Importing binary files without removable storage nor non-bundledsoftware (was: TKermitFTP

From: Tom Jennings <tomj_at_wps.com>
Date: Sun Jan 9 15:43:52 2005

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, John Allain wrote:

> Huh? Have basic, debug and ver is 5.00

Since DEBUG can load Intel hex files, and copying text files
through the com port is relatively easy, htat's one solution.

* On the "donor" machine, convert KERMIT.COM (or .EXE) to hex. YOu
might have to go to (the current logical equivelant of) tucows to
find a program that does it, but it should not be hard.

* On each machine (donor and target) use "MODE" to set some
bit rate, eg 9600, no parity, 8 bits.

* On the target, start "COPY COM1 KERMIT.HEX".

* Then, on the donor, start "COPY KERMIT.HEX COM1".

* If all went well (caveats, below) you now have a hex, text
copy of Kermit on the target machine.

* DEBUG KERMIT.HEX.
> G

Kermit shoudl run!

> the transferred file sizes should
> be 2X smaller.

Immaterial I say -- this is something you are going to do ONCE,
who cares how long the text file transfer takes? 10 seconds? 90
seconds? 15 minutes? BFD. What matters is that it be RELIABLE.

CAVEATS:

Since nothing is buffered, the target machine might drop
characters inputting if it has to write to disk. This would screw
up the transfer, and most likely debug will give an error when you
try to load the hex file.

Solutions: split the KERMIT.HEX file into multiple pieces on the
donor machine; transfer each with COPY. Say you named them
KERMIT.1H, KERMIT.2H, ... On the target machine, after they're all
transferred, do:

copy/a kermit.1h+kermit.2h+kermit.Nh kermit.hex

And proceed.


ALso consider transferring the hex file TWICE or more, and use
COMP to check that they are the same; it's unlikely it will drop
precisely the same byte each time, and errors will be visible.

Drop to 300 baud for the transfer; this will raise the time you
get to do disk writes, especially if the target has a 16550 UART.


Again, I suggest not even thinking about the transfer speed if
it's less than an hour or two.
Received on Sun Jan 09 2005 - 15:43:52 GMT