It all depends upon the data. Most compression methods play on looking for a
pattern, setting a token to equal that pattern, and then just transferring
(storing) the token. If your data is highly redundant, you can get great
returns from compression.
After data is the method. Many of your software methods, many of which lack
the restriction of hardware, can be more compact because of the buffering
allowed to look for patterns. The nice thing about hardware compression is
the speed in which it accomplishes its goal.
Pretty good compression now is better than great compression later for small
data. For example sending several 1 to 5 k files, it would probably be
better to just send them allowing the hardware to take care of it. But if
you are talking about megs or gigs, then software will work wonders. But
don't expect the throughput to be (that is look the same) as uncompressed
data. I have seen many people stop compressing their data because there
modem software said that instead of sending 50000 characters per minutes it
was sending only 40000. What they forget, if they have what has become a
standard cliche of 2 to 1 compression, is that they are actually sending
80000 characters.
Next time you have time to burn, send your files normal, time it and then
compress them and send them again. Check for any difference. And remember to
take into account time to compress and then decompress and of course
complexity and you be the judge.

James

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Boris Kortiak
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 1999 4:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Does ;COMPRESS really help when sending files?


As I understand things, most modems have hardware protocols to compress data
that is being sent from computer to computer.  These hardware techniques are
faster and about as efficient as any software method available.  So the
question is, does compressing data before sending it somewhere really help?