____________________________________________________________________ NOTES ON CP/M SOFTWARE COMPILATION V ____________________________________________________________________ The communications programs on this disc have been compiled by the Amstrad North West User Club, for the benefit of all Amstrad users everywhere. The programs remain in the public domain and have been supplied to you without charge. You pay only for the disc and distribution costs. You are free to make as many copies as you wish and pass them around. You may not sell these programs or include them with any other software which is produced for commercial gain. File transfer on the Amstrad CPC and PCW computers require the fitting of a suitable Serial Interface (RS232 V24/V28). In general ASCII files (ie those containing characters 32 to 127 which are the upper and lower case alphabet, numerals and punctuation) can be transferred without modification. Two programs are included on this disc to allow the transfer of non-ASCII files (ie those with characters less than 32 or more than 128). These are UNLOAD and MLOAD. File transfer is possible by UNLOADing at the sending end and MLOADing at the receiving end. The communications programs are UK MODEM7, KERMIT and MEX. Each provides an environment for the transfer of files from one computer to another. Examples include transferring text files and programs to an associate elsewhere in the country (or world if you can afford the telephone bill), accessing a public database, acessing a bulletin board etc. File transfer normally involves the use of a pair of modems; one at the local end and one at the remote end. Connection to the local end modem is via a straight one-to-one (DTE to DCE) cable between your computer and modem. The modems are linked via the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). A wide variety of modems is available ranging from simple manually controlled, low-speed ones to sophisticated auto-dial, auto-answer machines with many speeds and functions, error correction etc. If these terms are a mystery to you may we suggest that you obtain a book or magazine articles on the subject before running up a big telephone bill during your experiments. File transfer can also be achieved locally between two computers using a "twitched" RS232 cable between their respective serial ports. Unfortunately, as with most "international" standards, there are many variations on the RS232 interface therefore the method of interconnection can vary. In general however the "NULL MODEM" cable illustrated below should be suitable for connection of two local computers. The pin numbers refer to the 25 way "D-TYPE" connectors and the cable between the computers must have a minimum of four wires. COMPUTER1 COMPUTER2 TxD Pin 2 ------------ RxD Pin 3 RTS Pin 4 -- -- RTS Pin 4 ù ù ù ù DSR Pin 6 -- -- DSR Pin 6 ù ù ù ù DCD Pin 8 -- -- DCD Pin 8 CTS Pin 5 ------------ DTR Pin 20 RxD Pin 3 ------------ Txd Pin 2 DTR Pin 20------------ CTS Pin 5 Alternatively, the RTS of COMPUTER1 can be connected to the DSR and DCD of COMPUTER2 and vice versa. This requires more wires in the cable but is a more "complete" simulation. DIRECTORY [D] This version of improved directory lists files in alphabetical order, gives the name and type, separated by a dot and the size in kbytes. The bottom line shows total files, system files, space used and space remaining on disc. ENHANCED LOAD [MLOAD] An improved version of the LOAD utility used for converting .HEX files to .COM executable programs. Read the documentation file MLOAD.DOC for more information. UNLOAD [UNLOAD] Performs the reverse function of LOAD, generating an ASCII .HEX file from a .COM executable file. The output file will have the same name as the original, unless otherwise specified, with the type .HEX UK MODEM 7 FOR AMSTRAD CPC & PCW [CPC-UKM7 & PCW-UKM7] The Modem 7 program was originated by Ward Christensen several years ago and has undergone many modifications and patches since that time. The versions supplied on this disc have been rewritten for the Z80, refinements added and configured for Amstrad computers. The programs supports speeds of up to 31250 bps. Rewrite by Sorab Both and Mark Lee, post-graduate students at Manchester University. A documentation file is included, under the name UKM7.DOC. KERMIT [KERMIT] This version of the Kermit Communications System has been adapted to run on all Amstrad CPC and PCW computers. A documentation file (KERMIT.DOC) has been written by Jur Van Der Burg. MODEM EXECUTIVE [MEX-CPC & MEX-PCW] Specially adapted for the CPC 6128 and expanded CPC 464/664 this communications package offers many program-controlled options and features its own control language. The program supports most speeds including 1200/75 (the text of the program says 710 bps). Supplied with MEX is an on-line HELP facility (MEX11.HLP) and a comprehensive documentation file (MEX11.DOC). The index for the MEX documentation is in a separate file called MEX11.IND. Both MEX11.DOC and MEX11.IND may be viewed using the TYPE command. Several other files are associated with MEX. These are:- MEX.SET - A sample control file for MEX. A customised control file can be written by the user. MEXPAT11.HEX - Patches overlay for raw MEX. MXO-CPC .HEX - MEX overlay for CPC range. Written by Phil Coull. MXO-PCW .HEX - MEX overlay for PCW range. Written by Steve Jonas MXO-SM14.HEX - MEX overlay for Hayes-compatible modems. Allows auto-dial, etc. Note that this is not implemented in the files on this disc. CIRKIT 7 COMMS PROGRAM [CIRKIT7] This program is specifically for the Cirkit Prestel Link and acoustic coupler used at 1200/75 bps. SOFTEXCH.LST A file of the US CP/M Software Exchange System List is also included for information. This may be viewed using the TYPE command. ____________________________________________________________________ CP/M is the registered trade mark of Digital Research Inc Amstrad is the trade mark of Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc ____________________________________________________________________ [c] 1987 ADVANTAGE COMPUTER USER GROUP V5.0