Update on //c to PC file transfer saga... (kinda long...)

[Dean Petters <dpetters@grc.nasa.gov>]

After many days of errors and frustrations, I have finally been able to 
transfer files from the //c to the PC.  Since i've relied on this board 
extensively during this process, i feel it's only right to give a 
synopsis of what happened (for those that may be running into similar 
problems).

First, I read the FAQ.  Specifically the "Telecom 1- hardware and 
transfers" section.  While at the beginning I didn't understand half of 
what the FAQ was talking about, as i progressed, more and more became 
clear.  I owe the writer of that a beer!

I decided the first step was to get a telecom program over to the //c. 
easier said than done.  to do this, i figured out that i had to 1) make 
a null-modem connection from the //c to the PC, 2) copy DOS3.3 from the 
PC to the //c, 3) copy ADT from the PC to the //c, 4) download off of 
the internet a disk image of a telecom program to the PC, 5) use ADT to 
copy a .dsk image containing the telecom program to the //c.

the number of problems encountered up to this point were extremely high 
and very frustrating (mainly because so little was happening i couldn't 
figure out what was wrong).  first, i seriously mangled the first 
attempt at making a modem cable for the //c from an old AT-style 
keyboard cable.  i decided that instead of making a null-modem cable, 
i'd make a standard modem cable and buy a null-modem adapter.  the only 
concession i made was that instead of buying a male DB25 connector for 
the cable, i bought a female connector.  i did this because the 
null-modem adapter i bought from RS was a male-female connector and the 
PC modem cable had a male end.  so if i soldered the male db25, then i'd 
have to buy a male-female gender changer.  now, however, if i want to 
use a modem with the //c, i'll have to buy a gender changer.  but since 
i don't have a modem, that's not a big issue.

as i said, i seriously mangled my first attempt at soldering the wires. 
 i'm not sure whether i had bare wires touching when i put the cover on 
the DB25 or if i had a spot of solder touching two connectors, but after 
getting thoroughly confused w.r.t. the pinout diagrams and why things 
weren't working, i decided to remake the cable.  i bought another female 
db25 connector and tried again, this time being extra careful (only 
stripped enough insulation to connect the wire and also using as little 
solder as possible).  sure enough, this new connector worked.  by the 
way, the RS female db25 connector has numbers next to the pin-holes that 
use the same numbering scheme as is in the FAQ.  I realized this 
afterwards...

so now i have the two connected.  using hyperterminal set at 300 baud, 
8-n-1, i start attempting to transfer over DOS3.3.  the first several 
lines transfer fine but then i start getting linefeeds and markers 
(remember the inverted L discussion?).  i think the problem was 
two-fold.  first, i wasn't using a delay between the characters.  i had 
a delay of 400 ms between lines, but added a 100 ms delay between 
characters.  I also at this time got a hint from Bill @ GarberStreet 
Enterprises about how to start up the machine.  i had been using a 
ProDOS startup-disk and then exiting to the ]-prompt.  Instead, he said 
to turn the machine on and when the 'no operating system' error 
appeared, hit <ctrl>-reset to get into basic.  I'm not sure which of 
these solved the problem, but when i tried it with these two changes, it 
worked.  it took about 30 minutes to get DOS3.3 over to teh //c.  i then 
created the dos startup disk.  then i used the same procedure to get ADT 
over.  i was a happy camper!

i had downloaded a copy of z-link and moved it over to the //c.  I had 
nothing but trouble with this at first.  I'm not sure whether it is a 
problem with z-link or if it's with my cable, but if i start z-link with 
the cables connected between computers, the screen on the //c goes 
blank.  if they aren't connected, it works fine even after the cables 
are connected.  another problem i ran into was that z-link couldn't read 
the disks i wanted to transfer the data off of.  it was so frustrating i 
asked for other telecom programs.  again, Bill @ GarberStreet 
Enterprises came thru with a disk image of some modem utilities.  during 
this process, i did a directory on the source disks and realized that 
those disks were formatted in DOS3.3.

"maybe" i thought to myself, "z-link can't read dos33 disks..."  sure 
enough, i transferred the files to a prodos disk and now am transferring 
files!!!

The disks i'm transferring have about 30 files each and i don't have a 
way to print out the names of the files.  so the finder in z-link was 
very nice.  i can scroll thru the list of names and copy one at a time. 
 I'm able to transfer at speeds of up to 4800 with no trouble (i've not 
gone higher mainly because i had problems earlier with higher speeds and 
since the  files are small, the time difference is minimal).  most of 
the time during the downloads is taken up with 'waiting for NAK'.  I'm 
using Xmodem (Ymodem would not work).

I've also found that to get the system to work best, i have to do a 
software disconnect and reconnect (from the PC/hyperterminal end) 
between each download.  not a big deal, but it is one more step.  I also 
have to type in the name of the file since Xmodem doesn't transfer teh 
filename.  oh well...

so now i'm copying files all over the place.  the downside is that since 
these files are so small, i'm spending most of my time in setting up the 
transfer rather than in the actual moving of the files.  oh welll.... 
maybe someone out there knows of a program that will allow you to select 
multiple files to upload from the //c to the PC... (Agate only goes from 
PC to //c).  or better yet, all files from a disk...

So again, thanks to everyone here for your outstanding help! 
Specifically, Bill @ GarberStreet Enterprises and Paul Grammens for all 
of your help!  if we ever meet, i'm buying!

Dean P