NullLink 1.0 User Manual 25 Oct, 1992 Preface ======= The programs and files in this distribution are freely distributable, but are also copyright (c) Sven Berkvens. They may be freely distributed as long as no more than a nominal fee is charged to cover time and copying costs. No commercial usage is permitted without written permission from the author. Everything in this distribution must be kept together, in original unmodified form. The above is generally known as freeware. The author is not responsible for any damages caused by using/misusing this program. By using it, you agree to not sue the author for anything. Any mistakes in this manual is not the author's fault. If you have suggestions or remarks concerning this program, please let me know. If you find any bugs, please also send me a note. Write to me at the following address: Sven Berkvens De Vliegert 34 5527 HV, Hapert The Netherlands Contents ======== 1. An introduction 2. Usage of the program 3. Uploading files 4. Downloading files 5. Requirements 6. Special features 7. The null-modem cable 8. History 1. An introduction ================== NullLink version 1.0 (after this referred to as NullLink) is a program that will transfer files and directories over a serial link to another computer. It requires the two computers to be linked by a so-called "null-modem cable". This is a cable that connects two computers via the serial port (more on this cable is explained in chapter 7). NullLink will enable you to transfer files and directories to and from a "remote" computer. This is done by sending information over the cable that connects the two computers. The remote computer may be an Amiga, but it may also be a PC XT/AT/386/486. I may write a similar program for other computers too, but as my knowledge of computers is only strong in the area of the Amiga and the PC, and I do not own any other computer system, that will have to wait. NullLink is a simple method of transferring files to other computers without using disks. If for example a friend of yours has an Amiga with a hard disk, and so do you, you can use NullLink to transfer files and program between the two computers, without using disks. This is much faster than using disks, and of course you don't have to USE disks (which you have to format, copy on to, etc.) and you can now also transfer files which are too big to fit onto a disk. Also this program is handy if you want to transfer files to and from a PC type computer. You do not need a program such as Dos-2-Dos, but you must then of course have a PC available. 2. Usage of the program ======================= To run the program from the CLI, type NullLink and then press return. To run the program from the Workbench, just double click on the NullLink icon. If you run the program from the WorkBench, a CON: window is opened so that NullLink can show you what is going on. When the program has been loaded, a window will appear in the center of the Workbench Screen. Here you can choose the speed for the transfer. All Amigas will support 325400 Baud transfer rates. PC XT/AT/386/486 do not go any faster than 115200 baud, so if you want to communicate with a PC, you must set the baudrate to 115200 or even slower if the PC does not support such a high rate. The other baudrates are not really useful, but I included them just in case an old Amiga does not support the 325400 baud communication. By the way, this program does NOT use the Serial.Device, so if you have extra communication ports, you CANNOT use them. To choose a baudrate, just click on the button in which the baudrate is mentioned. The main menu will now appear. There are five listed options: Upload, DownLoad, Set Baudrate, About and Quit. The "Set baudrate" button will return you to the menu with all the baudrates. Here you can choose a different baudrate. The "About" button will make a window pop up with information about the version of this program and a short description of what it does. The "Quit" button does exactly what you think it does. It returns you to the CLI or the Workbench, after freeing all resources. 3. Uploading files ================== Uploading means that files and directories will be tranferred from your computer to the remote computer. When you click on the button "Upload", a file requester is shown. In the filerequester, you can select files and directories to upload to the remote computer. To select one file, just double click on the file. To select multiple files, hold down a SHIFT key while selecting. Do not double click if you are selecting multiple files and directories. To enter a directory, double click on the directory or enter a new path in the box next to the "Get" button. When you are finished selecting files and/or directories, press the "Upload" button, in the bottom-left corner. The files and directories will now be transferred to the remote computer. The remote computer must of course be in the "Download" mode, otherwise your computer will complain that the remote computer is not responding. If you selected one or more directories in the filerequester, the entire directory, i.e. all files and subdirectories in that directory, will be uploaded to the remote computer. While uploading, your computer will show you how many bytes are still to be transferred for the current file, which will of course also be shown. This figure is updated every 60000 bytes. If something goes wrong on the other side, for example, the disk was full and the file didn't fit anymore, this will also be shown. Also see the section "Downloading files" for more details. When all files and directories have been transferred, the program returns to the main menu. 4. Downloading files ==================== When you have selected files to be uploaded on the other computer, so you want to files to be sent to your computer, you must put your computer in "Download" mode. This means that your computer will wait until the computer sends files to it. If the other computer does not start sending files within a few seconds, the program will complain that the remote computer is not responding. When you click on the "Download" button, a requester is presented to you, asking you whether you want to turn on the special "AutoSave" feature. See the section "Special features". If you chose the AutoSave to be active, the filerequester is shown and you will be prompted for a directory to download the files in. Your computer will now download the files that you selected on the remote computer. If you turned on the AutoSave function, all files and directories will be named automatically and you will have to do absolutely nothing. If you didn't turn on the AutoSave function, you will be presented with the filerequester everytime a file is received, so that you can rename the file and even put it in another directory than the default one. During the transfer, the number of bytes still to do is shown. If something goes wrong during the transfer, for example the disk is full, the transfer for the current file is cancelled immediately. The next file will be downloaded. A file which was not downloaded completely will NOT be deleted, it will be closed as soon as the error occurs. When all the selected files and directories have been downloaded, the program will return to the main menu. 5. Requirements =============== NullLink requires the following to be able to run: o An Amiga with at least 512KB of memory. 512KB is more than enough memory for all transfers. o At least one diskdrive. You do not need a harddisk to run this. o Kickstart & Workbench version 1.2, 1.3, 2.0 or higher. o Amiga 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 or 3000. o The ReqTools library (by Nico François). WARNING: While tranferring files, all multitasking will be DISABLED!!! ======= Please make sure that you are not doing anything else that might cause problems if it is interrupted for quite a while! Also do not use any programs that use the serial port. This program does NOT use the Serial.Device, because that would be too slow! 6. Special features =================== NullLink has currently one special feature: the AutoSave function. When you download files to your computer, it will ask you if you want to turn on this feature. If you turn this feature on, all files and directories will be given the name that they had on the remote computer. If you turn it off, you will be asked to rename every file and directory that is received. The default name will be inserted in the file requester. This is the name that the file or directory had on the remote computer. This is a handy feature is you are tranferring files from one Amiga to the other, and you want to retain the file and directory names. 7. The null-modem cable ======================= The null-modem cable is the cable that is required to make use of NullLink. It fits into both computers' serial ports. A null-modem cable is very simple to make yourself. Of course, you can also buy one at a good computer shop. Below are two null-modem cables: one with a 25-pin connector on one side and another on the other side, and one with a 25-pin connector on one side and a 9-pin connector on the other side (usually used on old PCs). 25 PIN FEMALE CONNECTOR 25 PIN FEMALE/MALE CONNECTOR (your Amiga has a male one on the machine) Pin 2 <----------------------------------------------------------> Pin 3 Pin 3 <----------------------------------------------------------> Pin 2 Pin 7 <----------------------------------------------------------> Pin 7 25 PIN FEMALE CONNECTOR (your Amiga has a male one on the machine) 9 PIN FEMALE/MALE CONNECTOR Pin 2 <----------------------------------------------------------> Pin 3 Pin 3 <----------------------------------------------------------> Pin 2 Pin 7 <----------------------------------------------------------> Pin 5 The other pins should not be connected, although special CTS/RTS connections will not interfere with the transmission. 8. History ========== Version 1.0: First release of the program.