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1989-05-31
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The WEAK Link
Version 1.2a
(Shareware version)
(c) Copyright 1987-1988
Don Jindra
Information Modes
P.O. Drawer F.
Denton, Texas 76202
Phone 817-387-3339
This product may be distributed freely as long as nothing is added
to, altered, or removed from the disk. This is a shareware version of a
commercial product. It is fully functional but does not include source code.
A registered copy of this product can be purchased from Information Modes.
;page
PAGE 1
INTRODUCTION
This is a simple master/slave serial link-up program. Two standard
IBMs or clones can be linked together via RS232 ports and a null modem cable.
COM1 thru COM4 may be used. The master program is a device driver which must
be included in the config.sys file. It is always resident and always "on".
The slave is a .com program which, when run, allows the master to use any block
device installed on that slave. For instance, if the master has 1 floppy as
A: and 1 hard disk as drive C:, then drive D: can be the slave's drive A:, and
drive E: can be the slave's drive C:, and drive F: can be the slave's RAMDRIVE.
Mapping of the slave's drives to the master can be in any order and can include
or exclude any of the slave's block devices. Mapping is done via a
SHARE:abcd... parameter on the slave program's command line. When the slave
program is running the master has complete control of the computer. This
utility is primarily intended to allow file transfers between two machines with
different or non-removable media. You could transfer from a portable's 3 1/2
inch drives to a 5 1/4 inch drive on another machine. Or you could transfer an
entire directory of one hard disk to another on a different machine. Transfer
speed is selectable from 1200 to 115k baud. Transfer is extremely simple since
the master thinks the slave is a collection of drives. Standard COPY and DIR
commands work equally well on the master or slave drives.
NOTE: Some later model PCs use 82C50 UARTs which have a bug. NEC Multispeed
is one example. This bug causes The WEAK Link to run sporadically.
A fix is in the works.
_______________
[ ]
[ IMPORTANT ]
[ ]
[ PLEASE READ ]
[_______________]
* BE EXTREMELY CAREFULL WHEN MIXING
DOS VERSIONS ON HARD DISK SYSTEMS.
DOS 2.x WILL NOT PROPERLY ACCESS
HARD DISKS FORMATTED WITH DOS 3.x.
* TEST THE READ INTEGRITY OF REMOTE HARD
DISKS. FOR SAFETY, TYPE LONG FILES.
MAKE SURE TEXT IS COMPLETELY THERE.
* NEVER WRITE TO A REMOTE HARD DISK UNTIL
YOU ARE TOTALLY SURE OF READ INTEGRITY.
* NEVER WRITE TO A HARD DISK WITHOUT FIRST
MAKING A BACKUP OF YOUR VALUABLE DATA.
;page
PAGE 2
INSTALLATION
The WEAK Link will work on any IBM PC/XT/AT which has a serial card
installed. The card must follow the IBM specifications as outlined in the
Technical Reference manual. If it uses a 8250 or 16450 communications chip
then it is probably ok. The memory requirements are minimal. DOS 2.0 or
higher is required.
SIMPLIFIED STEPS:
COPY CONFIG.S to the slave's boot disk.
REN CONFIG.S CONFIG.SYS on the slave's boot disk.
COPY NET00000.SYS to the slave's boot disk.
COPY PS.COM to the slave's boot disk.
reboot the slave computer
COPY CONFIG.M to the master's boot disk
REN CONFIG.M CONFIG.SYS on the master's boot disk
COPY PM.SYS to the master's boot disk.
reboot the master computer
run PS.COM on the slave
The master can now use the slave's drives as it's own. These
directions assume both systems have at least one 5 1/4 inch drive to read
this disk.
TRANSFERING TO OTHER MEDIA:
Included on this disk are two short BASICA programs which can be used
to transfer the slave's startup files via a serial link. TMT.BAS should be run
on the machine which can read this disk. RCV.BAS should be run on the other
machine, and will have to be typed in at the keyboard. The program is short
and shouldn't take much time to enter. Once RCV.BAS has been entered on the
other machine, run it under BASICA or GWBASIC. Make sure your null cable is
hooked up. Then run TMT.BAS under BASICA on the main machine. TMT.BAS will
transfer (slowly) the three files you will need to set up the other machine as
a slave. Then you can transfer the rest of this disk mush faster using The
WEAK Link.
If all else fails, other media can be supplied.
;page
PAGE 3
SLAVE INSTALLATION:
The config.sys file must include the line:
device=net00000.sys
The net00000.sys character device is used to setup the internal device
driver list. If net00000.sys is not properly installed the slave program
cannot find the addresses of the DOS device drivers. It should be the first
device in the list so should be the last line in the config.sys file.
Programmers.... any 4 byte read of net0 (the device name is net0, the file
name is net00000.sys ) will return the dword pointer to the net0 device
driver. This dword address can be used to search through the DOS device
driver chain.
Once net00000.sys is installed, you can run ps.com to put the computer
into the slave mode. If the communication port you are using is not COM1 then
you must indicate which port you are using with the COMx parameter on the
command line. If the baud rate you want is not 56k baud then you must indicate
your baud rate on the command line with the /nn parameter. You can modify the
order slave drives are presented to the master by using the SHARE:xxx
parameter. These parameters are described below. When the master/slave link
is no longer needed, just press "q" and the slave will return to normal
operation.
EXAMPLE:
A> PS COM1 /2 SHARE:ACDE
MASTER INSTALLATION:
The config.sys file must include the line:
device=pm.sys
When the system reboots, the master is installed and will display its
sign-on message. Then the master can access the slave whenever the slave is
running ps.com. Necessary parameters are entered on the config.sys command
line. Parameters are just as in the slave device with the addition of an @nn
parameter which tells DOS how many devices the slave will support.
EXAMPLE:
DEVICE=PM.SYS COM2 /2 @4
COMBINATION MASTER/SLAVE:
You can combine the master and slave configuration files. This will
allow you to run the slave program PS.COM on either machine then access that
machine from the other. Both machines would have the master installed:
DEVICE=NET00000.SYS
DEVICE=PM.SYS
;page