Re: PT3, AT2.0 and me. :)

[fnet@aho.cba.csuohio.edu (Greg Boh)]

>This is in response to Greg Boh, but if Paul Parkhurst is out there, can you
>check out at least the end of the message and preferably the whole thing?
>
>> From: fnet@randell.cba.csuohio.edu (Greg Boh)
> 
>> Wrong. METAL's Y-modem G protocols stream in both directions, Up AND
>> Downloading. They work just fine. I receive MUCH better throughput with
>> the METAL Protocols (Based on the onscreen CPS and Efficiency ratings)
>> than I do with ProTerm 3.0 or the old AnsiTerm's Z-modem.
>
>Granted I'm sort of a heavy ProTERM 3 user and so I have some biases, but I'd
>just like to clear something up.
>
>Greg's CPS calculations are "conservative".  From what [I] understand, PT3
>starts timing a transfer (er - reads the clock) as soon as the status box
>goes up (before negotiation) and stops timing right before the dialog goes
>down (eg after the final ACK packets are sent and both sides know the
>transfer is over).  No time is subtracted for disk access, startup delays,
>etc.  Granted its a very simple way to get the CPS values, but it won't get
>him in trouble for OVERSTATING PT3s abilities.  He might get in trouble for
>understating them...
>
>I wonder how AT2.0's and METAL's CPS rating are calculated.  Any answers?

METAL's begin the moment that initial protocol negotiations are completed. And
since the CPS, Transfer Efficiency etc.. are all displayed on the fly, it's as
accurate as anyone necessarily needs to be. Plus, the arguement about startup
delays/disk access are moot as METAL doesn't bother with that either. Name a
Terminal program that takes into account all of that information and I will
instantly purchase it. 

So, basically, aside from the fact that PT starts timing at the beggining,
this still doesn't account for a 200-400 CPS variance in the protocols that I
usually see. For transferring files of the Unix site now, I usually just use
METAL and a custom terminal program (Looks like ProTerm and has about 10% of
the features! :) under METAL. It saves me time, plus gives me estimated
transfer times, CPS rates and Efficiency ratings for the baud rates etc etc
etc all on the fly. To be honest, the protocols, although slightly buggy (And
being fixed as we speak) are quite a work of art. And when I call another
METAL system, the protocols ALWAYS beat PT3 by at least 200 CPS.

PT3 still gets the majority of my Telecom work though as I haven't quite
finished up the VT-100 emulator part of my Terminal external. ;) But all in
good time.