Operation Tantalus in digestible chunks...
In recognition of the fact that not every Marathon player with internet access
is using a Macintosh sitting directly on a T3 line (or even, necessarily, a
Macintosh), several of the larger archives are being segmented into chunks small
enough to download and stick on a floppy. A little explanation is needed, though,
because these segments aren't like a lot of segments out there...
Normally, what is done is the file is stuffed and binhexed, and then the
binhex file is chopped up into chunks. This requires the user to attach all the
pieces at the other end before debinhexing.
What I do is to stuff the archive, and segment the stuffed version into floppy-sized
pieces. (I had originally tried to make them self-extracting, but that only seemed
to corrupt them...) I then binhex the pieces. This has two advantages:
- If the download doesn't go
perfectly, you know which piece needs to be redownloaded, and
- The pieces put themselves together at the end (saving you, the downloader, the
hassle of doing it yourself).
It also means that if you do tack the pieces together before debinhexing,
you'll end up with a mess...
HINT:
Because of the brain-dead (IMHO) way Netscape goes about handling encoded files, you'll
have many fewer headaches if you get the files in reverse order if you're using Netscape
(that is, get the third chunk first, then the second one, then the first one). Do not get
the first one until Netscape has finished debinhexing the other two...
With all that said, here are three pieces that, once combined, will expand into the
spectacular new scenario, Operation Tantalus. Enjoy!
Operation Tantalus Segment 1 (1.4 MB)
Operation Tantalus Segment 2 (1.4 MB)
Operation Tantalus Segment 3 (1.0 MB)