZIP was, tantalisingly, called, VAX.ARC
It is not recognised by either; unzip, freearc, 7-zip, winzip, winrar or ZArc, but strangely I get a content listing in emacs !!
M Length Date Time File
- -------- ----------- -------- ------------
1421312 23-Jun-1991 16:01:56 alice.tar
2396160 23-Jun-1991 21:33:48 animator.tar
675840 23-Jun-1991 21:46:06 as68.tar
1157120 23-Jun-1991 18:38:30 asasin.tar
266240 23-Jun-1991 21:51:02 dvi2ps.gfx
2211840 23-Jun-1991 22:33:08 emu.tar
1198080 23-Jun-1991 18:03:38 fish.tar
112640 23-Jun-1991 13:47:04 fred23jr.tar
296960 23-Jun-1991 22:38:10 gfi.tar
358400 23-Jun-1991 22:45:54 kermit.tar
921600 23-Jun-1991 22:59:58 lnk.tar
81920 23-Jun-1991 23:01:22 miscc.tar
163840 23-Jun-1991 23:04:24 patch.tar
532480 23-Jun-1991 23:13:10 rcs.tar
188416 23-Jun-1991 23:16:20 sps2.tar
61440 23-Jun-1991 23:17:24 undump.tar
2593536 13-May-1991 20:07:50 windows.rcs
- -------- ----------- -------- ------------
14637824 17 filesSo it turns out there's a really old "arc" format that no one uses anymore predating PKZIP. Of course there are no tools to read this anymore, except maybe some utils linked from wikipedia including "nomarch".
Downloading and compiling nomarch gives this:
nomarch -lv vax.arc
alice.tar 9 (Squashed) 474673 1421312 1991-06-23 16:01 4AD7
animator.tar 9 (Squashed) 1013114 2396160 1991-06-23 21:33 69CE
as68.tar 9 (Squashed) 226903 675840 1991-06-23 21:46 C5D8
asasin.tar 9 (Squashed) 506893 1157120 1991-06-23 18:38 F320
dvi2ps.gfx 9 (Squashed) 136691 266240 1991-06-23 21:51 60D5
emu.tar 9 (Squashed) 924620 2211840 1991-06-23 22:33 3CDA
fish.tar 9 (Squashed) 530010 1198080 1991-06-23 18:03 1198
fred23jr.tar 9 (Squashed) 42197 112640 1991-06-23 13:47 A1F6
gfi.tar 9 (Squashed) 149121 296960 1991-06-23 22:38 F339
kermit.tar 4 (Squeezed) 324504 358400 1991-06-23 22:45 45A7
lnk.tar 9 (Squashed) 262342 921600 1991-06-23 22:59 8B24
miscc.tar 9 (Squashed) 31894 81920 1991-06-23 23:01 2633
patch.tar 9 (Squashed) 75587 163840 1991-06-23 23:04 9AB0
rcs.tar 9 (Squashed) 216397 532480 1991-06-23 23:13 7FD8
sps2.tar 9 (Squashed) 76224 188416 1991-06-23 23:16 1585
undump.tar 9 (Squashed) 23259 61440 1991-06-23 23:17 B60C
windows.rcs 2 (Stored) 2593536 2593536 1991-05-13 20:07 DA28Hurrah!
But, the fun ends there, because nomarch was unable to extract anything, giving "BAD CRC" error.
Then, after some battle, i compile ARC-5.21p.
This gives,
arc v vax.arc
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
ALICE.TAR 1421312 Squashed 67% 474673 23 Jun 91 4:01p 4ad7
ANIMATOR.TAR 2396160 Squashed 58% 1013114 23 Jun 91 9:33p 69ce
AS68.TAR 675840 Squashed 67% 226903 23 Jun 91 9:46p c5d8
ASASIN.TAR 1157120 Squashed 57% 506893 23 Jun 91 6:38p f320
DVI2PS.GFX 266240 Squashed 49% 136691 23 Jun 91 9:51p 60d5
EMU.TAR 2211840 Squashed 59% 924620 23 Jun 91 10:33p 3cda
FISH.TAR 1198080 Squashed 56% 530010 23 Jun 91 6:03p 1198
FRED23JR.TAR 112640 Squashed 63% 42197 23 Jun 91 1:47p a1f6
GFI.TAR 296960 Squashed 50% 149121 23 Jun 91 10:38p f339
KERMIT.TAR 358400 Squeezed 10% 324504 23 Jun 91 10:45p 45a7
LNK.TAR 921600 Squashed 72% 262342 23 Jun 91 10:59p 8b24
MISCC.TAR 81920 Squashed 62% 31894 23 Jun 91 11:01p 2633
PATCH.TAR 163840 Squashed 54% 75587 23 Jun 91 11:04p 9ab0
RCS.TAR 532480 Squashed 60% 216397 23 Jun 91 11:13p 7fd8
SPS2.TAR 188416 Squashed 60% 76224 23 Jun 91 11:16p 1585
UNDUMP.TAR 61440 Squashed 63% 23259 23 Jun 91 11:17p b60c
WINDOWS.RCS 2593536 -- 0% 2593536 13 May 91 8:07p da28
==== ======== ==== ========
Total 17 14637824 49% 7607965Looks Promising! Then trying to extract a file gives,
arc x vax.arc ALICE.TAR
Extracting file: ALICE.TAR
Corrupted compressed file.
Invalid code 312 when max is 258.
WARNING: File ALICE.TAR fails CRC check
An entry in vax.arc has a bad header.
hdrver: 8
4842 bytes skipped.Nice try!
but wait, the options:
ARC - Archive utility, Version 5.21p, created on 08/07/2010
Usage: arc {amufdxerplvtc}[biswnoq][g<password>] <archive> [<filename> . . .]
Where: a = add files to archive
m = move files to archive
u = update files in archive
f = freshen files in archive
d = delete files from archive
x,e = extract files from archive
r = run files from archive
p = copy files from archive to standard output
l = list files in archive
v = verbose listing of files in archive
t = test archive integrity
c = convert entry to new packing method
b = retain backup copy of archive
i = suppress image mode (translate EOL)
s = suppress compression (store only)
w = suppress warning messages
n = suppress notes and comments
o = overwrite existing files when extracting
q = squash instead of crunching
g = Encrypt/decrypt archive entryFor ARC (not nomarch), there's a encryption option. So are these files actually encrypted? If so, it looks like ARC itself does not know. Perhaps you have to give ARC the right password or it just fails with what looks like a corrupt extraction and bad crc.
Any password ideas?