downloading compressed program images

[Ken Rose]

Joel Sherrill wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am looking for information on downloading compressed images
> of executables to target hardware.

> To minimize download time (executable is ~ 1 Mbyte), I would
> like to compress the image on the host, download it via
> some reliable serial protocol, decompress it on the target,
> and then burn it into flash.
>
> I know this has been done before and was looking for suggestions
> on freely available software to help with the
> compression/decompression and serial protocol parts.
>

  If minimizing download time is your goal, you should consider bzip2,.
It compresses significantly better than gzip.  I haven't studied the
source, but if your target can support it you'll save maybe 25% of your
transfer time.  It's available at http://www.muraroa.demon.co.uk .

Good luck
  Ken Rose <rose@acm.org>