Computer Club Elmshorn Atari PD/CCE_PD.iso/pc/0600/CCE_0683.ZIP/CCE_0683/MIKENET.13D/MIKENET.DOC

Text File | 1992-10-11 | 10KB | 193 lines

                               (^8 MikeNet 8^)

This is a shareware product :

Send your contribution to the author if you use it. The address is at the
end of this document. The author is NOT responsable for any damage to your
equipment and data, and you can do a lot if you play with this. Read
carefully the documentation before using and remember: if you register the
program will be upgraded and you will receive updated versions.

This program does :

        - hard disk sharing between two CPU, no server
        - creation of any drive between 'A' and 'P'
        - redirection of any drive to local and remote partitions

This program needs :

    - any Atari ST, STE, Mega ST, Mega STE, TT, Falcon 030
    - two computers ONLY if networking
    - two MIDI standard cables ONLY if networking

Why you need it :

    - solves any trouble regarding partitions in configuration paths,
      as it can make your ST to think a partition "D" is "C" or even "A"
    - if you have a BBS running or a CPU dedicated to a "routine job",
      such as driving a laser or other peripherals, you can exchange
      any file to/from your working machine without managing floppies.
    - is there anybody how wants to tell me for what else it is useful ?

Installation :

    - Copy the programs on your computer(s).
    - Connect corresponding MIDI ports with two cables if networking
      (OUT to IN and IN to OUT).

How it works :

- MKNT.PRG is the TSR you have to run to install the network. You can do
           it from the desktop (also with MiNt if allocating to global
           memory) or putting it as your last program in AUTO folder.
           Actually it has not to be the last, but has to if you want to
           redirect drive vectors used by other AUTO programs like ramdisks.
       Configuration file MIKENET.INF if found in root directory of
       boot disk when running from auto, or in the current directory if
       not, is loaded at program installation.

- MKNT.ACP is the "old dialog" of the old version, but it runs in a
           WINDOW. It can be run as a program or as a desk accessory,
           simply renaming it to .PRG or .ACC. "Send message" option is
           not yet available as I wanted to have this ready for the Atari
           Messe in Dusseldorf.
       Run the accessory/program, MikeNet dialog will be shown. The
       first row of (radio) buttons lets you determine Network status
       on used machine (the two computers can have different status),
       that can be Read-Only, Read-Write or Inactive, this is the status
       of the network, and determines if and how the other cpu can
       access the local one.
       The two following rows, with drives letters are the kernel of
       selections:
       the first row reflects local logic drives status, that can be
       cycling selected clicking on the letter itself :

       INACTIVE - tiny written excludes logic drives from current drives
                  map (drvbits).
       NORMAL   - normal written, drive is active, local and eventually
                  redirected to partition specified by the letter below.
       SELECTED - inverse written, drive is active and remote, refer
                  remote ST drive identified by the letter below.

       The second row (of these two) obviously concerns drive
       assignements, each letter is simply editable (only uppercase),
       and assigns corresponding drive to the letter above, local or
       remote.
           - drives redirections and status are changed "on the fly" and
           mediachanges are forced on a drive only when DOUBLECLICKING on
           that drive's letter (you'll see the drive's led flashing).
           - mediachanges SHOULD preserve the drive's current path. (try
           and report please).
       It is possible to select RESET to clear MikeNet to the boot
       status, with DRVBITS as at program start, or REORDER just to
       have alphabeticallly increasing assignment letters.
       Load and save (only on complete version) lets you work with
       configuration files on disk. (be careful about redirections)
       You can exit by clicking on OK or closing the window, it is the
       same.

- MKNT.TTP is completely NEW ! With it you can change configuration from
           batch. Actually the following options are available, and each
           option is executed in sequence, so that you can display the
           configuration with -? several times during execution, like this
           :"-? -ong -xgc -? -rg -? -offg -onp -?", note that case in NOT
           significant.
           OPTIONS:
           -?    displays current configuration: list of drive letters
           with their redirections, 0 if OFF and 1 if ON, L if local and R
           if remote.
           -onX  switches the logical drive "X" ON, mediach forced
           -offX switches the logical drive "X" OFF
           -xXY  redirects drive "X" to drive "Y", mediach forced
           -rX   puts drive "X" to REMOTE status
           -lX   puts drive "Y" to LOCAL status
           -sNO  sets network status to INACTIVE
           -sRO  sets network status to READ ONLY
           -sRW  sets network status to READ WRITE

Caveats :

NEVER try to access to a remote drive that is remote iself, this selection,
surely a setting error, will crash the system.

Be careful using disk accelerators and cache, remember that two machines
access SIMULTANEOUSLY the same drives, so avoid to access from both the
same file for writing.

Tech notes and Tips :

The TSR (MKNT.PRG) now uses XBRA protocol with "MkNt" id. This should avoid
any problem on resolution changes on MSTEs, TTs and FALCONs.
"MkNt" is also installed as a reserved cookie for the ACP and TTP
configuration programs.

Drive bits over P are not zeroed, so that you can use U: with MiNT.

Mediachange should work, thought you should take care when redirecting
floppy drives A and B... use ESC key !

Remember tu set your HD driver to at least 1024 byte for sector on EACH ST
if you want to access BGM partitions, otherwise the maximum sector size
found at boot time will be used. It is easy to set with ICD utilities, Supra
and SCSItools/HUSHI, AHDI needs to be installed as 'MUNGED', with adeguate
patched variables. MikeNet provides buffers to work with sectors sized up
to 8k.

I set my STs with 1000 extra folder, and somethimes it is not enough,
experiment yourself, when you see empty directory or missing files you
should try to increase that number.

TIPS: MikeNet work at sector level, so you should be able to use any soft
that access drives by BIOS and XBIOS calls, I tested programs like Cleanup
from ICD with no problems, and this is good, tought you are advised not to
use the network to write on remote drives, remember that in this way you
are making changes on the disk without updating cached informations in the
remote computer, so do it only if you are sure that the remote computer will
update his RAM before to write anything on that disk. The file locking
support I want to add, will be an hard thing to do, that will slow down the
net too much assuming the Atari Network Standards, so I will have to think
more on this and find a faster way.

Fast serials on MegaSTE are not DMA driven, so that I will remain on MIDI,
as most of you have only "small" STs to put in the net, and MIDI being the
fastest serial port with interrupts. I will eventually work on the multi
node version, but it will take quite long to do, I am working to add link
using the parallel port, I already have obtained high speed transfers.

I am also to add new features as seek rate setting, drive B switching and
local drive protection, let me know about what you want MikeNet to do !

IBM-PC version on serial and/or parallel is always taken in consideration
but I had small demand for this so....

Hints :

I find redirection a must when it is necessary to manage with many
partitions or even more than one hard disk drive. Programs are configured
to work on one drive (some only on drive A), and when you change this you
do not need to change all the configuration, but it is enough to redirect
it to the right one. I can use my BBS on a Megafile 60, with any ST, with
other HD drives, using redirection.
If you use  a remote computer, even without hard disk, it can access all
remote drives, so that it can use one big archive of data, with the benefit
of clarity.
For example you can access message areas while your BBS is running, or
work on a data base, or texts, from remote.
MIDI speed is low, but lets you run without much troubles even quite big
programs, obviously best results come with applications that do not make
continuos disk access.
One useful thing is the RESET option, you can initialize drives using it
so you can switch on or off your floppy and hard drives (even some other
devices on DMA, I tested SuperCharger) and make your ST work correctly.

Author:
                                                Mike De Petris
                                                via dei Giuliani, 34
                                                34137 - TRIESTE - ITALY
                                                phone:[phone]
                                                fax:  [phone]
                                                BBS  :([phone] V.32b V.42b
                                                Atarian ST - TS!
                                                2:333/[e-mail]
                                                90:701/[e-mail]