Just Solve the File Format Problem - User contributions [en]

Compact (Klaus Peichl)

2025-03-06T16:21:05Z

Jason Scott:

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Compression
|subcat2=Executable compression
|released=1994?
}}
:''See [[Compact]] for other formats with that name.''

'''Compact''' is an executable compression utility for DOS, developed by Klaus Peichl. It compresses [[DOS executable (.com)|COM]] files. It is designed to have a low overhead. It only supports relatively small files.

== Identification ==
For v1.05, the first 18 bytes of a compressed file are {{magic|81 fc e8 80 77 04 b4 4c cd 21 fc bf 00 41 be 00 01 b9}}.

Older versions haven't been evaluated.

== Software ==
* {{OldskoolDOSEXE}} → DOSEXE Executable Tools Pack → packers/compact.105-kalus peichl.rar - Compact 1.05

== Links ==
* [http://klaus-peichl.de/vipe.htm Homepage (download section)]

Talk:Main Page

2024-06-10T19:38:47Z

Jason Scott:

If you have issues regarding the wiki, please mail wiki@textfiles.com.

Talk:Main Page

2024-06-10T19:12:26Z

Jason Scott: Protected "Talk:Main Page" (‎[edit=sysop] (indefinite) ‎[move=sysop] (indefinite))

Main Page

2013-01-18T10:29:54Z

Jason Scott:

__NOTOC____NOEDITSECTION__
<center>
'''This Site's URL is permanently http://fileformats.archiveteam.org!'''
</center>
<div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bolder;">
[[Special:Userlogin|Log In]] • [[Special:Search|Search]] • [[Special:Allpages|All Articles]] • [[Statement of Project]] • [[FAQ]] • [[Just_Solve_the_File_Format_Problem:Community_portal|Message Base]]

[[FAQ:Roles|Roles]] • [[Editing]] • [[Sources]] • [[File Formats]] • [[Software]] • [[JustSolve:To Do|To Do]] • [[Special:Wantedpages|Wanted Articles]] • [[Special:WantedCategories|Wanted Categories]]
</div>
<center>
'''Let's Solve the File Format Problem!'''
</center>

{{CenterGreyBox|First Time Visiting This Wiki?|
Please read the '''[[Statement of Project]]''' to understand why this project exists. Then check out the '''[[FAQ]]''' for some frequently asked questions about the project and its goals and procedures. Finally, brush up on the guidelines for '''[[Editing]]'''.
|}}

{{CenterGreyBox|Ready to Edit?|
Register to become an editor by sending a username and e-mail address to '''[mailto:justsolve@textfiles.com justsolve@textfiles.com]''' Or come on IRC (#justsolve @ EFNet) and ask for an account. Browse the '''[[File Formats]]''' list to get ideas. We've been collecting '''[[Sources]]''' to pull from. (Or be a source yourself!) Read the '''[[JustSolve:To Do|To Do]]''' List, or the '''[[Special:Wantedpages|Most Needed Articles]]'''. There's lots of '''[[FAQ:Roles|Roles]]''' to play on here.
|}}

{{CenterGreyBox|Or are you just looking for file format information?|
This project is still in a development phase, so it is mostly focused on editors at this point, but if you're coming here as an end-user looking for information on some files, disks, tapes, or other data you've stumbled upon, there may be information of use. You can try navigating the hierarchy of data types at '''[[File Formats]]''' (which, despite the name, includes a bunch of other things like physical media formats). Or, if you found a file and don't know what it is, but at least it's got a file extension (those letters at the end of the filename after a dot), you might try browsing the '''[[:Category:File formats by extension|file formats by extension]]''' category. Good luck!
|}}

<center>
[[Special:Statistics|Statistics]]: 2 guardians | {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} articles | {{NUMBEROFFILES}} uploads | {{NUMBEROFEDITS}} edits

Hosting is provided gratis thanks to the kind folks at [http://www.tqhosting.com/ Tranquil Hosting].
</center>

MS-DOS

2012-11-28T00:23:29Z

Jason Scott: /* Introduction */

{|
|[[Software]]
| >
|[[Operating Systems]]
| >
|[[MS-DOS]]
|}

=Introduction=
'''MS-DOS''' refers to "Microsoft DOS", the Microsoft-developed variant of DOS. Because of the prominence of Microsoft in computer industry, it is frequently the case that people refer to "DOS" when they mean MS-DOS, although there have in fact been a number of non-Microsoft operating systems also called DOS (such as [[Apple_DOS_file_system|Apple II DOS]]). PC-DOS refers to the specific variety of MS-DOS that was licensed by Microsoft to IBM for use on its personal computers, while MS-DOS is the generic version that ran on a wide variety of "PC clones" or "compatibles". Microsoft originally got MS-DOS from another company called Seattle Computer Products which had created its predecessor as an imitation of CP/M. The first version of MS-DOS didn't even support subdirectories, but this was added in version 2.0. Windows runs on a base of MS-DOS, something that was clearly visible in early versions up to 3.11 (where you had to first boot DOS and then run Windows as a separate program), but obscured in later versions (up to and including Windows ME) which boot directly into Windows, but DOS is still there under the hood.

Of particular interest to DOS users is [[FreeDOS]], which reimplements and extends MS-DOS and other DOSs.

=Versions=
* [[MS-DOS 3.30]]
* [[MS-DOS 6.22]]

=Resources=
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS Wikipedia entry on MS-DOS]
* [http://www.computerhope.com/history/dos.htm MS-DOS Release Timeline] from computerhope.com
* [http://www.pcxt-micro.com/history.html A short history of MS-DOS]
* [http://www.thezac.com/MicrosoftHistory/03_ms-dos1x-3x.html The History and Future of Microsoft Operating Systems]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_DOS_operating_systems Timeline of DOS Operating Systems] from Wikipedia

Just Solve the File Format Problem talk:Community portal

2012-11-19T19:02:59Z

Jason Scott: /* Licensing */

=== Time zone setting ===

OK, to get this community portal going... is this the place to report issues with the wiki server configuration? Anyway, its time-zone setting seems to be a bit odd. It's set (apparently) to UTC + 4 hours (somewhere in Asia?), but it thinks it's in UTC, so if you set up your user configuration to adjust it to your local time zone, it ends up 4 hours off. I had to use "-08:00" to get my current EDT time. (That will change by one hour in a week or two when Daylight Saving Time ends.) [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 22:23, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

: I just set it to EST. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 23:19, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

::Seems to work now, but perhaps as a side effect, now I don't see any new changes after around 6 PM (EST) in the Recent Changes function. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 03:04, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

::: Oh, I am SURE the time change annoyed the Wiki. It'll work out. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:22, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== index.php ===

The Wiki is obviously working (yay), but it would be nice if the MediaWiki .htaccess file was [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL/Apache adjusted] so that the index.php disappears from wiki URLs.

:It's a minor aesthetic thing, but I happily have made those changes. It should be /wiki/ from now on. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 23:30, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Licensing ===

I'm not lawyer but I don't think declaring the content here Public Domain (US) as discussed in the [[FAQ]] will have desirable consequences outside the United States. It's been my experience working with datasets published by the US federal government that people outside the US are uncertain about whether or not they can use the data. I think using CC0 would be preferable to just saying Public Domain, if you really want to encourage reuse. [[User:Edsu|Edsu]] ([[User talk:Edsu|talk]]) 14:26, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

: Public Domain is Public Domain in the US and in many countries. It is trivial for someone to take this public domain wiki and turn it into a bestselling novel, a screensaver, a movie starring Christian Bale, a CC0-licensed Wiki, a GFDL-licensed wiki, or a floor wax. So in the future, if it needs to be the case that someone wants to take this work and convert it randomly to a new format, the openness of a full public-domain-declared wiki will work for them. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:22, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

:: I got talked into CC0. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 19:02, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Using templates ===

I'm a newbie with Mediawiki. Could someone add a quick help note about using the templates for this site?
--[[User:Phillipkent|Phillipkent]] ([[User talk:Phillipkent|talk]]) 14:34, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
: Mediawiki site has extensive info about that: http://www.mediawiki.org/ [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:03, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Using bots ===
I am working on a bot that hoovers all file format extensions and have it create pages for them in the "ext" namespace. More bots are welcome for gardening, any ideas??? Also see http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/api.php for inspiration [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 22:51, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:How do you figure out what in a page is a file extension? Does an infobox have to be filled in correctly? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 23:29, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:: If the template formatinfo is filled in correctly, the bot uses that, otherwise text is parsed with regex. Pronom signature files are parsed locally to check if the extension is known. That is my plan for version 0.0001 [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:36, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
::: [[Template:FormatInfo]] for people unfamiliar with this template [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:48, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:So I assume the articles themselves should not be the file extension but some more descriptive string? Like [[Adobe Photoshop]] instead of [[PSD]], or [[ScreamTracker 3]] instead of [[S3M]]? --[[User:Darkstar|Darkstar]] ([[User talk:Darkstar|talk]]) 03:12, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, that would be easiest for the bot to pick up. I also started adding categories, not only for better navigation, but to create some kind of [[Ontology]] as well like ''Thing > Physical Format > Video > Cassette > VHS''. The nav headers are also very useful for that. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 13:39, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
: Bender the bot has finished its first run of pages with extensions and their corresponding PUIDs: http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&hidebots=0
[[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 19:28, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Headers and ontologies ===
For a while, people were adding "breadcrumb" headers linking to the ontology levels above the current page. Then they were removing those headers in favor of just using the ontology links in the format infoboxes. Now they seem to be adding the breadcrumbs back. Which style is actually the "official" standard here? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 21:31, 11 November 2012 (UTC)
:Well, there's no improvement yet... there are still people adding breadcrumbs and people removing them, so I have no idea whose style to follow. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 07:02, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
:: I like to use categories, as breadcrumbs are ugly and tedious to add and maintain and suggest we use categories as it is the official (?) policy on Wikipedia. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:21, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
::: I am comfortable with both being on any page during this period, and then a cleanup operating being done down the line. As soon as categories and infoboxes have a better consistency, Breadcrumbs are doomed. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:24, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Additions and suggestions ===
(This is probably the wrong place for this but I figured here was a good start...)
:Is there a place for a new template object - signature or magic number? e.g. jpg has ÿØÿè as a highly dependable BOF marker.
:: this has already been researched extensively, please read [[PRONOM]]. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:17, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:::I'm not sure a hop to PRONOM helps. If the point of this wiki is to aggregate data about formats, we should consider surfacing signature info directly, and linking the reference back to PRONOM. At the moment the main identifying characteristic of a "format" is not visible on the main record page...
::: Although it would be a good idea to to just that and create a form of registry. The wiki API can output several formats, eg. xml. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:37, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:::: First experimental page: [[Registry:fmt/111]] [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 05:36, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
::::: It's a shame that the pages would be named after something as opaque as a number, but I don't know how you'd get around that... But I'd recommend, if possible, to create a field containing only the literal hexadecimal byte values, instead of the hodgepodge of regex abbreviations. And if you add categories based on the magic numbers, then someone could generate a finite state machine that serves as a file format identifier. Just thinking out loud here. [[User:Gphemsley|Gphemsley]] ([[User talk:Gphemsley|talk]]) 05:08, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

===Harvesting resources===
IMHO it would be a good idea to harvest all webpages which are linked in the resource sections. Of course we have Wayback, but, but, but? ... [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:15, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

: At the end of the month (and perhaps periodically thereafter) Archiveteam will be doing a deep focused crawl of all the sites linked from this wiki, and passing it off to the Wayback Machine at archive.org. [[User:Chronomex|Chronomex]] ([[User talk:Chronomex|talk]]) 05:36, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

:: Nice, thanks for the info. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 09:59, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Just Solve the File Format Problem talk:Community portal

2012-11-19T19:02:51Z

Jason Scott: /* Licensing */

=== Time zone setting ===

OK, to get this community portal going... is this the place to report issues with the wiki server configuration? Anyway, its time-zone setting seems to be a bit odd. It's set (apparently) to UTC + 4 hours (somewhere in Asia?), but it thinks it's in UTC, so if you set up your user configuration to adjust it to your local time zone, it ends up 4 hours off. I had to use "-08:00" to get my current EDT time. (That will change by one hour in a week or two when Daylight Saving Time ends.) [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 22:23, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

: I just set it to EST. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 23:19, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

::Seems to work now, but perhaps as a side effect, now I don't see any new changes after around 6 PM (EST) in the Recent Changes function. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 03:04, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

::: Oh, I am SURE the time change annoyed the Wiki. It'll work out. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:22, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== index.php ===

The Wiki is obviously working (yay), but it would be nice if the MediaWiki .htaccess file was [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL/Apache adjusted] so that the index.php disappears from wiki URLs.

:It's a minor aesthetic thing, but I happily have made those changes. It should be /wiki/ from now on. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 23:30, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Licensing ===

I'm not lawyer but I don't think declaring the content here Public Domain (US) as discussed in the [[FAQ]] will have desirable consequences outside the United States. It's been my experience working with datasets published by the US federal government that people outside the US are uncertain about whether or not they can use the data. I think using CC0 would be preferable to just saying Public Domain, if you really want to encourage reuse. [[User:Edsu|Edsu]] ([[User talk:Edsu|talk]]) 14:26, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

: Public Domain is Public Domain in the US and in many countries. It is trivial for someone to take this public domain wiki and turn it into a bestselling novel, a screensaver, a movie starring Christian Bale, a CC0-licensed Wiki, a GFDL-licensed wiki, or a floor wax. So in the future, if it needs to be the case that someone wants to take this work and convert it randomly to a new format, the openness of a full public-domain-declared wiki will work for them. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:22, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

:: I got talked into CC0.

=== Using templates ===

I'm a newbie with Mediawiki. Could someone add a quick help note about using the templates for this site?
--[[User:Phillipkent|Phillipkent]] ([[User talk:Phillipkent|talk]]) 14:34, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
: Mediawiki site has extensive info about that: http://www.mediawiki.org/ [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:03, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Using bots ===
I am working on a bot that hoovers all file format extensions and have it create pages for them in the "ext" namespace. More bots are welcome for gardening, any ideas??? Also see http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/api.php for inspiration [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 22:51, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:How do you figure out what in a page is a file extension? Does an infobox have to be filled in correctly? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 23:29, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:: If the template formatinfo is filled in correctly, the bot uses that, otherwise text is parsed with regex. Pronom signature files are parsed locally to check if the extension is known. That is my plan for version 0.0001 [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:36, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
::: [[Template:FormatInfo]] for people unfamiliar with this template [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:48, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:So I assume the articles themselves should not be the file extension but some more descriptive string? Like [[Adobe Photoshop]] instead of [[PSD]], or [[ScreamTracker 3]] instead of [[S3M]]? --[[User:Darkstar|Darkstar]] ([[User talk:Darkstar|talk]]) 03:12, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, that would be easiest for the bot to pick up. I also started adding categories, not only for better navigation, but to create some kind of [[Ontology]] as well like ''Thing > Physical Format > Video > Cassette > VHS''. The nav headers are also very useful for that. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 13:39, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
: Bender the bot has finished its first run of pages with extensions and their corresponding PUIDs: http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&hidebots=0
[[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 19:28, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Headers and ontologies ===
For a while, people were adding "breadcrumb" headers linking to the ontology levels above the current page. Then they were removing those headers in favor of just using the ontology links in the format infoboxes. Now they seem to be adding the breadcrumbs back. Which style is actually the "official" standard here? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 21:31, 11 November 2012 (UTC)
:Well, there's no improvement yet... there are still people adding breadcrumbs and people removing them, so I have no idea whose style to follow. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 07:02, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
:: I like to use categories, as breadcrumbs are ugly and tedious to add and maintain and suggest we use categories as it is the official (?) policy on Wikipedia. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:21, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
::: I am comfortable with both being on any page during this period, and then a cleanup operating being done down the line. As soon as categories and infoboxes have a better consistency, Breadcrumbs are doomed. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:24, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Additions and suggestions ===
(This is probably the wrong place for this but I figured here was a good start...)
:Is there a place for a new template object - signature or magic number? e.g. jpg has ÿØÿè as a highly dependable BOF marker.
:: this has already been researched extensively, please read [[PRONOM]]. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:17, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:::I'm not sure a hop to PRONOM helps. If the point of this wiki is to aggregate data about formats, we should consider surfacing signature info directly, and linking the reference back to PRONOM. At the moment the main identifying characteristic of a "format" is not visible on the main record page...
::: Although it would be a good idea to to just that and create a form of registry. The wiki API can output several formats, eg. xml. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:37, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:::: First experimental page: [[Registry:fmt/111]] [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 05:36, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
::::: It's a shame that the pages would be named after something as opaque as a number, but I don't know how you'd get around that... But I'd recommend, if possible, to create a field containing only the literal hexadecimal byte values, instead of the hodgepodge of regex abbreviations. And if you add categories based on the magic numbers, then someone could generate a finite state machine that serves as a file format identifier. Just thinking out loud here. [[User:Gphemsley|Gphemsley]] ([[User talk:Gphemsley|talk]]) 05:08, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

===Harvesting resources===
IMHO it would be a good idea to harvest all webpages which are linked in the resource sections. Of course we have Wayback, but, but, but? ... [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:15, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

: At the end of the month (and perhaps periodically thereafter) Archiveteam will be doing a deep focused crawl of all the sites linked from this wiki, and passing it off to the Wayback Machine at archive.org. [[User:Chronomex|Chronomex]] ([[User talk:Chronomex|talk]]) 05:36, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

:: Nice, thanks for the info. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 09:59, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

FAQ

2012-11-19T17:11:30Z

Jason Scott:

Here are some answers to either frequently asked questions or to important aspects of this project; the ground rules.

==What is the purpose of this Wiki and this project?==

The purpose of this wiki is to "Solve the File Format Problem".

The File Format Problem in this context is that over the last century, many types of electronic information have been presented in formats that are non-intuitive and subject to the rapidly-shifting interests of what is newest and best. As a result, thousands of programs, documents, images and binary files are in danger of being unreadable to later generations as no readily available information about accessing them is to be found. Various projects have been launched in the last 20 years to deal with this problem, but they all lack a groundswell of directed volunteers working to once and for all get all the disparate information into one place and easily referenced by all. This is the goal of this project.

The project will have 30 days of running, from November 1st to November 30th, 2012. All are invited to register and contribute. At the end of the 30 days, the project may continue by volunteers, but the goal is to have a massive bulk of knowledge in one place for all to use and incorporate into other similar directories and sites, providing a needed resource for generations to come.

==What IS a file format, anyway?==

That is an excellent, excellent question.

For the purposes of this Wiki, a file format is the description of any self-contained information. While some formats are self-evident, many are more obscure references to pre-known information, or collections of bytes and items that can be misleading or hard to decipher. File formats can also be embedded in each other - on this wiki, each format gets its own entry. For example, a [[JPG]] image file might be on a [[FAT]] filesystem on a [[floppy disk]]. All of these get individual entries.

The nature of such a wide description is that some entries will skirt the edge of reason, or a file format will not be clear as to where it should be filed. This is understandable and will be dealt with, but the most important priority is to declare the file format exists, and then link it from the locations it should be at.

==Some of these classifications (Organic, for example) are strange. Who'd want that?==

Part of the goals of this project are to extend out past the more limited realms of similar projects. Because of funding, direction, and preference, the multiple other sites are usually focused on a sub-set of all potential file formats, because who'd have time to deal with them? If this project gains more and more contributors, then there's not much more effort required to go after items on the fuzzy lines of what constitutes file formats. Or, for that matter, discern the reason they're file formats. So we have many items like [[DNA]] and [[Piano Rolls]] that can also be included and worked on. Priority-wise, however, it's probably best to stick with electronic file forms, especially ones lacking any links or documentation - they could really use your efforts.

==Why is it CC0?==

Making the information here CC0 provides the most flexibility for institutions and individuals who want to benefit from the project down the line. With no restrictive license for the main site, the efforts can be re-absorbed into a mass of other projects without needless negotiations over "licenses" and "rights" and provenance.

As a result, please refrain from copy-pasting prose and paragraphs from other sources that are not public domain or CC0. (For example, Wikipedia. Sketch out a differently-written summary of the information, and then link to the original information you're interested in having included. People who find compatibility with rewriting extant material can therefore take these links and create a new work for the Just Solve wiki. Duplicating lists and names of formats is OK - make use of the work of others to track down lists of obscure file types to include in this wiki.

==Wasn't it "Public Domain" initially?==

This Wiki was straight "Public Domain" for the first few weeks of its existence - however, calling something "public domain" has some issue in locations where Public Domain is not a

==What happens in the event of disagreement and conflict?==

Please try and work together as best you can - the goal of this project is to absorb an enormous amount of information and arguing about a point of order doesn't help anyone. Unlike Wikipedia's need for a distinct voice, there is nothing stopping people from making a second paragraph set to explain an alternate overview of a format, or to add a set of other links that the entry didn't have before. It's understandable we're going to have issues about arrangement of materials, like whether a certain format is a "written" or "text" format. It's more important to get the existence of that format in, because the use of Categories and links as we best put them together will make sure the effort is not wasted.

In cases where an impasse is reached, Jason Scott will serve as editor. In the event Jason Scott appears to be unreasonable, a separate discussion can ensue on the talk page. The goal, again, is to get the information in, past prettiness, preciousness and perfection. Cleaning is a much easier process than acquiring and enumerating at this stage.

==How can I help? I don't like to ______ and everyone seems to have that under control anyway.==

The way I see it, there are two kinds of tasks that the Wiki encourages: tasks involving finding items for the Wiki (be they formats or information about them) and making the Wiki "better" in terms of organization and presentation.

For the tasks of finding items, going to the [[Sources]] page and you will find a wide variety of locations and directories that will always need another set of eyes to find gems. The individual pages for the formats will have links to other examples or directories that reference that format specifically - those could always use more additions. Linking to an already-researched page that has an eye to describing and improving access to a format completely trumps creating such a page on the Wiki - the huge span of formats out there is the daunting part. So search far and wide and bring back knowledge!

For the task of the Wiki itself, there are a lot of cases where formatting could be improved, design could look nicer, and classification could be clearer. We expect the look of the place to change significantly over the month as people include MediaWiki Templates and other tricks to make it easier to browse and find information. Short, informative blurbs about each format help people find what they're looking for. Check it out.

Just Solve the File Format Problem talk:Community portal

2012-11-19T06:25:17Z

Jason Scott: Created page with "=== Time zone setting === OK, to get this community portal going... is this the place to report issues with the wiki server configuration? Anyway, its time-zone setting seems..."

=== Time zone setting ===

OK, to get this community portal going... is this the place to report issues with the wiki server configuration? Anyway, its time-zone setting seems to be a bit odd. It's set (apparently) to UTC + 4 hours (somewhere in Asia?), but it thinks it's in UTC, so if you set up your user configuration to adjust it to your local time zone, it ends up 4 hours off. I had to use "-08:00" to get my current EDT time. (That will change by one hour in a week or two when Daylight Saving Time ends.) [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 22:23, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

: I just set it to EST. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 23:19, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

::Seems to work now, but perhaps as a side effect, now I don't see any new changes after around 6 PM (EST) in the Recent Changes function. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 03:04, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

::: Oh, I am SURE the time change annoyed the Wiki. It'll work out. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:22, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== index.php ===

The Wiki is obviously working (yay), but it would be nice if the MediaWiki .htaccess file was [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL/Apache adjusted] so that the index.php disappears from wiki URLs.

:It's a minor aesthetic thing, but I happily have made those changes. It should be /wiki/ from now on. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 23:30, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Licensing ===

I'm not lawyer but I don't think declaring the content here Public Domain (US) as discussed in the [[FAQ]] will have desirable consequences outside the United States. It's been my experience working with datasets published by the US federal government that people outside the US are uncertain about whether or not they can use the data. I think using CC0 would be preferable to just saying Public Domain, if you really want to encourage reuse. [[User:Edsu|Edsu]] ([[User talk:Edsu|talk]]) 14:26, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

: Public Domain is Public Domain in the US and in many countries. It is trivial for someone to take this public domain wiki and turn it into a bestselling novel, a screensaver, a movie starring Christian Bale, a CC0-licensed Wiki, a GFDL-licensed wiki, or a floor wax. So in the future, if it needs to be the case that someone wants to take this work and convert it randomly to a new format, the openness of a full public-domain-declared wiki will work for them. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:22, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Using templates ===

I'm a newbie with Mediawiki. Could someone add a quick help note about using the templates for this site?
--[[User:Phillipkent|Phillipkent]] ([[User talk:Phillipkent|talk]]) 14:34, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
: Mediawiki site has extensive info about that: http://www.mediawiki.org/ [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:03, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Using bots ===
I am working on a bot that hoovers all file format extensions and have it create pages for them in the "ext" namespace. More bots are welcome for gardening, any ideas??? Also see http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/api.php for inspiration [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 22:51, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:How do you figure out what in a page is a file extension? Does an infobox have to be filled in correctly? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 23:29, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:: If the template formatinfo is filled in correctly, the bot uses that, otherwise text is parsed with regex. Pronom signature files are parsed locally to check if the extension is known. That is my plan for version 0.0001 [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:36, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
::: [[Template:FormatInfo]] for people unfamiliar with this template [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 23:48, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
:So I assume the articles themselves should not be the file extension but some more descriptive string? Like [[Adobe Photoshop]] instead of [[PSD]], or [[ScreamTracker 3]] instead of [[S3M]]? --[[User:Darkstar|Darkstar]] ([[User talk:Darkstar|talk]]) 03:12, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, that would be easiest for the bot to pick up. I also started adding categories, not only for better navigation, but to create some kind of [[Ontology]] as well like ''Thing > Physical Format > Video > Cassette > VHS''. The nav headers are also very useful for that. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 13:39, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
: Bender the bot has finished its first run of pages with extensions and their corresponding PUIDs: http://justsolve.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&hidebots=0
[[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 19:28, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Headers and ontologies ===
For a while, people were adding "breadcrumb" headers linking to the ontology levels above the current page. Then they were removing those headers in favor of just using the ontology links in the format infoboxes. Now they seem to be adding the breadcrumbs back. Which style is actually the "official" standard here? [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 21:31, 11 November 2012 (UTC)
:Well, there's no improvement yet... there are still people adding breadcrumbs and people removing them, so I have no idea whose style to follow. [[User:Dan Tobias|Dan Tobias]] ([[User talk:Dan Tobias|talk]]) 07:02, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
:: I like to use categories, as breadcrumbs are ugly and tedious to add and maintain and suggest we use categories as it is the official (?) policy on Wikipedia. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:21, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
::: I am comfortable with both being on any page during this period, and then a cleanup operating being done down the line. As soon as categories and infoboxes have a better consistency, Breadcrumbs are doomed. --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 06:24, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

=== Additions and suggestions ===
(This is probably the wrong place for this but I figured here was a good start...)
:Is there a place for a new template object - signature or magic number? e.g. jpg has ÿØÿè as a highly dependable BOF marker.
:: this has already been researched extensively, please read [[PRONOM]]. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:17, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
::: Although it would be a good idea to to just that and create a form of registry. The wiki API can output several formats, eg. xml. [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:37, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
:::: First experimental page: [[Registry:fmt/111]] [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 05:36, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
::::: It's a shame that the pages would be named after something as opaque as a number, but I don't know how you'd get around that... But I'd recommend, if possible, to create a field containing only the literal hexadecimal byte values, instead of the hodgepodge of regex abbreviations. And if you add categories based on the magic numbers, then someone could generate a finite state machine that serves as a file format identifier. Just thinking out loud here. [[User:Gphemsley|Gphemsley]] ([[User talk:Gphemsley|talk]]) 05:08, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

===Harvesting resources===
IMHO it would be a good idea to harvest all webpages which are linked in the resource sections. Of course we have Wayback, but, but, but? ... [[User:Maurice.de.rooij|Maurice.de.rooij]] ([[User talk:Maurice.de.rooij|talk]]) 04:15, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

: At the end of the month (and perhaps periodically thereafter) Archiveteam will be doing a deep focused crawl of all the sites linked from this wiki, and passing it off to the Wayback Machine at archive.org. [[User:Chronomex|Chronomex]] ([[User talk:Chronomex|talk]]) 05:36, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

2012-11-09T00:58:51Z

Jason Scott:

{|
|[[File Formats]]
| >
|[[Electronic File Formats]]
| >
|[[Character Encoding]]
| >
|[[ATASCII]]
|}

ATASCII is a eight-bit encoding that was used on Atari computers. It uses most, but not all, of the ASCII printing characters; codes 7B through 7F are different. The characters with the high bit set (80 through FF) are, with some exceptions, inverse video versions of the same code ANDed with 7F.

* [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/section-62.html#b Atari 8-bit FAQ] - What is the ATASCII Character Set?
* [[http://www.atariarchives.org/mapping/appendix10.php Code table]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATASCII Wikipedia entry on ATASCII]
* [http://www.atari-forum.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Atari_character_set The Atari Character Set page at Atari-Forum.com]
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/atascii/ Atari ATASCII Viewer (Java)] on Sourceforge. Last updated in 2001.
* [https://vimeo.com/343238 Display of ATASCII on a 40h light panel] (Video)
* [http://www.leehanken.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/atascii/ ATASCII View] Windows program for viewing ATASCII characters
* [http://archive.org/details/analog-computing-magazine-31 Issue of Analog Computing Magazine (#31)] covering ATASCII Animations
* [http://members.bitstream.net/marksim/atarimac/fonts.html Atari Classic truetype fonts]
* [http://bf.amfband.com/bffiles.html File directory containing two ATASCII Telnet Clients for Windows]
* [http://www.atariarchives.org/basicxl/showpage.php?page=363 Process of typing in ATASCII on an Atari computer]
* [http://joyfulcoder.com/memopad/ Memo Pad], a windows memo pad for ATASCII characters
* [http://joyfulcoder.net/atascii/ Joyful Coder ATASCII Map]
* [http://atariwiki.strotmann.de/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Atari%20ATASCII%20Table ATASCII map in PDF]
* [http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue70/113_1_INSIGHT_Atari.php Atari Character Codes] from Computer Magazine Issue #70
* [http://syncterm.bbsdev.net/ Syncterm Software] - Terminal program for Windows that supports ATASCII
* [http://xent.com/~bsittler/atascii.ti Terminfo for ATASCII]
* [http://www.atariarchives.org/c3ba/page004.php Reading the Atari Character Codes] from Compute!'s Third Book of Atari
* [http://user.xmission.com/~trevin/atari/atari.html TrueType Font of ATASCII Characters]
* [http://www.vitoco.cl/atari/atasciiprinter.html Web-based ATASCII Printer]
* http://ape.dyndns.org:8083/ABBUC/379/IBM2A.C IBM2A.C - Program to make "best guess" conversion from ATASCII to IBM PC Characters (1993)

2012-11-08T14:15:31Z

Jason Scott: Created page with " * [http://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/8mm/digital8.html Mediacollege.com entry on Digital 8]"

* [http://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/8mm/digital8.html Mediacollege.com entry on Digital 8]