PARCP
Introduction
PARCP is a parallel port file transfer program for the Atari ST range and Atari Falcon, allowing easy file transfers from other Atari machines or computing platforms (PC, Mac, Raspberry Pi). The program can behave as a client or as server. The program uses a special parallel-to-parallel cable or parallel-to-USB adapter.
Manual
PARCP v2.50
~~~~~~~~~~~
written by Petr Stehlik
(c) 1996-1997
Last Update: 22 June, 1997
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0. Changes in this Document
1. Introduction
1.1 What is PARCP
1.2 Why should you use it?
1.3 Features
1.3.1 Supported computer platforms
1.3.2 Parallel port type (IBM only)
1.3.3 Operating systems
1.3.4 Multitasking
1.3.5 User interface
1.3.6 Internals
1.3.7 New features since last release
1.3.8 Summary
1.4 Future Plans
1.5 How much does it cost?
2. Additional required hardware
2.1 PARCP cable
2.2 PARCP UNI-BI adapter (IBM only)
3. Installation
3.1 Requirements
3.2 PARCP Concept
3.2.1 Server and Client
3.2.2 Running Server
3.2.3 Running Client
3.2.4 Client's commands
3.3 State of parallel port
3.4 Before running it...
4. Configuration
4.1 CFG directives reference
4.1.1 System Specific Section
4.1.2 General Section
4.1.3 Debug Section
4.1.4 PARCP.CFG example
4.2 Command line parameters
4.3 Configuration under Client
5. Miscellaneous
5.1 DISCLAIMER
5.2 Hints
6. Resources & Acknowledgments
6.1 Related programs
6.2 Resources
6.3 Greetings
6.4 Contacting the author
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0. Changes in this Document
===========================
Minor changes cover new commands (section 3.2.4).
1. Introduction
===============
This is the second try of an useful documentation, I'm not good at that...
Please read it if you can.
1.1 What is PARCP?
---------------------
PARCP stands for PARallel CoPier. It does copy files between two computers.
It acts as a file network running over parallel ports of those computers.
This allows you to copy many and large files very quickly from one machine
to another.
1.2 Why should you use it?
--------------------------
Because you have two computers at a place (home, college, a computer party)
and you want to copy files between them.
If the computers are not connected by a real ethernet based network nor by
SCSI bus (Note: home computers are usually *NOT* connected by these expensive
and complicated interfaces) then PARCP is the fastest way of copying files
between the computers.
Often people tend to use serial (null-modem) connection since it's simple
and cheap, but it is also very slow compared to PARCP. PARCP is simple and
cheap, too, but is usually more than eight times faster than a serial network.
You've got only one computer so you think you don't need PARCP? Well, and what
if your friend comes to you to show you his new notebook with a lot of new
shareware and freeware files? :-)
Important note for Atari users who want to burn their own CD: PARCP is
usually the only sensible way of transferring 700 MB of data from ST to IBM
with CD-ROM Writer...
1.3 Features
------------
1.3.1 Supported computer platforms
----------------------------------
PARCP has been designed to work on two different computer platforms:
o Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon and compatible computers (Medusa/Hades).
PARCP is also compatible with all sorts of accelerated cards such
as AfterBurner040 for Falcon etc.
o IBM PC 386 and compatible clones (i.e. machines with 32-bit CPU).
PARCP has been tested on AMD 386, Intel 486, Intel Pentium
and Cyrix 6x86 processors.
(I will use the word Atari as a reference for any of the former computers
and the word IBM for any of the latter ones in the rest of this document)
The main feature of PARCP is the ability of connecting of any two supported
computers:
o Atari <-----> Atari
o Atari <-----> IBM
o IBM <-----> IBM
1.3.2 Parallel port type (IBM only)
-----------------------------------
Parallel ports of IBM computers are basically of two different types:
o unidirectional
o bidirectional
The unidirectional parallel port is not able to read bytes on data lines
but has got five additional input lines for various purposes. Nearly all
known programs use these additional input lines for reading 4-bit nibbles.
They use so called 'LapLink' cable and 'LapLink' method of transferring data.
On the contrary, PARCP together with UNI-BI interface can read data
by full 8-bit at once just like on bidirectional parallel port.
Simply said PARCP UNI-BI interface makes you bidirectional parallel port from
your old unidirectional one.
That's why PARCP is usually about two times faster than its competitors!
If you have got an ECP or a EPP parallel port, then PARCP should work
at the full speed and no hardware interface is needed.
Of course PARCP supports all standard parallel ports of IBM - you can
choose which one you will use for PARCP transfers in the config file.
1.3.3 Operating systems
-----------------------
PARCP comes in three different binary files compiled for three main
operating systems (OS):
o TOS on Atari (every version from 1.0 up to 4.04)
Patched TOS (e.g. Kaos) and multitasking OS running on top of TOS
(e.g. MultiGEM, Geneva) should be OK for PARCP as well.
o DOS on IBM (perhaps from version 3.3?)
FreeDOS and multitasking OS running on top of DOS (DESQview,
Windows 3.x) should be OK as well.
o Linux-ix86 on IBM (ELF, from v1.2.13?)
I don't mean DOSemu for Linux, PARCP comes as native Linux application!
All three binary versions of PARCP look and behave exactly the same way,
which is handy for user learning its capabilities.
1.3.4 Multitasking
------------------
PARCP runs well under following pre-emptive multitasking OS:
Atari computers:
o MiNT
o MagiC
IBM computers:
o Windows95
o OS/2
o Linux-ix86
Main PARCP features under these enhanced OS:
o non-blocking waiting for user action
PARCP doesn't hog OS nor CPU while waiting for user - the average load
is close to zero when PARCP is idle. Therefore other applications
continue working at full speed when PARCP is waiting...
o support of long file names
PARCP allows you to copy files from one operating system to another
with original long file names preserved. Some rather unusual combinations
of possible transfers of long file names between different environments
are listed here:
o Windows95's V-FAT <-----> MiNT's minix-fs
o Linux's ext2-fs <-----> MagiC's V-FAT
o MiNT's ISO9660 <-----> OS/2's HPFS
1.3.5 User Interface
--------------------
PARCP features easy to use, ftp-like command driven user interface. The working
environment can be utilized to personal needs by many switches and parameters.
PARCP can also transfer files by simple drag&drop of selected files onto
PARCP's icon on desktop (really handy and fast).
1.3.6 Internals
---------------
PARCP is fully written in C. Additional assembler routines has been written
for the highest possible transfer speed. The source code is 100% portable
between all platforms and is compiled by GNU C 2.7.2 for all three destination
operating systems - the result is very efficient full 32-bit code.
The support of special features of various operating systems is a matter
of well written GNU C libraries (MiNTlibs on Atari and DJGPP libs on DOS).
It should be very easy to port PARCP to another platform with GNU C compiler
and a little knowledge of the parallel port programming (hi Amiga freaks! :)
1.3.7 New features since last release
-------------------------------------
The list of most important changes and features of new PARCP version compared
to previously released PARCP v2.40:
o DEL command fixed and enhanced
o new command REN
For more detailed informations please read the file HISTORY.TXT.
1.3.8 Summary
-------------
PARCP runs on Atari as well as on IBM computers, under all well known
operating systems. PARCP uses the best of every combination of hardware and
OS.
Of course there are programs for connecting computers via parallel ports,
but only PARCP can connect any two computers thus you need not to learn how
to use three different programs. PARCP is also much faster than its competitors,
supports more operating systems, it's simpler to use and likes multitasking.
1.4 Future Plans
----------------
There are some things left to do, as well as a few things to fix.
The "to do" list is as follows, in no particular order.
o better timeout handling
o more commands (deleting a folder, renaming a file)
o CRC of copied files for 100% safety
o file manager similar to Norton Commander
Write me if you want another feature...
Other neat features would be:
o mapping remote drive as a local network drive (using MetaDOS or MiNT)
o perhaps a port of PARCP to Amiga computers?
But I haven't got enough docs (nor encourage!) at this time.
1.5 How much does it cost?
--------------------------
PARCP is shareware. Everyone can distribute PARCP providing the
distribution archive remains unchanged and is distributed free of charge.
If you find the program useful and intend to continue using it you are
honour bound to pay the Shareware fee to the author. Please refer to the
SUPPORT.TXT file for informations how to register PARCP.
Since I have to earn my living and there is so much other things to do, you
should contribute if you would like to see newer and better versions of PARCP.
I have been working on this project for more than nine months so I would be
really glad to receive a reward for it. Sending me a small amount of money
would be very kind and would encourage me to continue working on this project.
A list of already registered users is in the SUPPORT.TXT file - please
read there how many people find PARCP worth registering.
2. Additional hardware
======================
2.1 PARCP cable
---------------
The following diagram shows you how to build your own parallel cable for
use with my PARCP (PARallel CoPy). This cable allows you to connect your
computer with any other computer if both machines have either bidirectional
parallel ports or UNI-BI adapter fitted.
The cable is not sold anywhere, as far as I know. You have to build it
yourself. Please do not try to use a LapLink cable - this one won't work
with PARCP! It's not that hard to modify it to work with PARCP, though.
The easiest way how to build the cable is to buy a cable for dataswitch.
It's usually marked as 25M-25M. That means there are MALE Canon-25
connectors on both ends of that cable. The cable has either 18 or 25 wires
in itself. The 18-wires one is sufficient for our needs, because PARCP uses
only 11 wires. When you buy that cable, you just need to exchange wires on
pins 1 an 11 at one ends of cable (and to cut the wires on unused pins such
as pin 10,12,13..24).
The PARCP cable should consist of just 11 wires. The wiring diagram is as
follows:
Canon-25 MALE Canon-25 MALE
------------- -------------
pin connection pin
1 ............................... 11 (Strobe -> Busy)
2 ............................... 2 (Data 0)
3 ............................... 3 (Data 1)
4 ............................... 4 (Data 2)
5 ............................... 5 (Data 3)
6 ............................... 6 (Data 4)
7 ............................... 7 (Data 5)
8 ............................... 8 (Data 6)
9 ............................... 9 (Data 7)
11 ............................... 1 (Busy <- Strobe)
25 ................................25 (GND <-> GND)
This cable also works with ST-Trans (c) Atari 1992, with plip protocol of
MiNT-Net (c) Kay Roemer and with HDD_DMN3 by MC Soft&Hard.
Warning: if the cable length should exceed 5 meters, please get a cable
with proper metal shielding, otherwise random errors during transfer may
occur.
2.2 PARCP UNI-BI adapter (IBM only)
-----------------------------------
The UNI-BI HW adapter for PARCP is my own invention. It allows software to
use originally unidirectional parallel port of old IBM PC's as new, fast
bidirectional one. PARCP can't use unidirectional port without this simple
hardware interface. In other words: if PARTEST.EXE detects your parallel
port as unidirectional, you must plug this interface into that port and let
PARCP know that the interface is plugged by line UNI-BI = TRUE in your
PARCP configuration file.
The UNI-BI adapter again is not sold anywhere, but you should be able to
build one yourself.
You need to buy/find_at_home:
o 1x connector Canon-25 MALE
o 1x connector Canon-25 FEMALE
o 1x IC 74HC257
o 1x IC 74HC574
o 1x plastic cover of Canon-25 - Canon-25 reduction
o some thin wire and solder iron (yes, you have to solder :-)
The plastic cover looks like this:
+--+ +--+
|C |_________________| C|
this |A a FA| this
side |NM I bunch I EN| side
plug |NA C of C MN| ready
to |OL 1 wires 2 AO| for
IBMPC |NE LN| PARCP
printer |2 _________________ E2| cable
port |5 | | 5|
+--+ +--+
The wiring diagram of UNI-BI HW adapter is as follows:
UNI (PC port) BI (PARCP cable)
Canon-25 MALE Canon-25 FEMALE
1 .............................. 1
2 -> IC1.2 IC1.19 <- 2
3 -> IC1.3 IC1.18 <- 3 The IC's are also wired together:
4 -> IC1.4 IC1.17 <- 4
5 -> IC1.5 IC1.16 <- 5 IC1.10 ..... IC2.8 + IC2.15
6 -> IC1.6 IC1.15 <- 6 IC1.11 ..... IC2.1
7 -> IC1.7 IC1.14 <- 7 IC1.12 ..... IC2.10
8 -> IC1.8 IC1.13 <- 8 IC1.13 ..... IC2.6
9 -> IC1.9 IC1.12 <- 9 IC1.14 ..... IC2.13
10 -> IC2.9 IC1.15 ..... IC2.3
11 .............................. 11 IC1.16 ..... IC2.11
12 -> IC2.7 IC1.17 ..... IC2.5
13 -> IC2.12 IC1.18 ..... IC2.14
14 -> IC1.1 IC1.19 ..... IC2.2
15 -> IC2.4 IC1.20 ..... IC2.16
16 -> IC1.20 + IC2.16
17 -> IC1.11 + IC2.1
25 -> IC1.10 + IC2.8 + IC2.15 ... 25
IC1 = 74HC574
IC2 = 74HC257
I think the *HC* is important, because both IC's eat current from PC's
parallel port and the maximum draw from it can be about 10 mA only IIRC.
If you didn't understand the diagram above, drop me a note and I'll try to
explain it better.
3. Installation
===============
3.1 Requirements
----------------
Atari PARCP:
------------
TOS version of PARCP comes in two versions (PARCP.TTP and PARCP030.TTP).
PARCP.TTP is compiled for MC68000 and therefore will run on every TOS
compatible machine.
PARCP030.TTP is compiled for MC68030, so it will not run on plain ST or STE,
including Mega ST/STE. It however will run on ST equipped with PAK68/3,
and of course on a TT030, Falcon030, Medusa T40/T60, Hades40/60 and all
other clones with processors MC68030/40/60.
Note: FPU is not required to run PARCP030.TTP.
Atari PARCP requires one ST compatible parallel port (driven by Yamaha YM-2149
and by MFP 68901). The Atari compatible parallel port is bidirectional
by nature, so for Atari you don't need any hardware interface...
Common requirements for IBM PARCP:
----------------------------------
PARCP is full 32-bit application thus it requires an Intel 80386 or compatible
CPU (386SX will do, as well as AMD, TI or other equivalents). PARCP can't
run on 80286 or lower CPU, unfortunately (should not be a real drawback
nowadays, I think :-)
PARCP runs fine on all 486SX/DX, Pentium, 6x86 and other compatible
processors, of course.
Note: FPU is not required to run PARCP.EXE.
PARCP requires one IBM PC compatible parallel (= printer) port, naturally.
You must specify parallel port's base address to let PARCP know which port
it should work with.
IBM parallel ports:
-------------------
If you choose an unidirectional parallel port (you can check it out by running
PARTEST.EXE), you must plug the UNI-BI hardware adapter into the parallel
port and tell the PARCP that you use the UNI-BI adapter (the description of
UNI-BI adapter is in section 2.2 of this document).
If you've got an ECP parallel port and PARTEST.EXE detects it as a
unidirectional port (even if it is not), it must be switched into EPP mode
(most ECP ports have EPP mode as well).
In most modern IBM and compatible machines you can use the Bios setup
(entered right after reboot by pressing the Del key, usuallly)
for selecting the type of your parallel port. For example on my machine
(Soyo 5VA motherboard) I can choose between SPP, EPP, ECP and ECP with DMA
modes. For PARCP the best is the EPP parallel port mode, though the others
work OK as well. But that again maybe a special facility of my Bios, so
please always select the EPP mode, if possible.
On some older additional ISA cards with parallel port you can usually select
the type of parallel port by setting up some jumpers on the board (see manual
of your motherboard/parallel ports card).
Both parallel port's base address and the use of UNI-BI adapter are specified
in PARCP configuration file (see detailed description of that configuration
file elsewhere in this document).
DOS specific requirements:
--------------------------
PARCP is designed to be run in a DOS environment. It however works very well
under Windows95 and OS/2 in a DOS session. PARCP is a 32-bit application,
so it needs DPMI services to run in DOS environment. DPMI services are provided
by QEMM, 386MAX, Windows 3.11 and Windows95 (don't know about OS/2).
If you don't have one of these programs you can use CSWDPMI.EXE (it's enclosed
in PARCP distribution archive). All you need is to place CSWDPMI.EXE into
the %PATH% (e.g. C:\DOS) where the PARCP can find it and run automatically.
Linux-ix86 specific requirements:
---------------------------------
PARCP is compiled under Linux-ix86 2.0.27 (Debian Linux 1.2 distribution).
It's linked statically, so it needs no libraries. I expect PARCP will work
with any current Linux distribution.
In order to get permissions to access the hardware directly it must be run
with root privileges (i.e. run it when you are logged as 'root' - otherwise
it will ends immediately with a core file).
3.2 PARCP Concepts
---------------------
This section explains some concepts you must understand to figure out how to
run it and how to configure the PARCP options.
3.2.1 Server and Client
-----------------------
When both machines are connected by the PARCP cable, one must become the PARCP
Server and the other is then PARCP Client. The Server serves the Client (it
receives or sends files and does other things Client may want).
The Client is that machine you are sitting in front of, usually.
If both computers are side by side, I choose a machine with better keyboard
as the Client ;-)
As you may see, it's up to you which machine will be the Server and which one
will be the Client - it's not important at all, since PARCP behaves always
exactly the same on all supported platforms. The only *very* important thing
is that you must *not* run two Clients or two Servers - this could lead to
a damage of your parallel ports! So please always run only one Server and
one Client!
3.2.2 Running Server
--------------------
In order to run the PARCP as Server you have to put the -s on the command line
of PARCP (please have a look at the command line parameters section in this
documentation).
Example:
--------
Atari users will double click on PARCP.TTP and write the -s parameter into
the command line window then press Enter.
IBM users will use a command line interpreter (either standard COMMAND.COM
in DOS or Linux's shell or anything like that) and put the line parcp -s
then press Enter.
After starting Server reads the configuration file and waits for connection
with Client. It will wait until a connection occurs or until you press the
Abort Key (it's the combination of Ctrl-leftShift-Alternate on Atari and
Ctrl-C on IBM).
Running PARCP Server simply waits for Client's commands. If it gets a command,
it does what Client wants and then it waits again for another command.
Server quits when it gets the command QUIT from Client.
You can abort the Server anytime by pressing the Abort Key, however
it's not recommended, since the Client couldn't know then that Server
is down already.
When the Server runs under a singletasking OS (TOS/DOS), the whole computer
is blocked until the Server exits. If you don't like this, then simply run
PARCP Server under a multitasking OS (MiNT, MagiC, Linux, Windows95, OS/2)
where it could run in the background. This way you can continue working with
your Server computer while it copies files in background, though the transfer
speed is lower than under a singletasking OS.
3.2.3 Running Client
--------------------
By default, when you run PARCP without any command line parameter it
runs as the PARCP Client. After reading the configuration file and
initialization the Client tries to connect with the Server for 10 seconds.
If it is not successful it exits back to desktop or shell.
After successful connection the PARCP Client:
o sends its parameters to Server (especially the length of block)
That means if Client's block length differs from Server's one, the
length of block will be according to Client's configuration file.
It simply overrides the Server's value for the actual session.
o checks the actual size of screen
PARCP is smart - it tries to get the number of lines by tioc() and if
it fails (or is not supported), environment variables "LINES" and
"COLUMNS" are read. If the variables are not defined, PARCP counts on
25 lines with 80 columns (standard TOS/DOS screen size).
o displays some parameters
Client shows you current settings for all parameters which can be
changed on-the-fly...
o ends up with prompt line:
>> here you can type commands, the very first should be HELP
(for discussion about every Client's command please go to next section)
However, if you start PARCP with additional parameters (without the '-'
sign in front of them) they are considered to be filenames destined for
sending to Server. In this case, after sending those files the PARCP Client
sends the LQUIT or QUIT command (please see the discussion of 'QuitAfterDrop'
command) and quits. This quick and easy way of copying files I call Drag&drop
mode, because I expect users will use this feature in GUI (such as Atari's
desktop or Windows95 Explorer) and will copy files by simple dragging them
over PARCP icon and dropping the files onto it.
3.2.4 Client's commands
-----------------------
Client's user interface is very similar to a ftp client's interface. If you
are familiar with FTP'ing you may need not to continue reading :-) Anyway,
read the next lines, for sure.
Client's commands are either without any parameter or allow/require one
parameter. There are three types of parameters:
o filename - that is a 'template' or a 'dir'
'template' is basically a filename which can contain the wildcards
'dir' is name of a directory or generally a path to a directory
o boolean value: you must put there ON or OFF (or Yes and No, if you
prefer it).
o a number - that's just the PGLEN command's parameter
If the parameter is in brackets ("[parameter]"), it's not required.
If you omit the parameter of DIR and LDIR commands they simply display
all files. If you however omit the parameters of the other commands (HASH,
CASE,OVER,SUBD,KEEP and PGLEN) they simply negate its value (from Yes to
No and vice-versa) and display its new state.
About wildcards in 'template':
------------------------------
The wildcards recognized by PARCP in the 'template' parameter are
compatible with Unix's grep command and allows such specifications as
*75.zip or * (equivelant to *.* in DOS lingo). Expressions such as [a-e]*t
would fit the name "apple.crt" or "catspaw.bat" or "elegant". This allows
considerably wider flexibility in file specification.
In the specified template string:
`*' matches any sequence of characters (zero or more)
`?' matches any character
`\' suppresses syntactic significance of a special character
[SET] matches any character in the specified set,
[!SET] or [^SET] matches any character not in the specified set.
A set is composed of characters or ranges; a range looks like 'character
hyphen character' (as in 0-9 or A-Z). [0-9a-zA-Z_] is the minimal set of
characters allowed in the [..] template construct. Other characters are
allowed (ie. 8 bit characters) if your system will support them (it almost
certainly will).
To suppress the special syntactic significance of any of `[]*?!^-\', and
match the character exactly, precede it with a `\'.
General rules for all commands:
-------------------------------
o If the commands begins with the 'L' letter, it's for the Local machine,
i.e. for Client. Simple example is the DIR command - DIR lists files
from remote machine (i.e. Server), LDIR lists files from local machine
(i.e. Client).
o Nearly all commands (GET, PUT, DIR, DEL, MD) act in the current working
directory (CWD). The CWD can be changed by the CD command and enquired
by the PWD command.
o The path separator in Unix is forward slash ('/') while in TOS/DOS it's
the backward slash ('\'). PARCP works with forward slashes internally,
but understands the back slashes, too.
o Unix mounts drives under normal directories while TOS/DOS uses the form
drive:\path. If you want to change CWD on Server, please remember which
operating system runs on it and use the appropriate form of CD parameter.
o The resulting CWD is displayed in unified form /drive/path, which simulates
Unix behaviour and is compatible with MiNT/MagiC way of mounting TOS drives
under universal drive U:\.
If you don't understand it, never mind. When PWD says "/d/tools" and Server
runs on TOS/MiNT/MagiC, you know the working directory is on drive d: in
path \tools\.
The list of Client's commands is as follows:
--------------------------------------------
QUIT quit both Client and Server. Since PARCP Client
wants to be similar to FTP, you can use command
Bye as an alias for QUIT.
LQUIT quit only Client. Server will wait for another
Client session.
PUT template send files matching template from Client to Server.
If SUBD is OFF, PUT sends just files matching
template, subdirectories are skipped. If SUBD is ON,
PUT sends all files and directories matching
GET template receive files matching template from Server to
Client. See the PUT command details for SUBD
description.
DIR [template] display list of files matching the template in current
directory on Server. If you omit the template DIR will
list all files. The alias for DIR is ls.
LDIR [template] display list of files matching the template in current
directory on Client. If you omit the template LDIR
will list all files. Alias for LDIR is lls.
DEL template delete files matching template on Server. If SUBD is
OFF DEL deletes just files matching template. If
SUBD is ON DEL deletes also directories. Alias is
rm.
LDEL template delete files matching template on Client. See the
DEL command above for SUBD description. Alias is
lrm.
REN filename rename file on Server. REN prompts for new filename.
LREN filename rename file on Client. Similar to REN.
CD dir change directory on Server
LCD dir change directory on Client
MD dir make directory on Server (alias is mkdir)
LMD dir make directory on Client (alias is lmkdir)
PWD prints current working directory on Server
LPWD prints current local working directory on Client
DRV display drives on Server
LDRV display drives on Client
HASH [ON/OFF] - when HASH is On, PARCP displays hash marks (dots :)
by every transferred block.
- when HASH if Off, the transfer progress is displayed
by percentage of the length of transferred file.
CASE [ON/OFF] - when CASE is On, only files matching the template
exactly are processed by PUT, GET, DIR and DEL commands.
- when CASE is Off, the upper and lower case are
considered to be the same (e.g. "AhOj" = "ahoJ").
OVER [ON/OFF] - when OVER is Off, you GET or PUT a file and another file
with the same name already exists in the dest. dir,
Client asks you whether to overwrite the existing file
or just skip the transferred one.
- when OVER is On, Client overwrites the file without
asking.
SUBD [ON/OFF] SUBD switch affects PUT, GET, DEL and LDEL commands.
When SUBD is On, PUT and GET transfers also all
matching directories and its files. DEL and LDEL
deletes also matching directories. When SUBD is OFF,
the commands will transfer or delete just files and
not directories.
KEEP [ON/OFF] KEEP On means that timestamp of copied files (date and
time of file creation) will be preserved.
PGLEN [number] PGLEN sets the length of view page for DIR command.
PARCP is very smart in determining the size of screen
(it checks the TIOCGWINSZ and environment variable
"LINES") so you shouldn't need the PGLEN command.
If you would like to change the length of view page,
anyway, do it anytime by PGLEN. With PGLEN 0 the DIR
listing never stops.
STAT just diplays current settings of switches
SAVE saves current settings into PARCP configuration
file. Please note that comments on updated lines
will be deleted.
3.3 State of parallel port
--------------------------
Standard parallel port is set to output state (all data lines are set for
output) by default. It's dangerous to connect two parallel ports together
with the PARCP cable when both ports are in output states.
That's why I included the programs PAR_IN and PAR_OUT into the PARCP
distribution.
When you run PAR_IN, it reads PARCP configuration file and sets the parallel
port into INput state. When one or both ports are in input states, it's OK
to connect them by PARCP cable.
When PARCP quits it sets the parallel port into input state, too (that's
a must, otherwise your ports might be damaged). So after running PAR_IN
or PARCP itself the port is in input state and everything is fine.
However after rebooting of your computer the parallel port is set to output
state again. If you use PARCP regularly it might be a good idea to let
PAR_IN start automatically as soon as the operating system boots.
Let's say you would like to disconnect PARCP cable and connect printer
cable into your parallel port without turning off the power. It's ofcourse
forbidden to connect or disconnect any cable to/from parallel ports of
*running* computer by all known manuals and documentations of printers and
computers - but if you really want to do it, you would need to run PAR_OUT
after disconnecting the PARCP cable and before you start printing on your
printer.
3.4 Before running it...
------------------------
Hardware
--------
On IBM you should check the type of parallel port first. The PARTEST.EXE
programs lets you choose the parallel port number: press number 1, 2 or 3
to indicate which parallel port you want to use for PARCP. PARTEST.EXE
will then determine the base address of that parallel port and ask you
kindly to remember the value of address and to put it into PARCP.CFG file
later.
It will also check the type of parallel port and write you whether to use
the UNI-BI adapter or not.
If you won't use the UNI-BI HW adapter you should connect the parallel
cable only after starting PARCP or PAR_IN on one computer (at that time its
parallel port is switched to input state and can be connected with the
other parallel port without a risk of damage both parallel ports).
When using UNI-BI adapter the parallel ports are relatively safe.
Before connecting the cable please make sure the computers are on the same
electrical ground otherwise you will get a nice fire in cable and parallel
ports (You have been warned!). Putting both computers' power cables to the
same power outlet is always a good idea.
Software
--------
PARCP is configured through a normal ASCII file: "PARCP.CFG". You can
edit it with any file editor to change the default behavior of the emulator.
The first time you will run PARCP, there are a few things that must be
adjusted that depend of your system. Please have a look at system specific
section of PARCP configuration file (chapter 4.1.1) for details, but the
most important thing is to indicate PARCP what parallel port it should
work with and whether you have plugged UNI-BI HW adapter into the port or not.
4. Configuration
================
The configuration of PARCP is done by editing PARCP.CFG file (it's a plain
ASCII text file). PARCP reads it at startup. It searches for the PARCP.CFG
at several places:
o first it looks for PARCP.CFG in the $PARCPDIR directory
o if it fails, PARCP searches for PARCP.CFG in the directory it was run
from
o at last it searches in actual folder
When it finds a valid PARCP.CFG, it will load it and stop searching. When
doesn't find the PARCP.CFG file, it will create one with default values
(handy in case you need to start editing the PARCP.CFG from scratch).
4.1 PARCP.CFG directives reference
----------------------------------
all tabs, spaces and texts after ';' and '#' up to end of line are ignored.
For boolean variables use either TRUE|FALSE or YES|NO - both answers are
permitted.
4.1.1 System Specific Section
-----------------------------
FastRoutines = [yes|no] if YES, PARCP will use fast assembler routines
for communication. The default is YES. Use NO
only if you have encountered problems with PARCP
communication. This command is Atari specific,
since assembler routines for Intel CPU haven't
been written yet.
Port = <adr> base address of parallel port (in hex!).
The default address is 378 (LPT1), other usual
addresses are 278 (LPT2) and 3bc (LPT3). For
correct value look either at startup screen of
your Bios or use PARTEST.EXE which can
determine the base address from Bios. This
command is IBM specific, because Atari computers
I know have only one parallel port.
UNI-BI = [yes|no] if YES, PARCP will use routines for UNI-BI HW
adapter. Default is NO. This command is also
IBM specific, because Atari computers' ports
are always bidirectional.
4.1.2 General Section
---------------------
ProcessSubDir = [yes|no] indicates whether to send also subdirectories.
Default is YES.
CaseSensitive = [yes|no] if NO, upper and lower cases in filenames are
considered to be the same. Default is NO.
Overwritting = [yes|no] if YES, PARCP will overwrite existing files
without asking. Default is NO.
KeepTimeStamp = [yes|no] if YES, copied files will have the same date
and time of creation as have the original files.
Default is YES.
HashMark = [yes|no] if YES, PARCP will display a hash mark ('.')
every transferred block.
if NO, PARCP will display the progress
in percentage of length of transferred file.
QuitAfterDrop = [yes|no] if YES, Server will exit after receiving
drag&dropped files. That's handy for single
file copying - just run the Server (usually by
a hotkey) and drop a file onto Client's icon...
BlockLength = <n> length of transferred block in bytes - the
longer block, the faster transfer but the less
often the screen gets updated with progress
info etc.
DirectoryLines = <n> number of lines for directory buffer
one line in directory buffer takes about 60
bytes. If a directory has more than <n> lines,
they won't be shown.
FileBuffer = <n> length of buffer in bytes for additional file
buffering. Try to increase this value for
better performance.
Timeout = <n> the timeout value in seconds. The default value
(10 seconds) should be enough, but increasing
this value might help when the response time
from Server is too long and Client quits with
"Timeout" during DIR or GET commands.
4.1.3 Debug Section
-------------------
This is only useful for beta-testers and those who want to examine PARCP's
behaviour, trace internal routines, remember tranferred files...
You need to have a "debug" distribution of PARCP for this.
Debug = <n> debug level
LogFile = <file> name of logfile, where all the informations
are written into.
NoLog = <string> string of characters
NoDisplay = <string> string of characters
4.1.4 PARCP.CFG example
-----------------------
# configuration file for PARCP v2.30 (9.6.1997)
[PARCP]
Port = 378 # parallel port base address (in hex!)
UNI-BI = TRUE # use UNI-BI HW adapter
FastRoutines = TRUE # use fast assembler routines
ProcessSubDir = TRUE # send also files in directories
CaseSensitive = FALSE # don't distinguish between upper and lower case
Overwritting = FALSE # ask before overwritting a file
KeepTimeStamp = TRUE # keep the time-stamp of copied file
HashMark = TRUE # put a hash-mark every transferred block
QuitAfterDrop = TRUE # quit the Server after receiving a drag&dropped file
BlockLength = 131072 # the length of block is 128 kB
DirectoryLines = 200 # no more than 200 files in a directory
FileBuffer = 262144 # file buffer is 256 kB (should be >= BlockLength)
Timeout = 15 # Timeout is set to 15 seconds
4.2 Command line parameters
---------------------------
Many command line parameters known from previous versions of PARCP have
been eliminated thanks to configuration file. The only valid options are:
-s run PARCP as Server
-f <file> path to alternate configuration file
The alternate configuration file can be used for different configuration
sets. When the entered filename of configuration file is valid, the
configuration file will have the highest priority and will be used
instead of other configuration files found in home directory etc.
PARCP Server ignores any other parameters on command line.
PARCP Client takes all other words (without the '-' sign) on its command
line as names of files or directories to be sent to the Server. If your
environment supports so called `drag & drop', simply put the files or
directories onto PARCP icon and they will be copied to Server (into the
current working directory of Server). The Client will exit after sending
those files. Whether the Server will quit as well or will wait for another
PARCP session is defined by the directive QuitAfterDrop (see 4.1.2).
4.3 Configuration under Client
-------------------------------
Under PARCP Client you can change values of ProcessSubDir (SUBD),
CaseSensitive (CASE), Overwritting (OVER), KeepTimeStamp (KEEP) and
HashMark (HASH). All these changes are active only in the current PARCP
session, after quitting it the values stay as they are in PARCP.CFG.
If you would like to keep the current settings, use the SAVE command to
store your settings into PARCP configuration file.
5. Miscellaneous
================
5.1 DISCLAIMER:
---------------
The author accepts no liability for any damages to users or to third
parties, arising in any way out of the use of the PARCP, PARCP cable and
UNI-BI adapter. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Do not expect endless support if you are using an unregistered version.
I am always interested in bug reports, however, and any major ones will
probably get fixed.
5.2 Hints
---------
o you can create your own batch (DOS) or script (Linux) file called e.g.
PARSERVE which will contain just the 'parcp -s' line. This way you
could start the Server more easily.
o if you use PARCP regularly you most probably won't disconnect the PARCP
cable from computers. Then it's important to start PAR_IN on one or
both computers after reboot as soon as possible (because every reboot
of computer sets its parallel ports to output state which is dangerous
for the other computer). That's why I suggest you to put PAR_IN.PRG
into your AUTO folder (Atari) or PAR_IN.EXE into AUTOEXEC.BAT (DOS).
o PARCP doesn't check the transferred files agains errors yet. If you
want to be 100% sure that the copied files are OK, you can compress it
with ZIP, LHarc, ARJ or similar compress program, which holds a table
of CRC (a checksum). Then you can test the transferred file if it can
be unpacked. However I copy megabytes of data by PARCP every day
without any single error so far.
6. Resources & Acknowledgments
===============================
6.1 Related programs
--------------------
o ST-Trans (c) Atari 1992
With simple GEM interface full of bugs and rock-solid but slow
routines it's not a competitor for me. However I got inspired by the
handshake method used there...
o MiNT-Net (PLIP driver) (c) Kay Roemer
PLIP driver is a modified SLIP driver for parallel port. Can connect
two Atari computers running MiNT and MiNT-Net. It's interrupt driven,
so it's slower than PARCP. It's a real NET, though.
o HDD_DMN3 (c) MC Soft&Hard 1997
HDD Daemon is a complete solution for people with poor Atari ST
without harddisk but with an IBM computer. HDD_DMN will connect those
computers so Atari is able to read IBM's harddisk.
Interesting piece of software, but a bit complicated for me.
o PC2Am (c) Michal Kara AKA Lemming
PC <-> Amiga parallel network software. Powerful and fast (100%
assembler). Helped me in the beginning with bidirectional parallel
ports programming.
6.2 Resources
--------------
PARCP Home Site:
===================
http://ft3.zlin.vutbr.cz/stehlik/home.htm
Official PARCP site. Up-to-date versions, on-line history file.
ftp://ftp.zlin.vutbr.cz/pub/atari/parcp/
Official PARCP ftp server.
PARCP Support Site:
===================
http://www.cyberstrider.org
CyberSTrider site with latest releases of the shareware and demo
software.
6.3 GREETINGS
-------------
I wish to thank the following persons:
Michal Kara For the informations about IBM parallel port programing
and for complete source code - great inspiration!
Ian D. Gay For the idea of PARCP Server and Client similar to PARCP
and source code of basic CLIENT/SERVER program
J. Kercheval For his REGEX Globber
Jeffry J.Brickley For the idea of configuration file stuff
and source code rev. 1.1.0 (a lot of bugs in it! :-)
Lukas Macura For his HDD_DMN - it's a great competitor! :-)
Mike De.Petris For betatesting and useful suggestions
Koos Kuil For betatesting, bug reporting and for the 1st registration
People behind GNU For the great GNU C compiler
Frank Naumann For his GNU C 2.7.2 MiNT port
D.J.Delorie For his DJGPP (GNU C 2.7.2 DOS port)
Frederic Gidouin For his PaCifiST doc file I got an inspiration for
this documentation from.
My wife Leona For her support and love.
6.4 CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
-------------------------
Feel free to send any bugreports, suggestions, remarks, registrations...
e-mail: stehlik@cas3.zlin.vutbr.cz
netmail: 2:421/36@fidonet.org or 90:1200/2@nest.ftn
snail mail:
Petr Stehlik
Pod Tlustou 5083
CZ-760 01 Zlin
Czech Republic
External Links