Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Excuse me if this has been over before, but:
    
    Are you sure that the terminal program you're using is raising DTR
    and/or the modem you have connected to it has DTR wired through
    from the Amiga?  I don't think a three wire connection will work
    here.

    I finally bought OnLine! and it works.  Art Goseling was kind enough
    to send me a few notes about cable configurations.  Now I'm online.
    
    Randy
    

    
    Glad to hear your success story. I sure would appreciate it if you
    could spend a few minutes expanding on OnLine!. What to you like
    and dislike about the product? That is generally much more informative
    about a product than the glossy adds... (You might want to make
    it a seperate note for everyone to see).
    
    Thanks in advance!
    
    John
    

    Many thanks to Art Gosling for sending me the following information.
    Here is the cable configuration he uses:
    
        Amiga        Modem
         1 ----------- 1
         2 ----------- 2
         3 ----------- 3
         5 ----------- 5
         6 ----------- 6
         7 ----------- 7
         8 ----------- 8
        20 ----------- 20
    
    I made one of these, and it works beautifully.  Warning:  My first
    attempt was with a ribbon cable.  That effectively destroyed all
    television reception in the area.  I later make a cable from a shielded
    DEC cable, with much better results.
    
    I am using an ADC 1200 baud modem that I bought through DAK Industries
    for $169.00.  It works quite well, and has several nice built-in
    features like on-screen help, built in speaker, and compact design.
    I find that it sits rather well on top of my Sony Monitor, giving
    a clear view of the status lights, and not taking up any desk space.
    
    OnLine! works well, and emulates VT52, VT100 and VT102.  It can
    show bold and reversed type.  I don't know if it can handle underlined
    type, though.  It does a pretty good job, except when using VAXnotes.
    It seems to have trouble (but not catostrophic) with the scrolling
    regions.  It emulates the VT100 keypad.  I have not had much of
    a chance to figure out all of the keys yet.
    
    It is a much better program than the bug infested MaxiComm. (I have
    MaxiComm Version 1, not the newer version 3)  It has a lot of nice
    features like macros, different screen formats, etc. that MaxiComm
    does not offer.  Overall, a good program, plus it is not copy
    protected, allowing you to make back-ups.  MaxiComm is protected
    using a technique that makes your drive sound like its about to
    break (perhaps it will, if you use the package to often).    
    
    Now if someone could write a VT241 emulator for the Amiga......
    
    Randy
    

    I agree about MaxiComm's write protection (ver 3) - it sounds like
    its really abusing the drive. Have used it to transfer ascii files
    between IBM PC and Amiga at 9600 baud, and it works fine, except 
    that the screen display is much slower than the file capture, in 
    memory. Screen display looks like 1200 buad, memory captures at
    9600 for several thousand characters, then sends X-OFF (it reserves
    a large buffer (170-180,000 bytes on 512 k machine) but doesn't
    fill it in a single uninterrupted transfer. Wish I could disable
    that slow display...  ALL IN ALL MaxiComm works, but there's still
    room for competition..
    
    Lowell
    
    
    
    

    re. 4
    Do you know if Online work's with DEC modems such as DF03 or DF112?
        ... .  .     Rich

    re: .6
    
    
    Works fine with DF112.
    
    
    Art

    Yes, it does.
    
    BTW:  There is a newer version of Online available.  it has several
    enhancements, like better VT100 emulation and improved transfer
    of Compuserve files.  All you have to do is return your original
    disk with $15.00 to MSS.
    
    Randy
    

    Randy,
    
    I am ONLINE! (with ONLINE!) writing this note.  I'm trying to figure
    out a way to get ONLINE! to dial the DF03 (which needs a "^B" to
    start dialing).  I tried setting the "phone prefix" to "^B", but
    that didn't seem to work.  Do you autodial your modem?  If so, how?
    
    Thanks for any help,
    -jim

    Doesn't a DF03 need an ^A before it gets the ^B?  I thought that
    that 'cleared the line' before the unit would autodial.  Don't know
    for sure though.  Also....make sure your unit is an auto-call unit.
    Not all DF03's are.  Some are auto-answer only.
    

Do I have online configure wrong?  ONLINE will not do double height
    charaters and gets very confused about cursor addressing in VT102
    mode.  Also when I run DECALC I get 3's where vertical bars are.
    
    Steve
    

Any claim to VT100 or VT102 emulation by ONLINE (by all reports) is a filthy
lie.

In general, it would be difficult (but not impossible) for a terminal emulator
to do the double height/width characters like a real VT-100.  It would take a
bit (but not very much) of effort to get the graphics character set to be
the same as a VT-100, and a bit more effort to get scroll regions to work.
It appears that none of the currently available terminal emulators go to any
of this effort, and only offer the ANSI sequences that you get with the CON:
device internal to AmigaDOS, and that isn't a full VT-100 emulation by any
stretch.

From speaking to its author, it sounds to me like the best VT-100 emulation
around is to be had via one of the VT-100 emulators recently contributed to
the Amiga Toolshed, offered in this notesfile.

    Would anybody be kind enough to swap me a disk with some sort of
    file transfer program? I have a modem and have been trying to get
    Kermit from MARKET but the phone lines I've been using are filthy
    and all I have is a standard text capture program. It's sort of a
    case of pulling myself up with my bootstraps... There's some more
    stuff I want to download but without some error correcting protocol
    it's impossible. I would deeply appreciate any help. BTW, I have
    the Fish Kermit, but I'll be darned if I can figure out how to use
    it... maybe it's my cheapo modem but as soon as I exit from a
    terminal program to run kermit the connection vanishes. So the
    only way to keep the connection seems to be to keep SER: open but
    naturally that won't allow Kermit to run. Maybe there's a way to
    keep DTR high without leaving SER: open? Thanks in advance for
    any and all help,
    		     -e-

    I am a novice at communications and have been having no luck
    getting my amiga to talk to anything.  I have a copy of a friends
    OnLine! disk and a DF03.  I made a male to male ribbon, all pins
    intact.  I can't get online! to even raise DTR.  Working with out
    documentation is a drag and if I ever get this to work I'm gonna
    down load Dave W's VT100 from usenet mail.  
    
    Thanks for any help,
    
    Dan.
    
    P.S. This is OnLine! V1.2x. Parity was none, 8 bit words, 1 stop
    bit. Not that any of that matters without DTR raised.
    

    Sounds like you need a DF03 manual. I am using a DF224 with OnLine
    and have not experienced any problems. You may need to set a DIP
    switch inside the modem. I know that you need to set one to autodial
    at 300 baud. I believe the default autodial setting is for 1200
    baud operation only.
    
    By the way, OnLine! doesn't quite have a screen display rate of
    1200 baud. Even when using a 2400 baud modem, the screen display
    rate remains at jsut below 1200 baud. This is OnLine's major fault.
    Wecker's VT100 program will display at the modem baud rate setting.

    
    Re. 14:
    
      Did you use the pin-to-pin connections listed in note 7.4?  I
    used this and my DF03 works fine.
    
    Good luck,
    
    Steve McAfee
    

    Re. .16
    
    I'm using all the pins.  The pins layout in 7.4 are all
    'straight across' that is 1 goes to 1, 2 goes to 2, none
    of them cross (unless I read the note wrong).  So I figured
    if all of them connect, so much the better.  I'll have to
    pull out pins to get the same effect as rolling your own cable
    as I'm using ribbon cable right now.
    
    A friend who knows almost as little as I do about communications
    thought it might have some thing to do with it being a male to
    male connection(?).
    
    Thanks to the responces so far.  I have acquired a DF03 user manual
    but haven't had a chance to look at it yet.
    
    Adios Amigians,
    
    Dan.

    If I were you, I would make only connections pointed out in 7.4.
    Why?  Becuase some of the connections should NOT be made.  Some
    provide voltage and may damage the modem.
    
    I was never able to get my 'ribbon cable' to work until I made the
    connections as outlined in 7.4.  Then I took an old DEC printer
    cable and soldered a new connector on the end to conform to the
    right connections.  Works beautifully, and is shielded as well.
    
    The ribbon cable will mess up the pictures of all the televisions
    in your neighborhood, as it is not shielded, and will act like a
    big antenna.
    
    Good Luck.
    

    The advice given in 7.18 is sound!! My experiance has showed
    the same. More in not really better!
    
     ... Rich