Subj : Re: Computers
To   : tenser
From : Spectre
Date : Mon Jul 22 2024 20:21:00

 te> But if you compress the original, and _then_ uuencode it, you might
 te> come out ahead: if you're compression ratio is around 2:1, then
 te> you're still smaller than the original by 20% or so.

While I agree with your appraisal, effective 2:1 compression seemed to be
pretty rare.  Binaries and hard data didn't tend to compress as well as a
chunk of equivalent sized text.  I don't remember getting beyond ~40%
compression as a general rule, and small files didn't tend to compress as
well as larger ones.

Its kind of weird in a way, a lot of stuff was optimised for slow speed
transmission, 2400bps or so.. so things tended to be fairly small, then you'd
compress it to get it down further... worked point to point out of a BBS
nicely, but then you go and add overhead to get through something like a 7bit
mail server... signs of the times I guess.  It was always the last link...
ISP or Uni or whatever it was you connected to, to home.. the weakest,
slowest link.

Spec


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