Hooking up Atari to PC, best program ?

[rocket-dog]

I do have the cable and it is actually plumbed into the STe (in front of me now) and the new-to-me AMD tower I have been talking about above. I got carried away with my success with GhostLink so I though I would have a go with ParcP. But I couldn't get ParcP to run on the set up I had at that time. For me having a go with these solutions is as much about trying them out for interest sake as it is for getting stuff in and out of Atari-dom. Same reason why I still like to use floppies. There is despite leaving my uni' course a bit of the historian in me that likes to recreate the past. And unlike most of you I skipped the '90s for using Atari's so I am playing catch-up.

[nativ]

Has anyone tried real Atari to Araynm or STEem?

[AB Positive]

broke down and did the VMPlayer method... and yep - I do have a connection! Now to sort everything by letter... have all my ST files in one folder and boy does it take a while to read

[rocket-dog]

Super. I am glad everything is working. Now you have VMware running you will have to try give a Linux distro' a whirl.

[AB Positive]

No need, I've been a linux user for many years... just annoying as I have a finicky NIC card that so far no distro likes. Not Wireless - wired. Once it catches up, I'm backing up and dropping XP.

[DarkLord]

Hmm, just curious - what brand name is that card? Its been years and years for me
personally since 'Nix hasn't found a network card, in a slot or built in to the MB, as
so many of them are these days...

Thanks.

[rocket-dog]

Now I have a box with a proper parallel port I am going to try PARCP. But I think I will go with the Linux version.

This is a nice solution. Did not use lately but if I remember well I think I was transferring over 100 KB/s
and UI is like Norton Commander and is very intuitive. Also handle nicely the Windows long file names.
You just have to build a special cable but if you already have a modem cable you just need to invert two wires at one of the connector... This is well explained at the PARCP site and make sure you use the proper programs to set the parallel ports to input state so you do not harm your Atari or PC ....

You have me worried now. I bought my cable yonks ago and though I researched it, knew what I was getting at the time, I have since forgotten. I purchased a null parallel cable, or as it is more commonly called a LapLink cable (or even Win95 PC to PC cable.) I am now nut sure whether that is right now. Though I am sure at the time it was right.

I have been checking out motherboards with legacy ports. And I get one with serial and parallel headers for use with i3/i5 for about £65-ish. Though I now have dual floppies for my STe I still have a secret ambition to have a computer with two floppies in one case. I am strange that way.

[rocket-dog]

No need, I've been a linux user for many years... just annoying as I have a finicky NIC card that so far no distro likes. Not Wireless - wired. Once it catches up, I'm backing up and dropping XP.

I only pretend to hate XP; it is crappy etc. But there are lots of tech in the world which we depend that is just as crappy. Further I used to work with UNIX in a previous life so I prefer Linux; I am too stupid to be a guru.

[nativ]

PCee's used to have 5.25 and 3.5 drives
CD & DVD and 3.5?

Can you use an external 1.44 3.5 drive while using seltos and TOS 2.06?

regards

[DrCoolZic]

You have me worried now. I bought my cable yonks ago and though I researched it, knew what I was getting at the time, I have since forgotten. I purchased a null parallel cable, or as it is more commonly called a LapLink cable (or even Win95 PC to PC cable.) I am now nut sure whether that is right now. Though I am sure at the time it was right.

As far as I remember Null/ Laplink etc. cables you buy from shop wont work

A description of this cable can be found at the PARCP site. it is basically a DB25M-DB25M data-switch cable (all pins connected directly on both side) where wires connected to pins 1 and 11 are switched on one end. This results to data signals connected bit to bit and strobe from one side connected to the busy on the other side plus of course the ground.

In summary find a data switch cable (18 or 25 wires version acceptable) and on one side switch wires on pin 1 and 11 and you're done

Code: Select all

Signal Name     DB25  DB25     Remark
Strobe/Busy     1     11   
Data 0          2     2        10K resistor can be inserted
Data 1          3     3        10K resistor can be inserted
Data 2          4     4        10K resistor can be inserted
Data 3          5     5        10K resistor can be inserted
Data 4          6     6        10K resistor can be inserted
Data 5          7     7        10K resistor can be inserted
Data 6          8     8        10K resistor can be inserted
Data 7          9     9        10K resistor can be inserted
N/C             10    10       Connected or not
Busy/Strobe     11    1   
N/C             12-17 12-17    Connected or not
Grounds         18-25 18-25    At least one on pin 25

FYI: I have successfully used the PARCP program with this cable, but I did not succeed with HDD_DMN3

Note that the data signals (pins 2 to 9) are connected to bidirectional ports on both side, and they are usually initialized to the default output mode (remember that usually a printer is suppose to be connected to this port) with an unknown value (i.e. 0 or 1). Therefore it is possible that any particular data bit from an output on one side is at 0 and on that the output on the corresponding other side is at 1 resulting in an electrical conflict. Electronic interface circuits are relatively tolerant but this situation should be time minimized by either setting the ports into the input mode during startup of the computers (some programs are provided as part of the PARCP solution for this matter), or by inserting a 1KOhm to 10KOhm resistor between each data signals. For that matter a 8x10K resistor pack can be inserted inside a connector on one side.

[rocket-dog]

Thanks!!! What concerned me was I had forgot the potential for damage. I am happy with Ghost, speed isn't an issue.

[kaiten]

Hi, im using ghostlink under XP and its going fine. I used PARC only with win98 and works very fast. Im searching anything like ghostlink and fast like parp, seems that HDD DAEMON is the program but im trying to use it and always says "divide overflow" in PC, i tried xp, w98, msdos and it is always the same. Anyone made this program works?

[Beej]

:arrow: serial port (COM1 or COM2) : use GHOSTLINK with a cable "null modem".

If you have zindozs xp or 2000, you can use an utility who release your serial or printer/parallel port : http://www.writelog.com/support/lpt_port_support_on_windows_nt.htm (source : Strider)

parallel port (LPT) : use PARALLELCOPY with his proper cable PARALLELCOPY (or a cross parallel cable !) or PARCP.

Ghostlink v 1.02 beta and Parcp v 2.5 are join on this Sticky with their docs !

Enjoy or Comments or Upgrade !

With CoNnect on the ST (a shareware COMMS program) you can easily make a MIDI to RS232 cable.
This software can see the MIDI ports as another serial connection.

While this port, like the ST MODEM port is limited to 19200 baud (without hacks), at least you can get 'two' transfers going at a time (launch two terminals, one using modem, one using midi).

If you're a bit tech savy, hunt down HSMODEM. It's free docs and software which:
1. Fix some RS232 bugs on unmodifed 16bit Atari Machines
2. Offer how to docs on hacking Atari Serial ports to much higher rates.
3. Provides drivers to use MIDI ports like modem ports.
Try here: http://atari4ever.free.fr/ for various hardware hacks
and here: http://www.ping.be/~pin10575/PRG-UTIL.HTM to find HSMODEM and other helpful software.

If you have SCSI on the ATARI (ICD Link 2, or Link 96 or later)...also drop a SCSI card in the PC that supports 'SCSI Arbitration'. Have at least one partition on your SCSI chain that is DOS/TOS compatible. HDDRIVER software will let you make partitions that can be seen on both platforms.

If you have at least a meg of RAM in the ST...EtherNEC/A Net-B is a 5kps option. Use STing and TCP/IP...ftp over your ethernet.

STing also has drivers for parallel port to TCP/IP. I know it's awsome for Atari to Atari connections. I'm not sure what kind of software is out there for the Windows/PC end of this...if any at all? In theory any 'plip' software should work...(a standard for tcp/ip over parallel cable). I know there are tons of TCP/IP over serial/parallel ports for unix/linux. If not for windows...should be easy enough to find some source and compile it for windows, or...just run a small linux distro as a virtual machine on your PeeCee.

Finally...while it's not a 'connection'...perhaps the fastest, cheapest, and STILL AVAILABLE method to move a ton of stuff back and forth is with:
SatanDisk, http://joo.kie.sk/satandisk/
UltraSatan, http://joo.kie.sk/ultrasatan/ or
HxC Floppy Emulator, http://www.torlus.com/floppy/

Hard drive users will love Satan.
Floppy gamers might opt for HxC.
Beej

[Beej]

I like how the pc drive comes up as a hard disk, but is there a way to get a program that does this with a Linux pc? Also would be interested to know can I do the same thing from my Falcon to st (like so I can see the falcon like a hard disk on the st) because my st hard disk is quite small.
Cheers

Yes...for your ST...get STing (TCP/IP Stack), ftp (fast file transfer), and B-Net (mount disk directories for other TOS/GEM machines over TCP/IP). It can talk to your falcon over the MIDI, SERIAL, or PARALLEL port using TCP/IP.

With a Falcon you have a couple of options...
A. The STing Route...good if you don't want to mess with Mint/Unix on your Atari.

1. ARanyM on the linux box. ( Check your distro using apt-get or synaptic, etc. If not there you can find it here: http://aranym.sourceforge.net/ )

2. STing on both ARarym and your Falcon (

3. B-Net for STing (STing and B-Net can be found here http://www.ettnet.se/~dlanor/sting/html/index_nc.htm )

STing is a TCP/IP stack for TOS/GEM
B-Net lets you mount hard/ram/floppy/flash/etc... directories for an Atari Network.

B. Install EasyMint or CrippleMint on your Falcon.
EasyMint is full blown Atari Unix that runs along side your regular Atari software (most of it anyway)...You can run your favorite shells off full screen virtual consoles, or inside GEM windows. To install it ALL...with networking, development tools, and X11 Windows stuff, it takes around 500mb to install, needs 10meg or so on a regular Atari hard disk partition for booting, and an ext2 partition for all the unix goodies.

CrippleMint just gives you the MiNT Kernel and enough to get a TCP/IP stack working, with various overlays for using STik/STing/Draconis utilities. With the 1.16 vintage kernel, you can do vfat for long filenames on a regular Atari partition if you really need it. It may be possible to get an nfs and/or samba mount going from here as well...though you'll have to poke around in the rpms to find what you need. Oh, I think it has XXAES with it as well.

Now you can do full blown nfs mounts as you would any other unix.
You can find EasyMint here: http://atari.st-katharina-apotheke.de/h ... e=easymint

C. There are other variants of MiNT out there. EasyMint is the latest......but some others are quite good for older/slower machines. KEMD, and various manual installs from the SpareMint projects have been done over the years.

D. Run Linux on your Falcon. I have no clue where to get this these days..nor have I tried it, but it does exist.

Now with your Unixized Atari you can mount shares in both directions. You can go with the unix standard of NFS, or you can do the Windows Samba method...or both.

EasyMint...the full install might be a little much for a stock Falcon...but the good news is that after you've installed it, you can trim back things you don't need for added speed. You can also opt to start with the minimal install (no ext2 partition) and then manually attempt to set up the networking stack. Or go for CrippleMint which is the bare minimum install for a plain tcp/ip stack with some sting and draconis overlays.

E. MagiC-Net. This I have not tried...but from version 6.2 you can supposedly change the extension of the file name and drop mint driver and device modules into MagiC. I'm not sure if any NFS or Samba like drivers exist that will run under Magic...but...you can at least get TCP/IP working. Sometimes things intended for MiNT will run under MagiC 6.2 right out of box...only way to find out is to try it

Beej

[wongck]

While this port, like the ST MODEM port is limited to 19200 baud (without hacks), at least you can get 'two' transfers going at a time (launch two terminals, one using modem, one using midi).

Surf to my page for transfering at max speed 115K using hsmondem on a stock falcon: http://phsw.110mb.com/nw-nullmodem.html

[wongck]

can also opt to start with the minimal install (no ext2 partition) and then manually attempt to set up the networking stack.

Guide for installing a minimal Mint with Mintnet this available at http://phsw.110mb.com/sw-mintinst.html
These are step-by-step guide.

[wongck]

You can go with the unix standard of NFS, or you can do the Windows Samba method...or both.

Easiest will be to install & run Sharity-lite which gives you drag & drop access to the Windows Shared folder, just like any other drive in your GEM desktop.

[Dal]

STing also has drivers for parallel port to TCP/IP.

Where can I find these drivers? I've had a quick google around with no joy... could be interesting for another post I'm looking at.

[_ThEcRoW]

Is the parallel port software allowing to run programs from the pc hard drive?. I miss that feature on ghostlink, and if the parallel port option has it, then i could buy or made the cable to get it done.

[piku]

I remember a long time ago I used ghostlink on a pc on a different floor of my house. I don't know how long the serial cable was, had to be at least 50 feet. Worked great at fairly high speeds.

[metro2005]

Linking via serial does not need HDD. May be a Ramdisk will do.

I made a video about this a while ago, i did it on a 2 mb STE but i think a 1 MB version will do also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMfr6pGAtWo

Its slow as hell to do but it doesn't require a pc with floppy disk drive.

[sqward]

Hi guys,

shameless plug:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=27365

[DrCoolZic]

As we are reviving this thread for me the best solution is now to use CosmosEx

[Atari030]

Not for us Falcon owners. I'm still trying to find a good way to do it.

[Mr.JT]

Could anyone give me more information about PCTrans and STTrans ?
I've read that they support parallel transfer (with the PARCP cable it seems), is that right ? That would be very interesting if it works like Ghostlink.

I've tried to download them but so far I only found STTrans (even on the archives claiming they hold PCTrans).

Well, if anyone has any information about these programs... Or trhe programs themselves... I'd love to test them between my ST and PC, as I have the PARCP cable. Seems it was on the ST-Book disks...

BUMP!! Yes, where can one download PCTrans? Looked everywhere?! (need to connect an STBook to PC/Mac and given all the STBook has on it is STTrans (and I don't have my other Ataris here) looks like PC Trans is my only option!)