Announcement: Wizard "Squeezer" Program

[edhaas]

Hi All,

Welcome to the Rom-Packer "Squeezer" module!


This was originally included with my Wizard Rom-Packer kitchen, but as the technology is applicable to most programs installed in the Wizard (or actually most devices), in either storage memory or SD card, I have decided to release it to the wider community of non-cookers.

This program uses the open source program UPX to compress .exe files. The compression is quite remarkable. Generally the files end up less than half their original size. I have tested the process on all the main Office programs, and they work fine. The loading speed of the programs is actually improved, because the storage memory is so much slower than ram memory, so the time gained by transferring a smaller amount of data from the storage memory to ram when you run the program is more than enough to make up for the time spent uncompressing in ram.

The larger programs really seem to "pop" in comparison. Besides the Office programs, I have tested it on apps such as: eWallet, iSilo, ListPro, and Skype and found it works well, speeding load times with a smaller storage and SD card footprint.

The process "may" work with some .dll files as well, but I haven't tested them as extensively. A few programs will not work well in this mode, or refuse to load, so keep the original copies as backups. You will also find a few programs (adobe reader, pocketXpdf) which have already been compressed with this technology!

So, here's what you do:

1) Make sure the original program is installed correctly.
2) Locate the .exe file which was installed in Program Files in your PDA or the SD card.
3) Save a copy of this file somewhere in case it doesn't work.
4) Copy all the .exe files you want to compress into the SqueezeRoom directory.
5) Run Squeezem.bat
6) Take the compressed files out of the SqueezeRoom directory and replace the originals with those.
7) Run the program in the usual way. If all is well, Great! you're done!
8) If there's a problem, you can try a soft-reset before undoing the experiment.
9) If that doesn't help, copy the copy you made in step 3 back to the original location, overwriting the compressed copy.

Of course, I strongly recommend that you run a good backup utility, such as SPB backup, before beginning, just in case you make a big mistake somewhere.

Rapidshare Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/33717970/Rom-Packer_Squeezer.rar

Have fun!

[freeyayo50]

Have you tried compressing dll files before?? I read the readme file...but since you wrote it, have you tested them.

[edhaas]

Have you tried compressing dll files before?? I read the readme file...but since you wrote it, have you tested them.

I tried one, but it didn't work. According to the UPX documentation it sometimes works on .dll files, so if you find a large one it works with, let us know!

Regards,

[freeyayo50]

This program is amazing!!! I can see a notable increase in performance on my device. I compressed about almost all my apps (about 25-30 exe's) and about 5-8 dll's. So far the dll's that I have compressed have been working.

You can see a huge increase in performance the bigger the exe file is. Apps like Wisbar/WAD start up about 3-4 sec faster,
Opera about 3 sec (4MB compressed down to 1.7MB)
AIM 2 sec faster
Camera.exe maybe 1 sec (I couldn't really tell the difference)
Verichat 2 sec
FoxitReader 2-3 sec
IM+ 3-4 sec
SPB Imageer 2-3 sec
Resco Radio 2 sec
Total Commander 1-2 sec
Midlet Manager(jmm.exe) 2 sec faster
and calculator.exe seems to pop open :).
When it comes to games, which usually are 2-4MB in size, they open 4-7 sec faster than normal. One of my games was 4MB than shrunk down to about 1.4MB after compressed.

This program also saves a crazy amount of space as well. My main memory free space before was 6.5MB, than after compression, increased to 11.8MB :)
It also seems like there is more free RAM than normal, but I'm still veiwing that. Posted some SS of compressed file sizes.

[freeyayo50]

I just discovered that .cpl(Control Panel Extension) files can also be compressed. I just compressed SoftKeyAppletEx.cpl and ThemeManager.cpl for those who know what they are. They still work after compression. There not that big but I get about 50-60% compression from them.

[edhaas]

Wow, freeyayo50!

Great finds, and thanks for reporting them. It's great to see this little bugger being useful!

BTW, You're packing a lot into your machine! Do you use an sd card?

Best wishes,

[freeyayo50]

Wow, freeyayo50!

Great finds, and thanks for reporting them. It's great to see this little bugger being useful!

BTW, You're packing a lot into your machine! Do you use an sd card?

Best wishes,

Thanx, just tryin to help out the community :).

And yes, I am using a 1GB Mini SD card. I use it to hold most of my apps and all my music.
I dont understand why developers dont use this. So far everything that I have compressed has been working perfectly fine. I just luv how much space this thing saves.

[ivanwinkel]

as of now i'am building an rom with all dll and exe and cpl upx-ed. Just finished packing and now Build os is building. then i will try if it will run

[ivanwinkel]

Now it's flashing to my mda

[ivanwinkel]

It was to much. The rom wont load. stops at second boot screenthe 3th wont load.

[edhaas]

It was to much. The rom wont load. stops at second boot screenthe 3th wont load.

Oh well, you went all out and I applaud you for it! Valiant effort! :)

Regards,

[Andy Phillips]

Anybody know which app controls the email accounts?
I use the blackberry client and it takes forever to load up..even when in the background! Creating new mail also takes it's own sweet time!
Would love to squeeeeze a bit more performance out of my wizard!
;)

[freeyayo50]

Anybody know which app controls the email accounts?
I use the blackberry client and it takes forever to load up..even when in the background! Creating new mail also takes it's own sweet time!
Would love to squeeeeze a bit more performance out of my wizard!
;)

I believe you may be talking about the tmail.exe in the \Windows folder.

[faria]

main OS dlls and exe SOULD NOT be compressed with upx.....this was tested ages ago by rom cookers it will cause problems....true some files can be upx you should leave the OS files alone.

[edhaas]

main OS dlls and exe SOULD NOT be compressed with upx.....this was tested ages ago by rom cookers it will cause problems....true some files can be upx you should leave the OS files alone.

Thanks for the tip, faria!

(Translation: Avoid messing with the sys\os subdirectory, and be careful with the others. Most of these apps are small, so you wouldn't be gaining much anyway.)

[kadooosh]

wow nice program thanks!
doesnt work with tomtom btw crashes when I start it

[edhaas]

wow nice program thanks!
doesnt work with tomtom btw crashes when I start it
Hi, It worked with my TomTom!? I'm pretty sure I compressed it. Just the main .exe, not any of the supporting stuff. I'll double check it when I get home tonight, (or tomorrow to be honest, I have a big project for school right now)

[igalan]

Tested and working with opera.dll from Opera 8.60u2. It's a huge 5 MB file that once compressed is less than 2 MB :) . There seems to be no side effects, besides saving over 3 MB of storage. Great program!

[freeyayo50]

Tested and working with opera.dll from Opera 8.60u2. It's a huge 5 MB file that once compressed is less than 2 MB :) . There seems to be no side effects, besides saving over 3 MB of storage. Great program!

Where did you find this opera.dll at??

[kadooosh]

Hi, It worked with my TomTom!? I'm pretty sure I compressed it. Just the main .exe, not any of the supporting stuff. I'll double check it when I get home tonight, (or tomorrow to be honest, I have a big project for school right now)

oh I just noticed my old exe didnt work either.. must be cause I installed wm6 :(

moprhgear doesnt work either(emulator)

[edhaas]

oh I just noticed my old exe didnt work either.. must be cause I installed wm6 :(

Might be something in your installation. I'm running WM6.

Good luck!

[faria]

Thanks for the tip, faria!

(Translation: Avoid messing with the sys\os subdirectory, and be careful with the others. Most of these apps are small, so you wouldn't be gaining much anyway.)NP.also after upxing a file you will be unable to edit its resource's if you ever need to.

[igalan]

Where did you find this opera.dll at??

It's on Opera's install directory: \Program Files\Opera\opera.dll. The exe is a small 42 KB file.

[freeyayo50]

It's on Opera's install directory: \Program Files\Opera\opera.dll. The exe is a small 42 KB file.

Oh ok. Opera 8.65 Beta does not have that file.

[mattk_r]

I got so much stuff on my phone I didn't know where to begin, and now there's another file type to compress?!

I actually just built a new rom that didn't use all of the available space - though it's really hard not to use it... It's like having an empty garage, you just gotta get stuff to put in it.

[edhaas]

I got so much stuff on my phone I didn't know where to begin, and now there's another file type to compress?!

I actually just built a new rom that didn't use all of the available space - though it's really hard not to use it... It's like having an empty garage, you just gotta get stuff to put in it.

It's neat to see how quickly the bar has been changed in building roms for the Wizard. Only a few weeks ago, we had to struggle to fit in the entire WM6 operating system. Most people were leaving out voip, transcriber, and other pieces that were not utilized much in favor of more widely useful freeware and shareware that would increase the functionality for more users than the original OS. Now, since people have started using Rom-Packer, we are able to fit the entire useful OS in the rom, and seemingly all the most useful 3rd party apps. Now, like you, I'm looking around for things to add which actually make sense for a general purpose rom. I guess if its not one problem its another. ;)

(also copied to the Rom-Packer thread, it seemed to "fit" there.)

Regards,

[medkid]

can you upload this great tool to another host pls (Ex:mediafire.com). Thanks:)

[bjy8138]

all the skyscape software can't b compressed

[GlemSom]

Anyone ever managed to squeeze Manilla?

I've tried just squeezing the exe files for Manilla, but this makes it unable to start... Might I need to squezze some dll files aswell?

[joemanb]

Might I need to squezze some dll files as well?You might want to check out THIS WIZARD (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2719354&postcount=1) I put together awhile back. It's been kinda ignored, but it works fantastic. It does DLLs EXEs MUIs and CABs, and then tests them to see if they will uncompress. If you try it, let us know how well it works for you. Thanks