nolan@tssi.UUCP (Michael Nolan) (02/01/91)
I received my copy of ProComm+ 2.0 the other day, about three days after
ordering it. (They had said it wouldn't be shipped until the 30th, but it
came before that, so they get points for promptness.)
Some impressions:
1. Kermit seems to be improved, it works now when I try to use it in
a 'pass-through' from the PC, through a unix system (cu), to a non-unix
system, even though the connection is at 19,200 on one link and 9600 on
the other. Before 2.0, this always barfed. The setup screen for kermit
shows 1024 as the maximum packet size, but I haven't tried that out yet.
On the other hand, I'm still having trouble with kermit and my unix system
but I think the problem may be the kermit on that system (C-Kermit)
so I'm not ready to call DataStorm yet.
Also, the time estimates on kermit are still way off, transfers are
several times slower than estimated!
2. The ZMODEM is nice, although auto downloading doesn't work with certain
terminal types, which I use at work. (This _is_ documented in the manual.)
YMODEM and ZMODEM both give average throughput statistics.
However, whenever a ZMODEM transfer aborts, it drops the modem connection.
Also, sending text files from a unix machine, the files are not converted
to MS-DOS format from unix format. (I though the receiving program was
supposed to do this with ZMODEM, but there doesn't appear to be any option
to make this happen. Trying 'sz -a' doesn't change things.)
3. They FINALLY got the sound problem fixed with faster machines. It appears
that the program checks out the speed when it starts up, then uses that
information in generating sounds. It used to be that the 'exploding
windows' noise just went 'click' on a FAST machine. Now it sounds about
the same regardless of machine speed.
On the other hand, this means that alarm noises are MUCH louder, and
either slower or longer, depending upon your point of view. Fortunately,
you can turn all alarm noises off. It would be nice if you could turn
control alarm sounds more, or find a way to make them softer/shorter.
Turning alarm sounds off also eliminates the end-of-download beeps,
when all I want to do is mute the 'bell' sounds from my mainframe.
(One way to improve this is to cheat: bring the program up with the turbo
button off, then turn it on, and sounds are shorter/faster.)
4. The new dialing options are GREAT! You can now specify the port to be
used, and whether the connection is DIRECT or MODEM. For those of us
who use systems over more than one I/O port, this is wonderful stuff!
The dialing directory sort option is OK, but you don't have a lot of
flexibility. It would be nice if you could sort a range of phone
numbers, but it seems to be all or nothing.
5. They brought back the VT100 emulation mode, but got rid of the ADDS
Viewpoint mode, replacing it with ADDS 60 and 90. This seems to be
causing us some problems where we used to experience no problem with
the ADDS Viewpoint emulation mode, in which the first line of certain
display sequences are not showing up on screen.
6. The install procedure lists several dozen modems to choose from. I had
some problems with both an Intel and Everex modem not working properly,
but when I reinstalled with the modem type as 'hayes compatible' it went
away. Not all the popular Telebit modems are listed, either. Otherwise,
the install procedure is fairly straightforward and fast, although there
is a lot of text shoved at you which you can pretty much ignore.
You have to provide the serial number (which is found only on the
registration card) during the install procedure. It must be checkdigited,
because a typo or missing digit forces you to reenter it.
There are a lot of options I haven't tried yet, and some things that may fix or
improve situations referred to above. I'm satisfied that I got my money's
worth on the upgrade.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Nolan "Software means never having
Tailored Software Services, Inc. to say you're finished."
Lincoln, Nebraska (402) 423-1490 --J. D. Hildebrand in UNIX REVIEW
UUCP: tssi!nolan (or try sparky!dsndata!tssi!nolan)
Internet: nolan@helios.unl.edu (if you can't get the other address to work)