FIZ

File Format
Name	FIZ
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Archiving FIZ
Extension(s)	.fiz
Released	≤1990 (old format), ≤1991 (new)

FIZ is an installer archive format, whose only known use is in Maximus. Maximus is BBS software for DOS and OS/2, developed by Scott Dudley and Lanius Corporation.

Disambiguation

Not related to the Fiz utility associated with Zoo format.

Format details

There are two known versions of FIZ.

The "old" FIZ format, with signature "ACOPY", is used by Maximus 1.x. The software seems to call it "ACOPY", but the manual calls it "FIZ", and says "Most of the files in the distribution kit are packed using a proprietary FIZ compression method".

The "new" FIZ format, with signature "FIZ", is used by Maximus 2.x and 3.x.

Identification

Old format begins with ASCII "ACOPY".

New format begins with ASCII "FIZ".

Software

Extraction is done internally by the Maximus installer software. No stand-alone extraction software is known.

Maximus distributions:

• http://cd.textfiles.com/psl/pslv2nv08/BIZ/DOS/BBS/ → MAXI_*.ZIP - Maximus 1.02
  • MAXS_102.ZIP - v1.02 source code (For reference; has nothing about FIZ/ACOPY.)
• http://cd.textfiles.com/simtel/simtel/DISK2/DISC1/BBS/ → MAX200_*.ZIP - Maximus 2.0
• http://cd.textfiles.com/simtel/simtel9510/disk1/DISC1/BBS/ → MAX300*.ZIP - Maximus 3.0

Sample files

• Refer to the Maximus software distributions listed elsewhere on this page.