daven@ibmpcug.co.uk (D R Newman) (11/10/89)
dgs@swdev.Waterloo.NCR.COM (David G. Schwartz) wrote: >cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) writes: >>As for FlashLink, it came with my modem (from Cardinal Technologies >>in Lancaster, PA). It implements MNP levels 2, 4 and 5. > >I also bought this modem but found the software to be virtually useless and >have discontinued using it. However, I _would_ like to be able to use the >MNP 5. That's what comes from using newly developed software. In the UK, modems are so expensive that a number of programmers started writing MNP software engines some time ago. Two comms. programs have developed to the stage that they work reliably and well, Odyssey and Transend Plus. I use Odyssey, so I will say a little about it. It costs 70 pounds from Micropack Ltd., Unit 12, Berryden Business Centre, 12 Berryden Road, Aberdeen AB2 3SA, Scotland. Tel. (0224) 631100. It was developed by Don Milne, who is an enthusiastic user of bulletin boards, and who got a lot of help in testing and feedback from many of the users of the CIX multi-user system. It handles MNP2, 4 and 5 in software on any PC (8088 to 80386) - he's got the MNP engine code tight enough that you don't need a fast machine to run it. It is also a good comms. program, up to Telix standards. It's script language is Pascal-, or rather Modula-like, including commands to watch for patterns in the background and respond to them whenever they occur. Indeed, he has written it so that you can do many other things at the same time as the link and MNP engine are maintained - so file transfers (X,Y,Zmodem, Kermit, ASCII and some variants) go on in the backgound while you can edit files using the built-in editor (or rather two editors, one for a file, one to review recently received text - instead of a backscroll view, you get an editor). The software MNP engine knows enough about file transfer to set the MNP packet lengths to the file transfer packet lengths, and behaves more intelligently during file transfer than hardware MNP engines. It uses a menuing, text-based interface (except for viewdata, which is done in graphics mode), with Alt-key shortcuts, supports 6 common terminal emulations, and has all the usual comms. package facilities, with one or two neat touches - like a message picker. It's good enough that a number of users are still using it after buying MNP modems. I know less about Transend, but it is reputed to at last have stable MNP operation (the programmer started after Don Milne did). It has much better viewdata support, including real 1200/75 split baud rate on an IBM. Another European comms. program, MTE, does not yet have reliable MNP working - from the sound of it, Flashback is the same. Dave Newman daven@ibmpcug.co.uk gn:davenewman -- Automatic Disclaimer: The views expressed above are those of the author alone and may not represent the views of the IBM PC User Group.
cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) (11/13/89)
dgs@swdev.Waterloo.NCR.COM (David G. Schwartz) wrote: >I wrote: >>As for FlashLink, it came with my modem (from Cardinal Technologies >>in Lancaster, PA). It implements MNP levels 2, 4 and 5. >I also bought this modem but found the software to be virtually useless and >have discontinued using it. However, I _would_ like to be able to use the >MNP 5. I have a few gripes with the software, the primary one being that it emulates an ANSI terminal (which is _not_ quite the same as a VT100). The fact that I have to leave FL in order to do a file transfer is due to a problem with our Sun rather than with FL (although it would have been nice if they had included more than just X and Ymodem ...). I have found that living with these problems has not been too much of an inconvenience to force me to give up higher-speed, _error-free_ data links ... in fact, even if it only did MNP level 4 (no compression), I would likely still use it for the error-correction alone. When communicating with a non-MNP host, I use Procomm Plus because it does VT102 emulation and has so many more file transfer protocols; other than these two features, though, I don't really use anything in Procomm that isn't in FlashLink. But then again, I don't transfer files that often on this system, and almost every other system I've used has had a working version of X or Y modem. DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation with Datastorm Technologies, Cardinal Technologies, Microcom, or MagicSoft except that I have used their products. -- Stephen M. Dunn cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca <std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n"; **************************************************************************** They say the best in life is free // but if you don't pay then you don't eat