Atari Mega Archive 1/Atari Mega Archive - Volume 1.iso/telecomm/opterm05.lzh/PRG/XYZ.TXT

Text File | 1990-11-19 | 45KB | 1,031 lines

                          STARFALL SOFTWARE PRESENTS
                               XYZ version 2.0
                               ===============
                               By Alan Hamilton
                   Copyright (C) 1990, all rights reserved


1 WHAT IT IS

Here it is.... all you need for transferring files with your ST. I was
frustrated by the limitations that the ST version of RZ.TTP and SZ.TTP had, so
I wrote my own, and I'm willing to fix any bugs that turn up in it.

XYZ version 2.0 is SHAREWARE and copyrighted.  You may freely pass it around
and post it on private or public BBSs.  If you like it, please help out by
making a contribution.  I suggest $10, but if you think XYZ is worth less, or
more, send whatever you think is fair.  The previous version, v1.43, is not
copyrighted and still free, so if it serves your needs, feel free to continue
using it.

Send comments, contributions, etc. to:   Alan Hamilton
                                         6202 N. 16th St. #202
                                         Phoenix, AZ  85016-1734


Features include:
1.  Transfers all files unchanged -- "binary" mode.
2.  Transfers files at the maximum speed the system you are connected to can
support.  No "wait states."
3.  The timestamps on the files are preserved, unless you don't want them to
be.  You are told, in regular calendar format, what the timestamp is.
4.  Interrupted transfers can be restarted where they left off (in ZMODEM).
5.  You are kept informed as to how much of the file has actually been
received, not how many bytes have been received in the current session.  If
you tried to restart a transfer with RZ.TTP, you wouldn't know where you
were.
6.  There is no feature six.
7.  Filenames that aren't compatible with the ST are transformed into ones
that are, not just truncated at the first illegal character.  If they can't be
converted, a random filename is chosen.  These transformed filenames are
unique -- no more losing a file because after being truncated because it was
the same as a previous filename.
8.  Works with all ST, STe and Mega ST configurations.
9.  Includes versions of XMODEM and YMODEM for completeness.


2  LEGAL STUFF

XYZ is copyright (C) 1990 by Alan Hamilton, all rights reserved.  It may be
copied and distributed freely provided that the XYZ.TTP, XYZ.DOC, and READ.ME
files are all included.  If distributed for a fee, it should be made clear to
the purchaser that the fee does not include the shareware fee (see above).

XYZ is shareware.  If you use XYZ, please register it.  I suggest a $10
registration fee, but if you think it's worth more, or less, send that
amount.

Although I've done my best to test XYZ, it's offered "as is" with no guarantee
at all.  You use it at your own risk.  I will not be responsible for any
losses you may suffer from using it.


3  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

XMODEM was developed by Ward Christenson.
YMODEM and ZMODEM were developed by Chuck Forsberg of Omen Technology.
CRC code by Stephen Satchell of Satchell Evaluations, and Chuck Forsberg of
Omen Technology.
Flash is a trademark of Antic Publishing.
C library code copyright (C)1988 by the Mark Williams Company.
520ST, 1040ST, STe, Mega ST and Mega STe are trademarks of Atari, Inc.
GEnie is a trademark of GEISCO/General Electric.
GEM and GEM Desktop are trademarks of Digital Research.

4  WHAT IT ISN'T

Although XYZ supports the most useful parts of the ZMODEM protocol, there are
a few things that aren't.

1.  Commands.  This part of the ZMODEM protocol was intended to allow you to
remotely control a system.  Since XYZ is intended to be manually operated, and
the ST doesn't have a standard command line interface, commands are not
accepted.
2.  Compression.  Neither run-length encoding (RLE) nor Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW)
compression is supported.  You can use a separate utility to compress files
and then send them with XYZ if you want.
3.  Challenges.  XYZ does not try to verify that it is connected to a system
that is ready for ZMODEM.  It assumes that you have already told that system
to go to ZMODEM.
4.  Pathnames.  XYZ does not send any path information to the remote system,
and strips off any it receives.
5.  Selective file replacement.  The ZMODEM protocol lets you selectively
transfer files based on whether they exist or don't exist at the receiver, or
whether they are different in file size, date, or CRC.  XYZ only does one of
two things while downloading:  If a file does not exist, it is transferred in
its entirety.  If it does exists, it assumes that you are resuming a file
transfer that was aborted, and tries to resume at the end of what you have.
When uploading, the remote system will decide which files to accept.
6.  File transmission resumption.  Do not try to download a file that already
exists on your disk unless you are trying to recover an aborted transfer.  The
file will be damaged if it is a different file, despite having the same name.
If the file was previously received in its entirety, and you try to restart a
download on it, it probably won't be damaged, but this depends on how the
sender reacts, so be careful.
7.  Disk space check.  If the sender tries to check on how much space you have
available on your disk, XYZ will always tell it that you have an unlimited
amount.  This was done because checking the disk space is a very slow
operation on hard drives.
8.  Encrypting.  File encryption is not supported.
9.  Seven bit transfers.  Transferring eight bit files (non-text files) over
lines that only support seven bits per character is not supported.  This is
something you'd only run into with a mainframe.
10.  Sparse files.  Transferring selected portions of a file that's mostly
zeros is not supported.  The entire file must be sent.
11.  32 bit CRCs.  XYZ only uses 16 bit CRCs, which should be sufficient
unless you are really paranoid about data integrity.
12.  CRC checks on files.  Some systems will do this to determine whether or
not they have the same version of a file as the one you are sending.  XYZ
doesn't support this check at this time.

5  HOW TO USE IT

5.1  Configuration
XYZ is mainly intended to be run from inside a regular telecommunications
terminal program.  Because of this, it does not alter the settings of your
ST's RS232 port from what the terminal program has set them to.  For XYZ the
RS232 port should be set as follows:

Baud (or bits per second or BPS):
This should match what the system you are connecting with requires, and what
your modem is capable of.
Data bits:     8
Parity:        None
Stop bits:     1 or 2
Flow control:  XOFF/XON (also called DC2/DC4):  OFF
               RTS/CTS:  OFF, unless you are using a high-speed modem that
requires it to be on.

These settings are very common, so you probably won't have to change them.

5.2  Running from the Desktop
If you can't run programs from within your terminal program, or your memory
space is limited, you will have to exit to the Desktop to run XYZ.  Set the
remote system up for the transfer, then exit your terminal program.  Open XYZ,
and a dialog box will appear.  Type in the options (see below for the options
available), click on OK, and the transfer will start.  One of the options you
will want to specify is -p which will make XYZ pause before it returns to the
GEM Desktop.  If you don't specify a folder to download to, the files will go
into the same folder that XYZ is in.  After XYZ finishes, it will exit back to
the Desktop.  You may then rerun your terminal program and continue.

If you can run programs from within your terminal program, life gets much
easier.  If, however, your terminal program doesn't let you pass parameters to
a .TTP program, you will only be able to download only with ZMODEM and to the
default folder.  See the manual for your terminal program for directions on
running other programs.

In Flash, the command is "exec xyz.ttp" (omit the quote marks).  Any options
go after the program name.  If you are keeping XYZ in a different folder than
the default one (s