RAR version 1.0

Back in the time before the internet appeared, I had already been running BBS’s (Bulletin Board Systems) for 10 years. These were spread around the world thanks to an ad hoc network called FidoNet. We used 300bps (bits per second) hand built modems to connect to other BBS’s, local via telephone and overseas by toll calls. Each BBS had one or more file areas where you could upload or download documents and public domain programs etc. The vast majority of that data was distributed worldwide in archive files.

So all those years ago in January 1994, RAR version 1.0 was released and archiving was changed forever, as up until then each and every text of downloadable file was individually compressed as a zip file.

RAR.exe was created by a brilliant software programmer, Eugene Roschal, who released version 1.0 of RAR (Roschal ARchiver). A project he had been working on with using advanced mathematics for a while, as he had used that as his university doctoral dissertation and had released the local Beta version in late 1993.

To provide some background to that time, the Personal Computer IBM style, was then all of 12 years old. When it first appeared in August 1981, it ran at the then dizzying speed of 4.77MHz (that’s less than 0.0016% of todays 3GHz + multiprocessors!). Its 8088, or Z80 processor, communicated via 8 bits (todays 64-bit processors have taken over from 32-bit). Their price started from US$1,565 and came ‘complete’ with 16 to 256MB of RAM, a 11.5″ green screen (16 colors was extra), one 160KB 5 .25″ diskette drive, and Microsoft DOS.

Despite (slightly) faster processors, DOS was still king in 1993, particularly among enthusiasts. Even though Windows 1, 2 and then 3.0 had been around since late 1985, as Windows didn’t even begin to go mainstream until after Windows 3.1 was released in April 1992 and then Windows 95 arrived – in 1995.

At that time there was no publicly available free Internet as we know it today, as that was still several years away and only businesses (and some enthusiasts) could afford CompuServe’s ground-breaking dial up service. So for computer enthusiasts around the worlds BBS’s (Bulletin Board Systems) were the best (and lowest cost) option, often using hand built modems to connect via telephone and toll calls.

At first BBS’s were just available locally, that is until 1983 when Tom Jennings released FidoNet software. So at last local BBS’s could swap data, including forum chats and software apps, country wide, and globally, with other likeminded groups. So that by the 1990’s we had a worldwide hobbyist BBS network in full swing.

For this, a dedicated computer was required to run each BBS, usually 24 hours a day, along with its own dedicated telephone line. All the toll calls to exchange the local data interstate, nationally and internationally had to be paid for by someone, usually by individual hobbyists, local computer clubs and groups, or better still by sponsors allowing us access to their nationwide, and preferably international toll links after hours.

As you might have guessed by now, I was definitely involved in the New Zealand BBS scene from very early on, due to my background as a telecom technician for over 20 years at that time. So by then I was well and truly hooked on computers and communications, and had been writing about BBS possibilities since 1981. So I became the first Sysop (System Operator) of the New Zealand Microcomputer Club BBS ‘NZ MICRO’, FidoNet 3:772/1. Then in 1992 I started my own computer troubleshooting business and started ARROW BBS, FidoNet 3:772/185.

So what has that historical digression got to do with RAR and WinRAR? Well BBS’s needed a more efficient archiver than Pkzip etc. to send all of our data from place to place after archiving into large topic files. But toll calls and even local calls were an ongoing cost, in most areas (but not in New Zealand as local calls were free!), so were usually paid for by the BBS owners, though sponsorship definitely helped. While transferring all that data (very slowly) through the ad hoc BBS network meant that the BBS, and its telephone line, was not available for local callers – so a dedicated phone line was also essential.

So Eugene Roschal’s answer to reducing the data transfer costs was to compress the data to make it smaller and therefore quicker to send. Previously ARC and then PKZip archivers had been used but they only archived individual messages and files. So when RAR.exe arrived with Eugene’s uniquely optimised code it meant that our groups of files were now much smaller due to his unique compression algorithm. Even better, he had designed his text compression code specifically for use with the multiple text BBS forum files. As until then, each text ‘chat’ file had to be individually compressed with Pkzip, and of course each of those compressed files needed  their own individual indexes. But RAR could archive thousands of text or program files and only require a total index, so saving disk storage space, and of course much reduced transmission time. Combine that with its more efficient program file compression, and of course RAR became an instant hit!

In January 1994, RAR v1.0 was released and only a week or so later I found it among the shared files on Arrow BBS, I immediately purchased my business license (by snail mail). And was promptly invited by the then international distributor for RAR, Ron Dwight (1944 – 2002), an American living in Finland, to join their international team of distributors as the New Zealand and Australia distributor for RAR, as I ran my own computer support company.

Then a year later WinRAR for Windows was released in mid 1995, so WinRAR soon became even more popular as users then did not need to become familiar with using Microsoft DOS, or MS-DOS, even though WinRAR only provided a subset of RAR.exe’s Commands and Switches.

These are examples of my “BBS online adverts” for RAR!

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