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Text File
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1989-09-27
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8KB
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192 lines
FASTHST 2.1 (Formerly 19200HST)
By Joseph Sheppard
Sysop, The Ledge PCBoard (818) 352-3620
WHAT IT DOES:
-------------
FASTHST is a utility program written with Turbo Pascal 5.0 using
routines from Prokit by Samuel Smith.
FASTHST is released as a free program. No donations are requested for
it's use. The authors are not responsible for any damage that might be
caused by the use of this program. Please use this program at your own
risk.
The purpose of FASTHST is to aid owners of USRobotics Courier HST
modems in setting up for optimum speed. It will work with either
older HST's that open at 19200 baud, or the newer ones that open at
38,400 baud (1440 HST's).
This program is designed for callers only. Although I run my BBS with
the settings from FASTHST, I would recommend that Sysops follow the
instructions for their specific BBS package on modem settings.
PCBoard sysops have a similar program called PCBMODEM that
should be used instead of this program.
This program will allow you to lock your serial port at 19200 or
38400 depending on the model HST you have. This setting may
only be effective on 286 and 386 systems. Some multi-tasking software
may not be able to handle this setting. If you find that you are
having trouble with aborted downloads after running this program then
you should probably go into your terminal program and type AT&F&W
followed by the ENTER key to reset the modem to it's factory settings.
Using these settings along with protocols designed for error correcting
modems such as DSZ's Ymodem-G and Xmodem-1K-G or Qmodem's version of
Ymodem-G I have achieved file transfer speeds in the 1100 - 1150 cps
range on a regular basis using both 286 and 386 systems with the old
modem HST open at 19200 bps. With the new 1440 HST open at 38,400 I
have achieved speeds in excess of 1600 cps using Zmodem.
HOW IT DOES IT:
---------------
FASTHST starts by giving the suggested dipswitch settings, which are
as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
UP UP DN DN DN UP UP DN UP UP
These settings will do the following to your modem:
1 UP - DTR is controlled by software
2 UP - Send verbal result codes
3 DN - Result codes are displayed
4 DN - Local echo of commands is suppressed
5 DN - Auto Answer Suppressed
6 UP - Do not force carrier detect
7 UP - Single phone line connection (RJ-11)
8 DN - AT command set enabled
9 UP - Hang up when escape code is sent
10 UP- Load from NRAM in power up
Next, it will ask you if you want to disable the "Data Compression"
(MNP Level 5) feature. If you disable this feature, then you will
have better performance when transferring compressed files (ZIP,
ARC, PAK etc). If you leave data compression enabled, then you will
be able to transfer text files faster, but compressed files will go
at a slower rate.
If you will be using your HST mainly for downloading ZIP or ARC
files from BBS system, it is recommended that you disable data
compression by answering Yes to this prompt.
You will then be asked weather you want to disable the modem
speaker. Because FASTHST programms the modem to send detailed status
messages to the terminal program, you may want to rely on these
silet messages. If you choose to have the speaker on, then it will
be on from the time you dial, until connection is made.
It then will reset your modems internal NRAM settings to the original
factory defaults.
Next it sends the following settings to the modem's non-volitile
memory:
ATS7=60E0M0X7
S7=60 - Number of seconds modem waits for carrier
E0 - Local echo off
M0 - Speaker Off (can be overidden by putting M1 in your modem program's
initialization string)
X7 - Result code option (OK, CONNECT, RING, NO CARRIER, ERROR, CONNECT,
NO DIAL TONE, BUSY, NO ANSWER, RINGING, VOICE)
Once this string is received it sends the following additional
settings:
AT&H3&R2&S1&B1&Kx&W
&H3 - Hardware and software control
&R2 - Received data output to terminal on RTS high
&S1 - Modem controls DSR
&B1 - Lock port at speed setting (19200 or 38400)
&Kx - Disable or enable data compression depending on how you
answered the data compression prompt (x=0 or 1).
&W - Write these settings to non-volitile RAM (NRAM).
After running this program, you should go into the setup portion of
your modem program (Qmodem, Procomm or whatever) and change the modem
initialization string to ATH0 followed by whatever character that
program uses to send a carriage return (Qmodem uses a { Procomm uses a
!).
TIPS 'N' TRICKS:
----------------
If you want to overide any of the NRAM settings that I have written in
the program, you can either do by placing the replacement commands in
the modem initialization string, or by going into the terminal mode of
your modem software and typing those commands followed by AT&W.
It is highly recommended that you use a high performance protocol
driver such as DSZ by Chuck Foresberg. The registered version of DSZ
includes YMODEM-G and Xmodem-1K-G protocols which should yield the
highest possible CPS ratings under this setup. The current versions of
many popular modem programs have built-in versions of Xmodem-1K-G
(called Ymodem-G in some versions) which will yield excellent speed,
but won't allow batch mode downloading that true Ymodem-G from the DSZ
program features.
Zmodem will give 1000-1600 cps on properly configured systems. Zmodem
is featured in non-registered versions of DSZ that are available on
most BBS systems.
Avoid using Xmodem, Ymodem, WXmodem, Kermit, Jmodem or other protocols
that rely on software error checking when you are connected to another
HST at the fixed 19200 bps rate. These protocols will give you between
400-900 cps. One reason I wrote this program was that I see people
night after night calling with HST modems improperly configured and
getting transfer speeds of 400 cps.
When running with your port locked at top speed, you must go into
the setup area of your modem communication program and change the
port opening speed to your top speed (19200 or 38400). You should
also change the call-out speeds in your dialing directory to the top
speed. Finally, make sure that your modem program is set to NOT
reset the baud rate at redial.
SUPPORT:
--------
As stated above, this is a free program. You will probably use it
once, then throw it away and forget all about me. That's fine, but at
least when you call my BBS at 19200 you won't be getting 400 cps!
Updates to FASTHST are always available on my BBS, The Ledge PCBoard,
which is listed at the top of this file. Although you can't download
from my file directory on the first call, you will be able to open the
SUPPORT door and download any of the programs that I've written, or any
third party programs (such as DSZxxxx.ARC) that are mentioned in this
file. My support door DOES have Xmodem-1K-G (Ymodem-G) so if you are
looking for a place to test...come on!