Re: cable problem

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) writes...

>Aldalbert, I am fairly certain that interrupt eating desk
>accessories and/or inits, etc., are causing the lost bytes.
>Why?  Because even an unaccelerated IIGS, when
>NOT loaded with such baggage can do 56k on ProTERM
>A2.  Don't know about Spectrum.

    Granted ProTERM 3.1 and the IIgs's serial ports can potentially
support up to 57.6K, the phone lines cannot. At least not unless
your ISP has a special arrangement with the phone company to digitally
route the transmission at some stage (this excludes BBSes, and most
likely any shell-only ISP's). Even then 57.6K is not as simple as you
may think when dealing with analog phone lines, there are many important
issues to consider.

    In any case, until PPP becomes mainstream on the IIgs, a 14.4K
modem is more than adequate for the majority of IIgs users. True a
28.8K or 33.6K is nice, but when your just displaying straight text
and most files archives are well under 800K, it almost becomes a
waste. (Yep, I know about generic files like MODs that can be often
somewhat large, but I'm thinking more of what the modem is doing in
terms of getting information on screen than straight file downloads).

>How to avoid the problems?  When you are using
>ProTERM A2, ALWAYS boot directly into ProDOS 8.
>Do not first go through GS/OS.  If you MUST boot
>from GS/OS, ALWAYS shift-boot before using ProTERM.
>
>If you are using Spectrum, which requires GS/OS,
>ALWAYS, ALWAYS shift-boot.  If you have a screen
>saver or a menu bar clock of any sort, it is going to
>decimate your modem speed.
>
>With a CLEAN GS system, your IIGS can EASILY
>use your 14.4k modem to its fullest potential.
>
>Remember, PRODOS 8 OR SHIFT-BOOT.  ALWAYS.

    Actually I launch ProTERM 3.1 from GS/OS, and it is loaded with
extensions (my system fills one and a half rows with icons on the
boot splash screen). I never have any problems with my 14.4K modem
connection, though I do have my system running at 15 MHz so that
is probably helping me out.

    In the past though, when I've done direct serial port transfers
at 57.6K or borrowed a 33.6K modem, shift-booting or bypassing
GS/OS becomes more essential. Oh, and one big tip, if you do ever
launch ProTERM from GS/OS, tell Twilight II to only blank-out
under GS/OS and not ProDOS 8 (if you don't, you will start to
drop characters almost immediately, regardless of how fast your
system is running). Twilight II 2.0 was heading towards fixing
that, but the project has been abandoned as far as I know.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca