Marvin wrote:
> What is the procedure for transfering files to and from a PC using N*
> DOS? For text from the N* to the PC, no problem, just print it out to
> the terminal (a DOS machine) and capture it. But what about going the
> other way, wanting to get information back to the N*? Any information
> appreciated!
===== Transferring from the N* to the PC ======
I developed a process for capturing the entire disk
so would have a backup of each my N* disks on the PC.
I figured that later I could use the data to create
a disk image and then extract the files from that disk
image.
The procedure is basically reading sections of the
disk into a buffer using N* DOS and then listing
that buffer to a PC log file using N* monitor.
Here is the procedure. The comments below are not
part of the procedure and they are not captured in the
file. They are just added to clarify the procedure.
// Step 1 - While booted into N* DOS, turn logging
// on in my terminal program (PROCOMM)
// Step 2 - I type in the LI command to list the files
// on this disk. This documents which files, and where
// they are on the disk
+LI
DOS 4 12 D 1 2000
BASIC 10 52 D 1 2D00
MAILER 36 30 D 2
LIST 51 500 D 3
CF 301 6 D 1 2D00
SID 304 48 D 1 9000
MONITOR 328 8 D 1 0
CD 332 4 D 1 2D00
// Step 3 - I have determined that I can read 144 blocks
// at address 3000H without overwriting DOS or the monitor.
// So I read 144 blocks starting from block 0 on the disk.
+RD 0 3000 144
// Step 4 - I load and run the N* MONITOR which happens to
// be on this disk. If it was not on this disk I would have
// temporarly swap disks, load the MONITOR and swapped back.
+GO MONITOR
// The N* MONITOR starts
MONITOR 5.0
// Step 5 - I use the MONITOR command to dump the 144 256
// byte blocks to the terminal.
>DA 3000-C000
3000 44 4F 53 20 20 20 20 20 04 00 06 00 81 00 20 20
D O S -
3010 42 41 53 49 43 20 20 20 0A 00 1A 00 81 00 2D 20
B A S I C - -
3020 4D 41 49 4C 45 52 20 20 24 00 0F 00 82 1A 20 20
M A I L E R $ -
// ---- BIG SNIP HERE to shorten this email -----
BFE0 20 03 8B 47 45 4E 45 56 41 20 52 4F 43 4B 20 50
- G E N E V A R O C K P
BFF0 52 4F 44 2E 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
R O D .
C000 A3
-#
// Step 5 - I return to N* DOS with the OS command
>OS
// Next step - I read the next 144 blocks. This is a
// double density disk and each sector is 512 bytes
// contains 2 blocks, so the next read is from 'disk
// address 72.
+RD 72 3000 144
// Back to the MONITOR, repeating the 5 steps until
// the entire disk is read. The only command that
// changes each time is the RD command.
+GO MONITOR
>DA 3000-C000
// The other read commands are:
+RD 144 3000 144
+RD 216 3000 144
+RD 288 3000 124
// There are 35 tracks, 10 sectors, 2 blocks per
// sector, making 700 blocks of 256 bytes each
// for a double density disk. So the last read
// is just 124 blocks.
// Of course the last step is to close the log file.
===== Transferring from the PC to the N* ======
I have done this. But I would just suggest that
you write a N* BASIC program that first prompts
for a filename and creates the file. Then the
program would wait for data from the PC which
it would store in a buffer before writting the
data to disk. I would suggest sending the data
as ascii encoded hex.
--Doug
=========================================
Doug Coward
_at_ home in Poulsbo, WA
Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center
http://dcoward.best.vwh.net/analog
=========================================
Received on Mon May 05 2003 - 21:14:00 BST