Collection of Tools & Utilities/Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso/comm/fsthst22.zip/FASTHST.DOC

Text File | 1990-08-10 | 8KB | 190 lines

                         FASTHST 2.2 (Formerly 19200HST)
                              By Joseph Sheppard
                    Sysop, The Ledge PCBoard [phone]

    WHAT IT DOES:
    -------------

    FASTHST is a utility program written with Turbo Pascal 5.5 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 Ymodem-G, Xmodem-1K-G or Zmodem MobyTurbo 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 1700 cps using Ymodem-G and Zmodem Mobyturbo.


    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, LZH 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

    &H1 - Hardware flow 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 MobyTurbo will give 1000-1700 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, Bimodem 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 38400 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, Zmodem
    MobyTurbo and Super8k-G so if you are looking for a place to
    test...come on!