Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Er, please make that "VMS XMODEM".  First day with my new fingers...

    I was having problems copying files from VAX to AMIGA for a long
    time. (See note 479).  However, I've finally settled in on a few
    things that give me consistently good transfers.
    
	1) check the COMM SETUP - XFER MODE in the pulldown menu,
    	   it should be set to IMAGE    
    
    	2) check the file you want to transfer on the VAX before
           you spend a lot of time. A significant number of .ARC
           files are bogus or are not in proper formats.
    		- use VMSSWEEP to list the .ARC
    
    	3) RUN KERMIT
    	   SET FILE TYPE BINARY
    	   SERVER
    
    	4) use the KERMIT GET function from your AMIGA
    
    If you still are having problems, I found that using PREFERENCES
    to set the number of STOP BITS to 2 (two), even though my modem
    is set to 1 (one), significantly improves the quality of data
    transferred.
    
    
    

    Thanks, but I'm currently having no problems transferring with Kermit
    (other that the fact that it's slow).   XMODEM is the method I'd
    like to get working.  Thanks again anyway.

Can't remember if I put this in here yet, but:

Transferring a 768 block file on VMS to Amiga, at 9600 baud:


	KERMIT		~22 minutes

	XMODEM		~8 minutes

XMODEM will work just fine if you follow a few guidelines:

  o The file format must be Stream_LF.  If it is not, use the CVTARC
    program (located all over the net) as follows:

	CVTARC U inputfile outputfile

  o When un-ARCing, the last file extracted will say "Bad Header... 0
    bytes skipped."  Ignore it.

If this isn't the problem, keep trying.  I'm sure we can get it working
for you.  It's sure worth the time savings!
							...richard

    
    Also, there are a few different versions of xmodem lying around on
    the VAX.  If you're using a 30 block exe that's not the one to have. 
    The good one is around 100 blocks.  I picked up the source to this
    version in Dave Wecker's area (thanks dave) and recompiled.
        
    regards,
    
    steve mcafee

    BTW If you are out there Dave...
          [WECKER.AMIGA]XMODEM.EXE is the old 30 block exe that I
          could never get to work.  You might want to nuke it.

    I'm a recent semi-convert to XMODEM but I get some puzzling problems:
    1.)  I recently used SMOKEY to upload a text file to the Vax in
    	 order to use its printer BUT after the upload, I tried to
    	 edit the file on the Vax but it kept on giving me "non text
    	 file format" messages.  SMOKEY was set to text, incidentally.
    2.)  I also tried to download SOUNDS.ARC using Xmodem the other
         day.  I was delighted with the speed and the time to download
    	 estimate, but my Amiga guru'd as soon as I tried to deArc the
    	 file.  What's the difference between XMODEM and KERMIT?  The
    	 download seems to work OK with Kermit.  I've heard that I'm
    	 supposed to somehow check to see if the file is STREAM_LF first,
    	 but what does that mean?  If I also run VMSSWEEP on the file
    	 first (I assume on the VAX?), what am I supposed to be looking
         for a good or bad file?  Lastly, is CVTARC supposed to be run
         on the file to correct its format while it is on the VAX? BTW,
    	 I've tried XMODEM with Xfer set to Image and with convert either
    	 on or off.  Nothing works.  What IS convert for anyway?
    
    						Yours in misery,

    Re:-1
    Can't help on #1 except to say the amiga uses a different file format
    and it strips out <CR> and leaves the <LF> for some reason?
   
        #2 if you issue the DCL command $DIR/Full you get a long version
    of the directory one entry is for file format if it's stream_lf
    use xmodem if its fixed 128, or fix 510 ( fixed anything )
    use Kermit . I also set term/nobroadcast/eightbit
    
    Good Luck, Dean
    

Yup, XMODEM needs Stream_LF format. Like .-1 said, do a $ DIR/FULL. If it's
"fixed" then use CVTARC:

	$ CVTARC :== device:[directory]CVTARC
	$ CVTARC U arcfile.arc

Then XModem will work fine. (but now Kermit won't - see, *nothing's* free!)

As for the uploaded text file, Amiga does strip off CR. The best way to
fix this is pass it through TECO (this is ALL I can do in teco, by the way)

teco file.ext
*ex<escape><escape>

That otta do it.


John

    While we're on the subject of file formats.....
    
    What do you do if the file has variable length 512 or 128 byte records?
    
    CVTARC u  dosen't seem to do anything to make it fixed length. 
    My XMODEM dosen't work right (yet) so kermit is my only option att.
    
    Confused.
    

>    What do you do if the file has variable length 512 or 128 byte records?
    
>    CVTARC u  dosen't seem to do anything to make it fixed length. 
>    My XMODEM dosen't work right (yet) so kermit is my only option att.
    
CVTARC V filename should render the file so it can be downloaded with good
'ole KERMY...  Hope that solves your problem!

						...richard

    Perhaps someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong with XMODEM ?
    
    On the VAX I type $ XMODEM S FOOBAR.ARC
    I get the message: Please run your reciever. (or words to that effect)
    I move back to SMOKEY and select XMODEM RECIEVE.
    
    Then... nothing. XMODEM on the AMI end times out after a few seconds.
    
    Have I missed something ?
    
    				Alan T.
    

    
    Check the size of the XMODEM exe you are using.  If its in the thirty
    block range that is not the one.  You can get the sources to the
    a good version from Cookie::disk$gz_2:[wecker.amiga]xmodem.c
    (thanks dave).  Beware, last time I checked the Xmodem.exe in that
    directory it was the thirty block version.  Dave's modified version
    gives an estimate of how long it will take to do the download for
    the file which was specified.
    
    - steve

    
    MVCAD3::USER0:[AMIGA.TOOLS] had the only versions of Xmodem and
    CTVARC that would work for me.  (Thanks Scott!)

    

For downloading ARC files with XMODEM, you need to use

	XMODEM -IS arcfile

the I is for IMAGE MODE.

I have an XMODEM from the source in Dave Wecker's area. It compiled to    
17 blocks.

John