[comp.sys.amiga] news -> amiga

marco@hpuamsa.UUCP (Marco Lesmeister) (10/20/88)

I know this is probably a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it
anyhow. I often see some pretty interresting things coming by in
the amiga binaries and source groups, but I just can't seem to get 
them on my Amiga. I have no modem in my amiga, and I read news from
an HP 9000 under UNIX. 
How the hell can I get these (sometimes) wunderfull programs on my
amiga?
I can write to 3.5 inch drives, so that should be no problem, but
what format should I use?
Please help, because I see all these nice programs pass by, and I
just can't touch them.

Marco Lesmeister.

dave@dms3b1.UUCP (Dave Hanna) (10/22/88)

In article <7880003@hpuamsa.UUCP> marco@hpuamsa.UUCP (Marco Lesmeister) writes:
>I know this is probably a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There are no stupid questions if you need to know.
>anyhow. I often see some pretty interresting things coming by in
>the amiga binaries and source groups, but I just can't seem to get 
>them on my Amiga. I have no modem in my amiga, and I read news from
                          ^^^^^^^^
>an HP 9000 under UNIX. 
I don't mean to be facetious, but get one.  You can get 1200 baud modems
these days for under a hundred dollars, and if your time is worth anything
at all, you'll spend a lot more than that trying to do it any other way.

Once you have a modem, assuming you have modem access available on your
UNIX machine, there are a number of public domain or shareware terminal
emulators that can do Xmodem or Kermit file transfers.  Or you can get
the AmigaUUCP software from Dan Schein/Bill Loftus (E-mail to
...!cbmvax!heimat!sneakers) and transfer it via uucp.
>How the hell can I get these (sometimes) wunderfull programs on my
>amiga?
>I can write to 3.5 inch drives, so that should be no problem, but
>what format should I use?
The chances of being able to write the Amiga format are about zero.
It uses both a non-standard raw data format and a non-standard file
structure.  If you really have to do it that way, you might be able
to write it in IBM PS/2 format and use one of the PC file transfer
routines (Dos2Dos?).

If you really have to do it without a modem, you could physically
bring the Amiga to where your UNIX machine is, hook up it's serial
port (probably via a NULL modem) to the machine, and use one of the
terminal emulators to use the Amiga as a terminal to UNIX.  Then
download the files as though you had a modem.

If you wait awhile, most of the interesting stuff usually ends up
on Fish disks, which you can get directly from Fred Fish for $6 
dollars each.  Fred usually posts a listing of what's on each
one when he gets a new batch ready, and John Kjellerman (kjohn)
recently posted a complete list together with some other public
domain collections.
>Please help, because I see all these nice programs pass by, and I
>just can't touch them.
Hope this helps.
>
>Marco Lesmeister.
     Dave Hanna

-- 
Dave Hanna,  Daltech MicroSystems    |  "Do or do not -- There is no try"
P.O. Box 584, Bedford, TX 76095      |                        - Yoda
(214) 358-4534   (817) 540-1524      |
UUCP:  ...!killer!gtmvax!dave        |

randy@oetl.UUCP (Randy O'Meara) (10/26/88)

In article <155@dms3b1.UUCP> dave@dms3b1.UUCP (Dave Hanna) writes:
>In article <7880003@hpuamsa.UUCP> marco@hpuamsa.UUCP (Marco Lesmeister) writes:
>>I know this is probably a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it

	* Glad you asked!  It has been done!

>I don't mean to be facetious, but get one.  You can get 1200 baud modems
                                                         ^^^^
							 don't you mean 300
							 or maybe 150!
>these days for under a hundred dollars, and if your time is worth anything
>at all, you'll spend a lot more than that trying to do it any other way.
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

	 * I guess this is true if you don't believe that others may
	   have experienced this situation (and overcome it)!

	[other stuff on modem applications deleted]

	 * A modem really would open up a great frontier for you, but
	   do yourself a favor and spend $150 for a 2400 baud modem.
	   Back to the point in question.

	   I run a HP9000 series 320 with HP-UX 6.x, and have modified
	   the ``mtools'' package (comp.sources.unix Vol_11 ) to use 
	   HP9122 3.5" drives.

	   On the Amiga end, I use PcCopy/PcFormat (from the 1.2 Extras
	   disk) and pcPatch (a program that patches PcCopy/PcFormat to
	   use the Amiga's 3.5" drives).

	   The only problem that exists (I feel) is the inability to
	   read/write 720k MS-DOG disks (limited to 360k).

	   I would be glad to send off the ``mtools'' cdiffs for the
	   mod to use 3.5 inchers by mail request.

				Always glad to help,

					Randy

-- 
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<  Randy O'Meara -- LMSC -- SCF                                 >
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