senior_falcon Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I am trying to use Archiver 3.03g to archive the compiler so I can send it from the PC to the TI for a final check before distribution. I've used this many times on the TI and know how it is supposed to work. Using Classic 99 with the EA cartridge inserted it starts up normally using option #5. I select 1 to archive files; enter 1 for source drive; enter 4 for output drive; Enter the output filename; Pack files - yes; Compress - yes and press any key to begin. The files are processed in less than a second - on the real TI it takes many seconds, even with a Horizon ram disk. If I then choose 3 to catalog disk the file is there, but only 2 sectors long. If I open disk 4 with classic 99 it shows a length of 384 bytes. What gives? Do I need to change something in the disk settings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Classic99 can not create compressed archives with Arc 3.03, and I don't know why. It can create uncompressed archives successfully, but compressed archives early out for some reason that I have not yet tracked down. I've tracked down WHERE it early outs, but I am not clear what the program is trying to do at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Archiver works fine with Win994a as an alternative. I am happy to archive the files for you if send them to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior_falcon Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 This is pretty basic no doubt, but I sure can't figure it out. I want to send the files to the TI for testing and archiving. I am using TELCO to do this. The RS232's are connected - I can talk back and forth between the TI and PC. I can send a file just fine from the TI to the PC - all goes as it should. I cannot send the same file from the PC back to the TI. Any ideas on how to do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 XMODEM is a little fussy depending on the software you use on both ends. Keep to a low bad rate (I've done most of mine at 2400 baud, I've had some success in Telco at 9600 but it gives up easily). I used Hyperterminal on the Windows side but it was not 100% reliable. It was fine if the transfer started, usually, but getting that first packet through sometimes was a pain. Eventually I found a way to get it to go, but I can't remember the details. I do remember that in this combination, it mattered whether I started the TI or Hyperterminal first (it has been years, I can't quite remember the details now). A little vague, but I hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Check the inter-character delay between bytes on the PC side. I presume you're using a 3-wire RS232 cable, so there's no handshaking (handshaking on a TI-RS232 card is an evil nightmare IMHO). Since there is no handshaking, you could be sending bytes too quickly on the TI side. IIRC, the TI RS232 has no FIFO on the input - it has enough storage for one byte - so, the UART assembles a single byte from the bit-stream, and raises an interrupt. The TI has to stop what it's doing and go and get the recieved byte and store it safely before the next byte comes in. This is *always* a problem with non-handshaking systems - not just the TI. Obvioulsy, the PC, being much faster than the TI can send bytes faster than the TI can process them (note: *process them* not receive them... It can receive them at pretty much any baud rate, but processing them is another matter entirely!). If this *is* the issue, and you can't adjust the inter-character delay on the PC send side, then try reducing the baud rate - the fact that the bytes are coming in slower over the wire gives the TI more time to process them. Hope this helps. Failing all of the above: Get a HDX card from Fred Kaal. They are the bees knees! See this video: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior_falcon Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 The baud rate makes sense to me. I will try this out tonight. It seemed odd to me that I could send from the TI at 9600 baud, but not receive at that rate. But if the TI's ability to process the file is the bottleneck then it might be sending them slower than 9600 baud with the PC patiently waiting the next byte to come. Looking forward to trying this out tonight. Just to be clear on one point though: If I can send a file from the TI to the PC then I ought to be able to send the file that was just received back to the TI without changing anything (such as file extensions.) And the file headers I want are TIFILES? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 The baud rate makes sense to me. I will try this out tonight. It seemed odd to me that I could send from the TI at 9600 baud, but not receive at that rate. But if the TI's ability to process the file is the bottleneck then it might be sending them slower than 9600 baud with the PC patiently waiting the next byte to come. Looking forward to trying this out tonight. Just to be clear on one point though: If I can send a file from the TI to the PC then I ought to be able to send the file that was just received back to the TI without changing anything (such as file extensions.) And the file headers I want are TIFILES? Yes, and yes. My personal experience using TELCO for file transfers has been that anything beyond 2400bps did not work reliably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 You can send to the PC at any baud rate, eg. 19200 but it doesn't make any difference ultimately - if you were to look at the wire with a scope at 19200 you'd see tiny bursts followed by long pauses. In other words other factors( eg. CPU) are the bottle-neck. The 9900's CRU system is a major pain in the rear. It's an awful lot of work just to shift *bits* around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 The baud rate makes sense to me. I will try this out tonight. It seemed odd to me that I could send from the TI at 9600 baud, but not receive at that rate. But if the TI's ability to process the file is the bottleneck then it might be sending them slower than 9600 baud with the PC patiently waiting the next byte to come. Looking forward to trying this out tonight. Just to be clear on one point though: If I can send a file from the TI to the PC then I ought to be able to send the file that was just received back to the TI without changing anything (such as file extensions.) And the file headers I want are TIFILES? Yep, and yep. The XMODEM protocol in Telco will automatically add the TIFILES header before sending it, and automatically deal with it when receiving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior_falcon Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 After a few false steps, the files all were transferred successfully, archived, and sent back to the PC. Thanks for all the advice! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 You can send to the PC at any baud rate, eg. 19200 but it doesn't make any difference ultimately - if you were to look at the wire with a scope at 19200 you'd see tiny bursts followed by long pauses. In other words other factors( eg. CPU) are the bottle-neck. The 9900's CRU system is a major pain in the rear. It's an awful lot of work just to shift *bits* around. You can pump the data fairly quickly if you don't rely upon the interrupt routine and the CIB (Circular Interrupt Buffer) to do the work for you. Not only is the interrupt handler flawed, the CIB is (1) slow because it uses VDP for buffer and (2) limited to a 255 byte buffer which overflows quickly. Throw in a review buffer, screen display, and scrolling and it's no wonder Telco and other programs suffer. A good exercise would be to write a terminal emulator using some of the state machine examples from this forum, coupled with hardware handshaking. Oh, and only writing updates to the screen versus reading/writing VDP to scroll its contents. That kills many terminal emulators right off the bat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CantStopClicking Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I've found that MFM (Magic File Manipulator) handles 19200 without any problems what-so-ever. And is much more reliable + easy to use when transferring archive files back and forth between TI/PC. Mostly because that's all it's suppose to do and because I don't have operate both the TI keyboard and the PC at the same time, I can just use the terminal program on the PC for everything. Kudos to the programmers of MFM. However, I do see the HDX server in my near future. <grin> -Dano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior_falcon Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 Where can I find a copy of Magic File Manipulator? Jacques G. sent me one years ago but I'm darned if I can find it! Magic FM - 101.7 on your FM dial in Binghamton, NY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacquesg Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Download from the German site www.errorfree.de This is an updated version with nice new features. Jacques Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior_falcon Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hi Jacques: Good to hear from you! Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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