Various vendors and Interex helpfully distribute the LZW program that Telamon even more helpfully provided to the 3000 user community. It is a small program (amazing how much capability can be packed into so few sectors of NMPRG file by efficient coding), so the fact that it appears in a number of accounts is never-mind, size-wise.... but....: In doing test compress of the entire FREEWARE account with LZW, I discovered two things: (1) It appears that a very recent version of LZW is needed to successfully compress everything in FREEWARE; in fact Vers A.03.36 is the only one I had that would do all files in this account. (2) Some vendors and Interex are distributing older versions of LZW; in some cases *really* old versions. My beancount, for the four versions I had on our 959: Oldest LZW: LZW5.NMPRV.CSLXL from Interex. Run this one and you get: LZW: (C) 1995 - Telamon, Inc. - Version A.03.11 [A.02.04] (Oct 9 1995) I just loaded the entire CSLXL account that Interex recently sent me on their "Rel 1998" tape, so I should be up on the latest Interex is shipping... Vers A.03.11 is *real* old.... ... which leads me to wonder how often Interex is updating some or all of the NMPRGs in the CSLXL account.... ??.... A bit newer, but aging: LZW.UTIL.LPSTOOLS from Lund. For this one you get: LZW: (C) 1991, 1996 - Telamon, Inc. - Version A.03.31 [A.02.04] (Dec 3 1996) Better: LZW.LIBRARY.REGO from Adager. This version yields: LZW: (C) 1991, 1997 - Telamon, Inc. - Version A.03.33 [A.02.04] (Apr 4 1997) But the winner in the "latest version of LZW" that I *had* on our 959 contest is (note deliberate past tense): LZW.PUB.FREEWARE from..... Michael, I guess... :-) LZW[beta]: (C) 1991, 1997 - Telamon, Inc. - Version A.03.36 [A.02.04] (Sep 17 1997) ... hmmm..: but wait: Sep 1997 ??... and "[beta]" ??... even *that* is getting a bit stale.... seems like it's high time to go to the source: ftp://ftp.telamon.com/dist .... well, O.K...: I ended up going via the helpful pointer at http://www.allegro.com/software/ .... either way... anyway: did the "raw binary" thing; FTP'd the file to our 959 from my PC with the right file specs; ran it; and..: LZW: (C) 1991, 1998 - Telamon, Inc. - Version A.03.45 [A.02.04] (Sep 24 1998) ... EOF=671, FWIW... but wait !!!.: This isn't MOVER; so we don't have to worry about EOF (habits are hard to break....).... and: !!... A *whole year* newer version than even Michael's latest in the FREEWARE account on the Interex Rel 1998 tape (note that I chose my words *very* carefully in this last sentence).... Now...., to hopefully be fair all around: Other vendors are distributing LZW as a helpful service; they are obviously in no way obligated to make sure they have the latest version; or even to provide any version at all. Interex would seem to have the highest "obligation" if there is any, given that they are distributing a version of LZW in the CSLXL account; but even there I don't know that there is anything that says it has to be the latest version at the time they cut the tapes (although given that the LZW5 in the CSLXL account is over three years old, it seems high time for a revision update....). A few morals from this saga: (1) Software revision and copy control is a job that is never, *ever* done. (2) By default the number of copies tends to get out of hand; and multiple copies will be at various rev levels. (3) Programs that are "passed through" an intermediate party are pretty much guaranteed to fall behind in the update cycle; sometimes *way* behind. (4) In the final analysis, system managers are responsible for the files on their system; i.e.: user beware. (5) Job security for system managers is still pretty good... ;-) Oh, yeah: Did I mention that I think LZW is a pretty slick, reliable, and cost-effective program ??... which leads me to wonder: Why and how did the various incarnations of MOVER ever make their way out of whatever dark, dank, and moldy dungeon they crawled out of ??... STOP !!... you're right... at this point, it is (fast, I hope) becoming history; ve don't vant to no.... Ken "now just ONE version of LZW on his system" Sletten