MacTerminal 1.1 MacBinary file transfers

[Mk.558]

I got Mini vMac to start up MacTerminal 1.1.

It appears that the only flow control it supports is either Software (Xon/Xoff) or none. Software flow control vs hardware isn't something I have tested personally back to back. I do know that if you have an option for hardware flow control (CTS RTS), you should used it.

I would be quite pleased to have a go at fiddling with it on a 512K. It seems that it does have an option to send a file as Text but as my Receive option is greyed out (most likely because I have no active connection), you may be correct about binary files only.

I had located MacBinary II 1.0.1 ...around the web. It only works with System 6 and above. This is why I don't care much for MacBinary archives. BinHex 4.0 just...works and is multi-platform. I found a worthy quote that I'll put in the next (and final) release of the Guide (source is the Handbook of Data Compression):

Before delving into the details of the format, the reader should understand why such a format is used. ASCII is a 7-bit code. Each character is coded as a 7-bit number, which allows for 128 charactes in the ASCII table. The ASCII standard recommends adding an eighth bit as parity to every character for increased reliability. However, the standard does not specify odd or even parity, and many computers simply ignore the extra bit or even set it to 0. As a result, when files are transferred in a computer network, some transfer programs may ignore the eighth bit and transfer just seven bits per character. This isn't so bad when a text file is being transferred but when the file is binary, no bits should be ignored. This is why it is safer to tranfer text files, rather than binary files, over computer networks. The idea of BinHex is to translate any file to a text file.

Still, if you say PackIt works well, then I will investigate it, and note its type & creator information for reference alongside the other mini-library of type & creator codes.

You should try out MacTerminal 2.2. It's the last version that will run on a 128K and should be just dandy on a 512K. I didn't get a chance to play with it before my LCII went KAPOW. :disapprove:

 

[Mac128]

How about the Macintosh Floppy EMU?

This ought to work on a PC as well, no?

http://www.bigmessowires.com/macintosh-floppy-emu/

 

[kingchops]

Just an update on this, I changed the serial cable wiring to use CTS and RTS. This is what I'm using now:

db-9 Male (Mac) => DB-9 Female (PC)

7 => 7 - CTS

6 => 8 - RTS

9 => 3 - TXD

1 => 5 - GND

5 => 2 - RXD

Speed is still not great, I'm getting around 630 bytes a second. But it's more than good enough and it's very reliable, transfers work great.

I've created an updated version of the 400k boot disk, including Packit, see details here:

http://tkc8800.com/page/File-transfer-from-pc-to-Macintosh-128k512k-via-serial-cable

 

[Mk.558]

I looked at MacTerminal 1.1 in Mini vMac.

It doesn't support Hardware Handshake. Either none or Xon/Xoff which is software handshake. You could probably try that, I'm not exactly sure on how Xon/Xoff works. But HSK requires CTS/RTS lines, it's not supported by the other machine, so...I'd probably have to pick up a DE-9 (it's not DB-9) RS232 tester and see if the CTS/RTS lines blip the LEDs when I use software handshake.

Try software handshake and compare it to none.

I have MacTerminal 2.2 here and it looks exactly the same. However, instead of just offering XModem and Text file transfer (I will investigate the Text anamoly you found and see if it is "fixed" in MacTerminal 2.2 or 2.3.1), it has MacBinary, XModem Text, MacTerminal 1.1, Text and "Straight XModem".

I also have procured MacTerminal 2.3.1, the last version of 2.x, (2.2 is the last to work on a 128K) and it looks identical to 2.2. (All top out at 19200bps.) MacTerminal 3.0 I have yet to play with on a real machine.

I will hopefully have a chance to play with a 512K in the future so I'll look at the wiring and fiddle with the terminal apps. As always, I will take copious notes and put down my findings in the Serial Data Interlinks section of the Guide. I don't have a MacTerminal subsection there but I hope to get that done.

EDIT: BTW what is your xfer speed set to? Hopefully you do have a more capable terminal on the other end that can show errors/missed data packets/etc like ZTerm can. If you have it set to 19200bps and it works A+ then I guess that's going to be the most you're going to get out of it. (I used 38400bps on the LCII test box because 57600 wasn't so hot.)

 

[kingchops]

It doesn't support Hardware Handshake. Either none or Xon/Xoff which is software handshake. You could probably try that, I'm not exactly sure on how Xon/Xoff works. But HSK requires CTS/RTS lines, it's not supported by the other machine, so...I'd probably have to pick up a DE-9 (it's not DB-9) RS232 tester and see if the CTS/RTS lines blip the LEDs when I use software handshake.

I've now got both MacTerminal 1.1 and 2.2 on disks. With 1.1 I tried selecting Xon/Xoff, but using TeraTerm on the PC, when I set it to use Xon/Xoff it wouldn't allow me to send files via Xmodem.

I have MacTerminal 2.2 here and it looks exactly the same. However, instead of just offering XModem and Text file transfer (I will investigate the Text anamoly you found and see if it is "fixed" in MacTerminal 2.2 or 2.3.1), it has MacBinary, XModem Text, MacTerminal 1.1, Text and "Straight XModem".

Yes, this does look good, although you would need to send the files using MacTerminal at the other end. I'm going to try this with Basilisk II. I'll run MacTerminal in Basilisk II on the pc with serial port connected to the physical Mac 512k, it should work.

EDIT: BTW what is your xfer speed set to?

I set it to 19200 at both ends, with that I got around 630 bytes/sec. When set to 9600 at both ends I get around 600 bytes/sec.

All in all, I'm happy with this solution, it's an easy way of getting stuff to the Mac without a bridge machine.