schoen2@husc9.harvard.edu (Michael Schoen) (04/24/91)
In a few weeks I will be getting a 386sx notebook computer, the Dell 320N (when I get it, I'll post my review of it). I have never used a PC before; for the past two years, I've been an ardent Mac user. My decision to go for the portability leaves me with some minor problems, like how to transfer files efficiently. The notebook will have a modem, but the Macs I can use at Harvard do not. So, bulk transfers by modem are out. I will also have a 3.5" disk drive, and I could use Apple File Exchange, but for large ammounts of data, a floppy isn't very much fun. So, I've heard thinks about null modem cables, serial port cables, and things like that. Is any such connection available for the Mac. And what software could be used for such a direct connection. In other matters, how about actual file compatibility, assuming I could get the files transfer. What is the deal about CR/LF in text files of the Mac, PC, and Unix world. Finally, the laserprinters here only run off of Macs. So one idea was to print to postscript from the notebook, copy the ps file to Mac, and print the postscript file directly to the laserwriter. Does anyone know how this could be done? Thanks. Michael A. Schoen schoen2@husc9.harvard.edu
anthony@convex.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber) (04/25/91)
In article <1991Apr24.103137.659@husc3.harvard.edu> schoen2@husc9.harvard.edu (Michael Schoen) writes: >The notebook will have a modem, but the Macs I can use at Harvard >do not. So, bulk transfers by modem are out. I will also have a 3.5" >disk drive, and I could use Apple File Exchange, but for large ammounts of >data, a floppy isn't very much fun. Check out DOS mounter, from Dayna, it will mount MS-DOS floppies on the desktop. It's commercial though. The laptop will have a HD drive, if your Mac has one as well, you can transfer 1.44MB of data in less than 5 minutes. That comes out to over 38.4kbps, which is faster than a serial port at it's very fastest at 19.2kbps. You can get a nice pocket 2400bps modem for about $90, which you can plug into any Mac conveniently near a phone. You should also be able to transfer files by using a campus machine like husc9 as an intermediary. >So, I've heard thinks about null modem cables, serial port cables, and things >like that. Is any such connection available for the Mac. And what software >could be used for such a direct connection. Both machines have serial ports, just plug them together. Buy a modem cable for each machine, and a null modem adapter and maybe a gender changer to hook them together. If you feel adventurous you can wire up your own cable. Use your favorite communications software and protocol. Kermit has a nice server mode you can run on either machine, but can be sluggish if not well configured. Zmodem is quick and commonly available for both systems. There are commercial packages that do pretty much the same thing, but cost >$100. It's easy to use a wildcard on the MS-DOS side to do unattended transfer of several files. With everything set up properly, it can be pretty easy to transfer files. Start up a kermit server on the Mac by launching kermit, then select "Server" from the menu, then start up kermit on the laptop and type "send *.*" to send everything in the current directory. To get much easier than this, you would have to use some networking software that can be run on both machines, like Novell Netware. Apple LocalTalk adapters are not available for most laptops, however ethernet adapters are available which plug in the printer port. If you can get access to ethernet ports on campus, you may want to consider this. They cost about $500. You can use compression programs like arc, compress, zip, and zoo, that are available on Macs, MS-DOS, and unix to decrease transfer time. >In other matters, how about actual file compatibility, assuming I could >get the files transfer. What is the deal about CR/LF in text files >of the Mac, PC, and Unix world. The End Of Line character for each system is: Mac=CR, MS-DOS=CR/LF, unix=LF. This only applies to plain ASCII files on each system. Various word processors do various other things. An MS-DOS text file on a Mac or unix system will just have junk at the end of each line, either a LF or CR respectivly. MS-DOS is more particular, but only if you use the "type" command a lot, many MS-DOS applications simply don't care, or do automatic line conversion. If you need to, there are utilites that will do conversion. Kermit will do any EOL conversion automatically. For other files, see your documentation on whatever program generated them. There is easy conversion for Mac MS-Word and MS-DOS MS-Word and other word processor files. Some files need no conversion at all. >Finally, the laserprinters here only run off of Macs. So one idea was to >print to postscript from the notebook, copy the ps file to Mac, and print >the postscript file directly to the laserwriter. Does anyone know how >this could be done? Use SendPS to send the PostScript file on the Mac to the Laserwriter. Or you can use the PostScript font in MS-Word. The other way to do it is to plug your laptop right into the Laserwriter's serial port. I've done this, it works fine. You'll need a program that does XON/XOFF serial line handshaking though (like Kermit). -- <-:(= Anthony Stieber anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony Psion Mailing List subscriber submissions psion ----------\ the (human) moderator psion-owner -------+--@csd4.csd.uwm.edu subscriptions and file requests psion-request ----/