Link It v1.0b ============= Contents ======== 1. *** IMPORTANT NOTES (PLEASE READ!) *** 1.1 This package contains a SERIAL cable 1.2 Connection Problems 1.3 Longer Serial Cables and Adaptors 1.4 Running Link It! on an Amiga with Workbench 1.3 1.5 Technical Support 2. General Notes 2.1 Switch boxes 2.2 Conversion programs 2.3 Multitasking 2.4 Extension cables 2.5 Changing Link It! configuration 3. Windows Version Notes 3.1 Rexx & Arexx 3.2 Serial baud rates 3.3 Windows 95 support and long filenames 3.4 Using the Windows version under OS/2 and Windows NT 3.5 Black screens when Link It! is running 4. Amiga Version Notes 4.1 Running Link It! 5. New Address 1. *** IMPORTANT NOTES (PLEASE READ!) *** ========================================== 1.1 This package contains a SERIAL cable ----------------------------------------- Please note that the Link It! package that you received contains a SERIAL cable. We are currently experiencing manufacturing problems with our Parallel cables. Legendary Design Technologies will provide you with a Parallel cable FREE OF CHARGE as soon as we receive them from our manufacturer. All we ask is that you mail us your registration card. Link It! will only work in Parallel mode with our special Parallel cable. YOU CANNOT USE ANY OTHER TYPE OF PARALLEL CABLE! Our cable contains special electronics to increase speed and prevent software piracy. Use of any other type of cable could damage your computers. Legendary Design Technologies will not be held responsible for damage caused by the use of cables not supplied by us. 1.2 Connection Problems ------------------------ If you are having problems getting your two computers to connect with Link It! you may have to adjust the default serial configuration. Follow these steps on each computer. Configure each computer separately. DO NOT HAVE LINK IT! RUNNING ON BOTH COMPUTERS WHILE YOU ARE CHANGING THE CONFIGURATION. - Select Configure from the File or Project menu. - Set the connection mode to SERIAL and set the BAUD RATE to 19200. Do not use a higher baud rate initially. - Select SAVE and save the settings in a file called DEFAULT.CFG in the directory where you installed Link It! Do not use a different file name. - Quit Link It! Repeat the above steps on your other computer. Then, restart Link It! on both computers. The computers should make a connection automatically. Copy a small file (10 to 20K) as a test. If Link It! does not report any errors while copying you can repeat the above procedure and increase the baud rate. Remember to copy a test file each time you make a change. If you set the baud rate too high you may not get a connection, or you may see Timeout errors from Link It! If this happens, decrease the baud rate. Some PCs cannot communicate faster than 38400 baud. If your PC locks up when you run Link It! try deleting the DEFAULT.CFG file. If you get an error message when Link It! starts you most likely have the configuration set to an invalid COM port. Select Configuration from the File menu and reconfigure for another COM port. 1.3 Longer Serial Cables and Adaptors -------------------------------------- Link It! uses a STANDARD NULL MODEM CABLE when using the Serial mode. This is what is supplied with the package you received. If you require a longer cable you can purchase one directly from Legendary Design Technologies of from most computer stores. If your PC has a 9 pin serial port you can use a standard 25 pin to 9 pin adaptor. 1.4 Running Link It! on an Amiga with Workbench 1.3 ---------------------------------------------------- If you have trouble getting Link It! to run on an Amiga running Workbench 1.3, try the following. - From Workbench click once on the Link It! icon. - Select info from the Workbench menu. - Change the Default Tool from IconX to C:IconX. - Click on Save. 1.5 Technical Support ---------------------- If you have technical questions or cannot get Link It! up and running, please contact our Technical Support Department. You will receive a quicker response if you Fax or E-Mail us. Be sure to tell us about your two computers (Model, brand name, speed, etc.) along with your questions. Our Fax number is (519) 753-5052. Our E-Mail address is legend@io.org. You can also phone us at (519) 753-6120. Follow the voice prompts and select Technical Support for Link It! Technicians are available to help you between 9am and 5pm Eastern time, Monday to Friday. 2. General Notes ================= 2.1 Switch boxes ----------------- Link It! will work with serial and parallel port switch boxes. If you do not wish to dedicate your parallel/serial port to Link It! and you do not want to switch cables all the time you can use a MANUAL switch box. Due to the nonstandard communications used by Link It! automatic switch boxes will not work. When purchasing a switch box be sure that it switches all 25 lines for parallel and at least the standard 9 lines used for serial. 2.2 Conversion programs ------------------------ Some of the conversion programs supplied with Link It! are shareware. You do not own these programs. Please read the documentation that accompanies each program. If you find the program useful you are encouraged to make the required payment directly to the author. Legendary Design Technologies has not made any shareware contributions for these programs. Be sure to check Legendary's World Wide Web site, as we find more conversion programs that work with Link It! we will post them for our users. 2.3 Multitasking ----------------- Multitasking can dramatically slow down the operation of Link It!, especially during parallel mode transfers. The Windows version is most likely to be affected by multitasking. This is due to the co-operative multitasking method that Windows uses. If another program does not relinquish the CPU at regular intervals Link It! may timeout. If you experience excessive timeouts or very slow performance, try running Link It! without any other programs running. 2.4 Extension cables --------------------- If you need a longer cable to connect your two computers you can purchase special extended length Link It! cables from your dealer or directly from Legendary Design Technologies. If you wish, you can also extend the supplied cable by using a 25 conductor male to female cable. Be sure that the cable extends all 25 lines. You may experience problems (slower transfer, excessive timeouts) when using cables longer than 12 feet in electrically noisy environments. Keep Link It! cables away from monitors, large motors, light fixtures or other sources of electromagnetic radiation. 2.5 Changing Link It! configuration ------------------------------------ If you change your Link It! connection mode (Serial/Parallel) or change your baud rate the USE button may not work. For best results save the new configuration as DEFAULT.CFG, shut down Link It! on BOTH computers and then restart Link It! on both computers. Failure to follow this procedure may result in the connection between the two computers being broken. If this happens the only way to re-establish the connection is to re-run Link It! on both computers. 3. Windows Version Notes ========================= 3.1 Rexx & Arexx ----------------- The Rexx menu has been removed from the Windows version. Currently, the Windows version of Link It! only supports Link It! commands that are sent remotely from an Amiga. For more information about ARexx and Rexx commands see the ARexx documentation supplied on the Amiga disk. Additional Rexx support will be added to future versions so please remember to send in your registration card. 3.2 Serial baud rates ---------------------- Link It! does not support baud rates higher then 57600 under Windows 3.1. Higher baud rates are supported between two Amigas and under Windows 95. Some slower PCs (ie. 386 based machines) may not be able to run at 57600. If you experience problems with serial communications try lowering the baud rate (remember to change it on both computers) and try again. Also, see section 1.2 above. 3.3 Windows 95 support and long filenames ------------------------------------------ Link It! DOES work under the current shipping version of Windows 95. We cannot guarantee that Link It! will work under pre-release and beta versions. Long file names will be preserved when transfered from an Amiga to a PC running Windows 95. The short version of the file name (that Windows 95 creates) will be shown on the Link It! screen, but the long file name will exist on the disk. Full support for Windows 95 long filenames will be added to the next release of Link It! 3.4 Using the Windows version under OS/2 and Windows NT -------------------------------------------------------- Legendary Design Technologies does not guarantee that Link It! will operate correctly under OS/2, Windows NT or Windows NT for Non-Intel platforms (ie. DEC Alpha, Power PC etc.). Specifically, the parallel port communications routines rely on standard PC hardware at specific memory locations. Operating systems other than Windows 3.1, 3.11 and 95 may protect these memory locations and cause Link It! to fail. Future versions MAY support other operating environments. Contact Legendary for more information. 3.5 Black screens when Link It! is running ------------------------------------------- If you experience black screens when entering the Configure dialog or when performing file type conversions do the following: - From Program Manager open the Main Window - Run PIF Editor - Select File, Open and open the file called _default.pif - Near the bottom left select Windowed - Select File, Exit and save changes when asked The screen changes to black because portions of the configure box and all conversion programs run in DOS mode. If they run in a window, Link It! can hide them. 4. Amiga Version Notes ======================= 4.1 Running Link It! --------------------- It is very important that you run Link It! from the supplied icon or from a Shell/CLI command prompt. Failure to do so will result in the ARexx functions not working. 5. New Address =============== Legendary Design Technologies has a new Canadian address: Legendary Design Technologies 515 Park Road North, #9 Brantford, ON N3R 7K8 CANADA Our United States address and our phone numbers remain the same. Send E-Mail to us: legend@io.org Access our World Wide Web site: http://www.io.org/~legend ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- All trademarks (registered or otherwise) mentioned in this file and/or in the software are property of their respective holders. No infringement is intended.