acct069@carroll1.cc.edu (Ron) (03/07/90)
Those of us that were lucky enough (IMHO) to own an Apple-Cat modem, should remember a program called "Cat-Fur". It was used to transfer files back and forth between 2 machines via some strange and unique protocol. Well, a friend of mine is interested in adapting this program for use with external "hayes" compatable modems, and is looking for the source code for a current version. If you have a copy, or know of a place where one can be had, please drop me a note. Thanks, Ron acct069@carroll1.cc.edu
wilken@plains.UUCP (Scott Wilken) (03/07/90)
In article <1279@carroll1.cc.edu> acct069@carroll1.cc.edu (Ron) writes: [Stuff deleted} > >Well, a friend of mine is interested in adapting this program for use with >external "hayes" compatable modems, and is looking for the source code for >a current version. If you have a copy, or know of a place where one can >be had, please drop me a note. > You wont be able to accomplish this if you want it to be compatable with the actual Apple-Cat modems for transfer. The thing that made Cat Fur so cool is that it transfered at 1200 baud between 2 300 baud apple-cats using its built in 202 mode. The protocol hayes 1200's (and any other widely used brand) uses is Bell 212. The two are *NOT* compatable. If you are going to use this between two modems that are naturally 1200 baud (or higher), whats the point. Ymodem sends larger packets than Cat-fur, and should (note: *SHOULD*, I dont know the specifics of the actual transfer operations) be faster than cat-fur. What it boils down to is that Cat-fur is hardware dependant on the 202 protocol, and is just about worthless for use as a means of common file transfer. Scott -- Internet: wilken@plains.nodak.edu America Online: Wilken UUCP: ..!uunet!plains!wilken GEnie: S.WILKEN1 BITNET: WILKEN@PLAINS Delphi: SWilken
toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (03/08/90)
wilken@plains.UUCP (Scott Wilken) writes: [ to someone asking for Cat-Fur source so that it could be adapted to external modems ] >You wont be able to accomplish this if you want it to be compatable with >the actual Apple-Cat modems for transfer. [ harward dependence of Cat-Fur on the half duplex 1200 baud mode in the base Apple Cat II, which is Bell 202 and is not compatible with the full duplex standard used by external modems, Bell 212 ] [ something about Cat Fur being useless for common file transfer ] That I disagree with. Not only was Cat Fur cool in that you could transfer at 1200 baud without the 212 option, you could also keep up a two way 'talk' style chat during the transfer! My friends and I used this a lot, We'd be downloading stuff and the Sysop of the BBS would start chatting through the Cat-Fur, as those were the days where a typical DDD'd game disk would still take 20 minutes at 1200 baud. If anyone has source for Cat-Fur, do post it, or at least Email it to me too. I've always wanted some good programming examples for the thing, as well as a look at how the program was organized because Cat-Fur struck me as one of the most efficient comm programs I have ever seen. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu
c60c-3eb@web-2g.berkeley.edu (David Mou) (03/08/90)
In article <1279@carroll1.cc.edu> acct069@carroll1.cc.edu (Ron) writes: > >Those of us that were lucky enough (IMHO) to own an Apple-Cat modem, >should remember a program called "Cat-Fur". It was used to transfer files >back and forth between 2 machines via some strange and unique protocol. > I don't know.... Cat-Fur is for those 'unfortunate' enough who can't buy a 212 upgrade for it. It's basically 1200 half duplex transfer program. Unless your friend has a 9600 half d modem I don't see any use for it. Besides experience tells me AE/ProTerm are more reliable as well. If you still need that source code I can ask around for it.
kadickey@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kent Andrew Dickey) (03/08/90)
In article <1990Mar8.001003.3022@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu> toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes: >wilken@plains.UUCP (Scott Wilken) writes: > >[ to someone asking for Cat-Fur source so that it could be adapted to external > modems ] > >[ something about Cat Fur being useless for common file transfer ] > >That I disagree with. Not only was Cat Fur cool in that you could transfer at >1200 baud without the 212 option, you could also keep up a two way 'talk' style >chat during the transfer! My friends and I used this a lot, We'd be downloading >stuff and the Sysop of the BBS would start chatting through the Cat-Fur, as >those were the days where a typical DDD'd game disk would still take 20 minutes >at 1200 baud. > >If anyone has source for Cat-Fur, do post it, or at least Email it to me too. >I've always wanted some good programming examples for the thing, as well as >a look at how the program was organized because Cat-Fur struck me as one of the >most efficient comm programs I have ever seen. > >Todd Whitesel >toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu Efficient? Maybe...but it's error detection was abysmal (If you had a noisy connection, the transfer would always be bad...), and it had a few internal bugs that would cause it to crash into the monitor. This crashing was a serious problem for sysops who used it as their transfer section of their BBS--users could go to Cat-Fur, make it crash, and then start modifying the BBS system. Kinda annoying. I once patched out most of the bugs I could find (they all had to do with stack overflow and Applesoft conflicts), but I can't remember where they all were now. On a historical note, the other major transfer program of that time was Ascii Express, which also had its fair share of bugs that could cause it to crash (I never could track some of those down...). But it was a much more professional piece of programming.... I liked the chat feature too...but the problems with transfers seemed to outweigh that advantage (unless all you had was the 300 baud apple-cat). About 2 years ago, some friends were writing the end-all telecomm program, but I guess nothing came of it...(one of them was Rob, aka The Guy Who Wrote Alien Mind). With today's high-speed transfers, the chat feature no longer seems as important.... I have seen the Cat-Fur source floating around, but I don't know where you might be able to find it...I think modifying Cat-Fur is definitely *NOT* the way to go--it's structure is very rigid, and adding features, especially for different modems, would be difficult (Cat-Fur is written for the AppleCat, and uses many AppleCat idiosyncracies to its advantage. Simulating these tricks for other modems is definitely not worth the effort). Your best bet is to modify, say, the XMODEM protocol so that some of the packets would be specially marked "Chat", and would be displayed on the other user's screen, rather than treated as part of the transfer. Cat-Fur basically achieved this by sending a "Chat" packet after the transfer-packet, which the other side would realize was to be displayed to the screen. Modifying the Cat-Fur source to use other modems would be much harder than rewriting the whole thing from scratch. Kent kadickey@phoenix.Princeton.EDU
trivedi@cell.mot.COM (Kamlesh Trivedi) (03/09/90)
toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes: >That I disagree with. Not only was Cat Fur cool in that you could transfer at >1200 baud without the 212 option, you could also keep up a two way 'talk' style >chat during the transfer! My friends and I used this a lot, We'd be downloading >stuff and the Sysop of the BBS would start chatting through the Cat-Fur, as >those were the days where a typical DDD'd game disk would still take 20 minutes >at 1200 baud. Cat-Fur was a good programming effort by Keary but as most of the people who used it often found out was that it had some errors once in a while. I can't recall (sounding like an ex-Prez) if Keary fixed the problem. Keary went on to the Amiga (which he fell in love with when it came out, as I recall.) and programmed DIGA, the first telecom program for the Amiga. Keary goes to college and I have his home number some place I can try to reach him if somebody desparately wants the code. I have not talked to him for 3-4 years. I have tried to contact him in the past and got his mother. -- Kamlesh Trivedi |Be Positive: |uucp:...!uunet!motcid!trivedik Motorola Inc., IL27 |Don't DISclaim, CLAIM! | fax: (708) 632-5833 1501 W Shure Dr, Rm 2254|My opinions are mine and| THIS IS JORDAN, Arlington Hgts, IL 60004|not my emplyer's. | WE DO WHAT WE LIKE!