[comp.sys.apple2] GBBS Zmodem Drivers

dvac@druwa.ATT.COM (Daniel Vachon) (05/24/91)

Well, a week or two ago I sent mail to Andy Nicholas asking what the latest
was on the Zmodem driver fund for GBBS Pro?  I haven't heard back from him
yet and thought I would ask everyone on the net, what the latest IS?  About 
a month and a half ago, he had about 33 checks....  He was asking for $840
for the whole thing?  How close are we to the $840 he wanted?
 Andy?!

- Dan Vachon    dvac@druwa.ATT.COM

shrinkit@Apple.COM (Andrew Nicholas) (05/24/91)

In article <8794@drutx.ATT.COM> dvac@druwa.ATT.COM (Daniel Vachon) writes:

>Well, a week or two ago I sent mail to Andy Nicholas asking what the latest
>was on the Zmodem driver fund for GBBS Pro?  I haven't heard back from him
>yet and thought I would ask everyone on the net, what the latest IS?  About 
>a month and a half ago, he had about 33 checks....  He was asking for $840
>for the whole thing?  How close are we to the $840 he wanted?
> Andy?!

Dan, your letter is probably in my mailbox someplace, unread.  I've been very
busy lately having to attend the WWDC, working on the Finder, being sick
(incredible cold, I couldn't breath worth a darn), etc.

In the last couple of weeks I had found a problem with the Zmodem drivers and
GBBS, notably that when uploading at 9600 baud on a GS, the serial port
firmware wouldn't keep up when using a 2k buffer.  After receiving about 6-12k,
the buffer would overflow and you'd lose characters.  Technically, this wasn't
the Zmodem driver's fault, so I had to rewrite the GBBS GS port firmware
drivers just to be safe.  And, at the same time, I also rewrote the GBBS 
Super Serial Card (SSC) driver to use interrupts and a ring buffer.  The SSC
driver drove me nuts for nearly a week while I was trying to find out why it
was losing characters -- turned out that reading the status register at $c089+
$Cn (where N is the slot number of the ssc) actually clears the interrupt,
something I really didn't know.  So, once that was fixed (it took me a week),
I sent the new drivers to Lance (and they subsequently didn't fit, but that's
another story) and to someone who's helping me test the Zmodem driver.  The
new drivers will be a standard part of GBBS v2.14 and will be required if
you want to have someone upload something to you at 9600 baud and expect it
to work.  One of your options is to not get the newer version of GBBS and
buy an accelerator like a ZipGS which is a bit more pricey for a fix.

Because I've been sick and doing nothing the bulk of this week, the Zmodem
drivers are still being tested and evaluated.  The disks and mailers arrived
from MEI, so the earliest I could probably see shipping anything would be
monday of this coming week... but this is an optimistic estimate the depends
on a number of things.


>- Dan Vachon    dvac@druwa.ATT.COM

andy

-- 
Andy Nicholas			GEnie & America-Online: shrinkit
Apple IIGS System Software		    CompuServe: 70771,2615    
Apple Computer, Inc.			      InterNET: shrinkit@apple.com

dvac@druwa.ATT.COM (Daniel Vachon) (05/29/91)

In article <53298@apple.Apple.COM>, shrinkit@Apple.COM (Andrew Nicholas) writes:
> 
> Because I've been sick and doing nothing the bulk of this week, the Zmodem
> drivers are still being tested and evaluated.  The disks and mailers arrived
> from MEI, so the earliest I could probably see shipping anything would be
> monday of this coming week... but this is an optimistic estimate the depends
> on a number of things.
> 
> Andy Nicholas			GEnie & America-Online: shrinkit

Andy, Thanks a mil for the update.... I am just exceptionally anxious about
getting the drivers up on my systems.  My IBM, Mac, and Amiga users are getting
antsy too, as I have been asking them to be patient....heh.... Thanks for the
effort!

  - Dan    dvac@druwa.ATT.COM

whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) (06/03/91)

Sorry to hear you are sick...

Glad to hear about z-modem... (the new drivers and a Zip will handle 14,400?)

What I really, wanted to ask you about is the HFS FST for the GS... like it'll
be available anytime soon... 

See, I got a call from a Mac friend who got this text file on building a
CapNet cable/circuit, which let's you do what you can do with AppleTalk cables
and file sharing and networking... but for much cheaper... well, we tested out
on two Macs, and I'm working on a splitter for 3-4 computer hookups... anyways
the thing worked GREAT... one guy was running someone else BBS off the other
persons HD and computer... on he's own computer... 

I realized that you could add a GS to that network, but all of the HDs are
formatted for HFS... but if, I had a HFS FST, I could probablely get on the
net and trade files bunch of data and text files (MIDI, text, fonts, etc...)

I haven't tried out the AppleShare FST, but somehow I no longer think that
would work.

The cable is really easy to make...

Rx(+)---=------C--------------------
        |
        r
        |
Tx(+)---=    
        |
        R
        |
GND  ---=
        |
        R
        |
Tx(-)---=
        |
        r
        |
Rx(+)---=------C-------------------

r = 10 ohms
R = 1K ohms
C = .1 uF

Well, if there isn't a HFS FST on System 6.0... maybe you could think up
something...  

Hope to hear from you... on anything...
  
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dlyons@Apple.COM (David A Lyons) (06/03/91)

In article <m0jk8D2-0000LvC@crash.cts.com> whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) writes:
>[...]
>See, I got a call from a Mac friend who got this text file on building a
>CapNet cable/circuit, which let's you do what you can do with AppleTalk cables
>and file sharing and networking... but for much cheaper...
>[...]
>I realized that you could add a GS to that network, but all of the HDs are
>formatted for HFS... but if, I had a HFS FST, I could probablely get on the
>net and trade files bunch of data and text files (MIDI, text, fonts, etc...)
>
>I haven't tried out the AppleShare FST, but somehow I no longer think that
>would work.

How were you sharing files on the Macs?  Did you "log onto" the hard drives
using AppleShare (in the Chooser)?

If so, you can do exactly the same thing from the GS, using the AppleShare
control panel.  A Mac running 7.0 with file sharing turned on appears on
the network as a file server; it is accessible through the AppleShare FST
and is *not* accessible at the block level, so an HFS FST would not help
you here.

-- 
David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc.      |   DAL Systems
Apple II System Software Engineer         |   P.O. Box 875
America Online: Dave Lyons                |   Cupertino, CA 95015-0875
GEnie:DAVE.LYONS  CompuServe:72177,3233 Internet:dlyons@apple.com

My opinions are my own, not Apple's.

shrinkit@Apple.COM (Andrew Nicholas) (06/04/91)

In article <m0jk8D2-0000LvC@crash.cts.com> whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) writes:

>Glad to hear about z-modem... (the new drivers and a Zip will handle 14,400?)

14,400 baud?  I really don't know.  I have a GS with a Super Serial Card that
(when using a newer modem driver) works at 19200 baud, so I suppose 14,400
would work for something like v.32bis.  The GS works at 19200 baud using the
firmware, but you have to increase the port's buffer size to keep from losing
characters when uploading.  Downloading works fine... you get about 1540 cps
on a Zipped GS.

>What I really, wanted to ask you about is [icky stuff deleted]

Hey guy, I work for Apple. 

andy

-- 
Andy Nicholas			GEnie & America-Online: shrinkit
Apple IIGS System Software		    CompuServe: 70771,2615    
Apple Computer, Inc.			      InterNET: shrinkit@apple.com

shrinkit@Apple.COM (Andrew Nicholas) (06/04/91)

In article <53616@apple.Apple.COM> shrinkit@Apple.COM (Andrew Nicholas) writes:

>>What I really, wanted to ask you about is [icky stuff deleted]

You could just run a cable between the GS and Mac and use Personal AppleShare
as Dave suggested also.  But sorry, until we (apple) announce anything, I
have to choose my words judiciously about such things as potential future
products.

andy

-- 
Andy Nicholas			GEnie & America-Online: shrinkit
Apple IIGS System Software		    CompuServe: 70771,2615    
Apple Computer, Inc.			      InterNET: shrinkit@apple.com

whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) (06/09/91)

|How were you sharing files on the Macs?  Did you "log onto" the hard drives
|using AppleShare (in the Chooser)?
|
|If so, you can do exactly the same thing from the GS, using the AppleShare
|control panel.  A Mac running 7.0 with file sharing turned on appears on
|the network as a file server; it is accessible through the AppleShare FST
|and is *not* accessible at the block level, so an HFS FST would not help
|you here.

Cool, I'll go over and try it out.

What about this AppleTalk Phase II?  It's compatible with the original
AppleTalk, right?  Will, the GS ever get a AppleTalk Phase II... better
question what is AppleTalk Phase II?

Thanks for the info...
  
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whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) (06/10/91)

|14,400 baud?  I really don't know.  I have a GS with a Super Serial Card that
|(when using a newer modem driver) works at 19200 baud, so I suppose 14,400
|would work for something like v.32bis.  The GS works at 19200 baud using the
|firmware, but you have to increase the port's buffer size to keep from losing
|characters when uploading.  Downloading works fine... you get about 1540 cps
|on a Zipped GS.
|
|>What I really, wanted to ask you about is [icky stuff deleted]
|
|Hey guy, I work for Apple.
|
|andy

I have a bufferinit for 64K... but does the GBBS use the firmware on GS...
UGH, I heard the firmware was slower than SSC's on a (1Mhz) II... that's
pretty bad...

About the icky stuff... I >KNOW< you work for Apple :)  that's why I asked...
anyways, Dave Lyons sent me a reply already... He says the AppleShare FST
should work... I'm going to try it out next time I go over to he's house...
  
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whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) (06/10/91)

|>>What I really, wanted to ask you about is [icky stuff deleted]
|
|You could just run a cable between the GS and Mac and use Personal AppleShare
|as Dave suggested also.  But sorry, until we (apple) announce anything, I
|have to choose my words judiciously about such things as potential future
|products.
|andy

Yeah, >SIGH< I understand... of course, if you ever slip by accident, I won't
tell anyone... :)
  
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