13 Nov
2015
13 Nov
'15
3:36 a.m.
<
On Nov 13, 2015 4:47 AM, "Christian Corti" <cc at
informatik.uni-stuttgart.de wrote:
ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/misc/Hardware/IBM/PCjr%20magazines%20and%20resou…
> I've modified the program a bit to support retries and TurboC.
> Christian
I used to use a program called Laplink, which came with special serial and
parallel option cables to transfer files from one dos machine to another.
It was useful to "image" DOS computers with it.
I don't think these were straight through cables and you needed the laplink
software to be running on both sides. I see the cables on ebay, I picked
up a set a few years ago to move contents of similar MS DOS system. Serial
is much slower than parallel obviously.
If you must use Linux, you may find something that emulates dos, or you can
rewrite the receiving - end Linux equivalent of laplink if it has not
already been done.
Bill Degnan
twitter: billdeg
vintagecomputer.net
On Thu, 12 Nov 2015, Tom Moss wrote:
> I've never seen anything works on the
sector level, but there are plenty
of
There is DITU (Disk-Image Transfer Utility) for MS-DOS, and it's free
including
C source code. I use it e.g. to image the hard disk of a DOS PC
into a file (either network or parallel ZIP drive).
13 Nov
13 Nov
6:13 a.m.
On 2015-11-13 12:36, william degnan wrote:
I used to use a program called Laplink, which came
with special serial and
parallel option cables to transfer files from one dos machine to another.
It was useful to "image" DOS computers with it.
Ah, thank you. I have been trying to remember that name since this
thread started. I've used extremely little DOS, but I remember seeing
LapLink in there. I think it could even bootstrap itself across a serial
port to a different machine, as long as DOS was installed. And then it
could copy pretty much everything else over.
I don't think these were straight through cables
and you needed the laplink
software to be running on both sides. I see the cables on ebay, I picked
up a set a few years ago to move contents of similar MS DOS system. Serial
is much slower than parallel obviously.
Actually, the cables were straight through. The nice thing was that the
serial cable had both the DE9 and DB25 on both sides. And it was
combined with a parallel cable as well. So you had two cables and three
connectors on each side.
(Well, by straight through I mean that they were null-model cables.)
Johnny
14 Nov
14 Nov
4:12 p.m.
On Nov 13, 2015 9:13 AM, "Johnny Billquist" <bqt at update.uu.se> wrote:
started.
I've used extremely little DOS, but I remember seeing LapLink in
there. I think it could even bootstrap itself across a serial port to a
different machine, as long as DOS was installed. And then it could copy
pretty much everything else over.
I have a copy of the laplink software should anyone need it. If the cable
for parallel is just a null modem I suggest a person in this hobby
definitely add laplink to the bag of tricks available. You just fire it up
on both ends ll.exe ... and you'll see a directory tree of target machine
on the right, the source machine on the left. Pick files and copy. Copies
recursively etc.
On 2015-11-13 12:36, william degnan wrote:
>
> I used to use a program called Laplink, which came with special serial
and
> parallel option cables to transfer files from one
dos machine to
another.
It was useful
to "image" DOS computers with it.
Ah, thank you. I have been trying to remember that name since this thread 
5:25 p.m.
On Sat, 14 Nov 2015, william degnan wrote:
I have a copy of the laplink software should anyone
need it. If the cable
for parallel is just a null modem I suggest a person in this hobby
definitely add laplink to the bag of tricks available. You just fire it up
on both ends ll.exe ... and you'll see a directory tree of target machine
on the right, the source machine on the left. Pick files and copy. Copies
recursively etc.
All Centronics ports have 8 bits going one way, and 4 "handshake" bits
going the other way.
IFF you can run doftware of your choice on both ends of the cable, Laplink
and its imitators (such as Interlink) can work just fine.
NOTE: I tend to think of Traveling Software's "Laplink" as being "the
first", but, as always, there's bound to be a few examples of prior art.
(Such as when did Chuck make his?)
The Laplink cable is a "null printer" cable using those 4 bits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LapLink_cable
it is a defacto standard; Chuck's cable was compatible.
Some Centronics compatible printer ports have bidirectionality of the 8
data lines, and therefore shouldn't need to do nibble transfers using
"handshake" signals. But, you can't always count on the other end having
that.
And, CAN you run software of your choice on both ends?
Ever try to get document files out of a really alien word processor?
But, sometimes that alien machine, with no practical way to run your
software might output perfectly normal "centronics" printer output!
About 25 years ago, I put together a somewhat special cable, and "printer
emulator" software to run on a PC. With the software running on the PC,
and special cable, I could simply tell the alien machine that it was
connected to a simple ASCII printer, and tell it to print the document(s).
The PC would pretend to be a [very fast] printer, and store whatever was
coming through that "printer" cable that the alien machine was feeding.
Ran into a couple of problems. Some machines sent a strobe that was
so substantially shorter than the standard, that I couldn't respond
fast enough with polling nor interruptws, so I added a one-shot to the
cable to extend it to the spec duration for those machines.
I put the cable switch-overs and the oneshot into a hooded
blue-ribbonF/DB25M adapter, so that it could hang off the back of the PC,
and the alien printer cable could connect to the blue-ribbon connector.
Then I found out just how futile it was to develop a product that few
understood. The purpose was not for doubling Laplink's speed, it was for
capturing printer output from alien machines. Many people INSISTED that
Laplink could install itself through the parallel port onto ANYTHING.
ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING. Some of the same people insisted that one of the
competitors to Chuck's and my programs could read ABSOLTELY ANY disk
format (disunirregardless of hardware incomapabilities). A few others
wanted to know how to connect it to machines that did not connect to
Centronics compatible printers, including ones with built-in printers.
After 5 days at Comdex, I realized that the people who could appreciate it
was such an infinitesimal subset of the people who needed it that it was
unmarketable.
A slightly slower similar solution was already possible by connecting the
parallel output of the alien machine to a parallel-to-serial printer
adapter, and then using off-the-shelf serial software on the PC to capture
that.
So, I never brought the product up to marketable form, and
XenoComm-Parallel joined XenoFont. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
15 Nov
15 Nov
6:28 a.m.
All Centronics ports have 8 bits going one way, and 4
"handshake" bits
going the other way.
That's a very PC-centric statement for you, and I am not convinced it's even true
on IBM PCs and compatibles!
There are plenty of machines that have 7 or 8 data bits output, automatic strobe
when the CPU writes to that output port and just a single busy pin input.
On the PC, there are indeed 8 data output lines. But there are also 4 more
control output lines that are fully under program control (strobe, etc) and
4 (or is it 5) input lines normally used for printer status input.
-tony
8:47 a.m.
On 11/14/2015 06:12 PM, william degnan wrote:
I have a copy of the laplink software should anyone
need it. If the cable
for parallel is just a null modem I suggest a person in this hobby
definitely add laplink to the bag of tricks available. You just fire it up
on both ends ll.exe ... and you'll see a directory tree of target machine
on the right, the source machine on the left. Pick files and copy. Copies
recursively etc.
Hmm, is there no driver to let you map a directory on one machine to a
drive letter on the other? (and if not, is anyone aware of independent
software to do this?).
I think that's probably what I really need, rather than some browser tool,
then I can write my own code if needs be to transfer data (to potentially
work around problems with corrupted filesystems, marginal sectors etc. on
ailing drives)
Laplink cable wired up now. Might get time today to try it out...
cheers
Jules
9:22 a.m.
you just plug them in and run the program. I have never loaded any drivers.
On Sun, Nov 15, 2015 at 11:47 AM, Jules Richardson <
jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote:
On 11/14/2015 06:12 PM, william degnan wrote:
--
Bill
I have a copy of the laplink software should
anyone need it. If the cable
for parallel is just a null modem I suggest a person in this hobby
definitely add laplink to the bag of tricks available. You just fire it
up
on both ends ll.exe ... and you'll see a directory tree of target
machine
on the right, the source machine on the left. Pick files and copy.
Copies
recursively etc.
Hmm, is there no driver to let you map a directory on one machine to a
drive letter on the other? (and if not, is anyone aware of independent
software to do this?).
I think that's probably what I really need, rather than some browser tool,
then I can write my own code if needs be to transfer data (to potentially
work around problems with corrupted filesystems, marginal sectors etc. on
ailing drives)
Laplink cable wired up now. Might get time today to try it out...
cheers
Jules
3325
days inactive
3327
days old
7 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
billdegnan＠gmail.com -
bqt＠update.uu.se -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com