                              8-BIT ARCX HELP FILE¢¢     Some users seem to be having more problems than necessary with the¢ARCX.COM utility in extracting files from the archived format.  This is not¢because of necessarily bad files but unfamiliarity with the ARCX.  ARCX is a¢relatively simple utility and I think this is where the confusion comes from.¢¢     When you download a file be sure to give it an extender of .ARC to¢indicate that it is an archived file.  ARCX can not extract files from within a¢archived file if the archived file has the same extender as the file(s) inside¢the archive.  An example of this is FOOTBALL.ARC inside of which is a file¢named FOOTBALL.BAS.  Some have given the archived file a name of FOOTBALL.BAS¢and ARCX cannot extract from this file since the true filename stored inside¢the file is FOOTBALL.BAS.¢¢     When you load ARCX make sure you do not have basic engaged.  On an 800¢remove the BASIC cartridge, on XL/XE models hold down the OPTION key when you¢boot up the computer to lock out BASIC.¢¢     Now that you have your downloaded file named correctly and ARCX booted¢ARCX is going to give you a short menu.  A "+" would give you a directory of¢ARC'd files on the disk.  ARCX prompts you with a ">" for a filename to¢extract, type it in as in the following example:¢¢>Dn:FILENAME.ARC and hit RETURN¢Destination drive #  (Type in the drive you wish the file sent to.)¢Screen off for speed?  (Answer either Y or N.  Use N to watch extraction.)¢¢     ARCX will now analyze the file and determine which ARC procedure was used¢to compress the program, then begin to extract various amounts of bytes and¢write them to your destination drive.  DO NOT hit the RETURN key or any other¢key as all the deARC process will be done automatically by ARCX and then you¢will be returned to the menu so you can extract another file or hit RETURN to¢exit to DOS.¢¢     Only one DOS seems to not be compatible with ARCX, and that is SmartDOS at¢this point.  I recommend you use SpartaDOS or use Atari DOS 2.x as these seem¢to be the most reliable DOS.¢¢     I hope this short help file will solve your problems by giving you an¢example of how to properly type in the filenames and extenders.  Remember to¢always give your downloaded ARChived file the extender of .ARC.  If you have¢done this then when you give the filename to extract ARCX will default the¢extender correctly to .ARC and extract the file(s).¢¢           Leo Newman - SysOp - HELP BBS  316-683-7514 - 300/1200 Baud¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢