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1999-04-28
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Quick description and manual for S5-trans. 1999-04-28
Written by Björn Axelsson, gecko@acc.umu.se
----------------------------------------------------------------
Current version: 0.4
See http://s5-trans.amiga.tm/ for the latest updates and info!
At last - an Amiga <-> Psion S5 file transfer utility, for free!
S5-trans is a package of some basic command-line Psion file handling
utilities. It uses the built-in link and remote file server protocols of
your Psion S5 to give you maximum flexibility and minimum hassle.
Disclaimer:
THIS IS EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
It may crash your computer, destroy data and hardware or just be a
pain in the ass.
(Although I find v0.4 very stable, you should be careful when using it)
Utilities in the package:
s5-get - Transfers files from your S5 to your Amiga
s5-put - Transfers files from your amiga to your S5
s5-dir - Lists the contents of a S5 directory
s5-rename - Renames or moves files and directorys on your S5
s5-delete - Removes files from your S5
s5-mkdir - Creates directorys on your S5
s5-rmdir - Removes directorys on your S5
Additional ARexx scripts:
s5-copydir - Backups a complete directory with subdirectories to Amiga
Written by Neil Bothwick
Features:
- Configurable serial device, useful for IO extenders
- No installation needed on the Psion, just make sure your link is up
and running
- Quick and easy to use
- Very short feature list =)
Quick documentation:
Installation:
1. Copy the "s5-xxx"-files somewhere into your path.
2. Change (using a text editor, for example "ed") the serial settings
in the file "s5-trans.config" to something that suites your Amiga.
A typical setting would be:
"DEVICE=serial.device BAUD=115200 UNIT=0"
if you are using the built-in serial port on a fast Amiga.
3. Copy "s5-trans.config" to env: and envarc: to save the settings
4. Turn on your S5, and on the System screen press Ctrl-l to bring up
the remote link settings
5. Make sure that "Link" is set to "Cable" and that "Baud rate" is the
same as the on you chose in the "s5-trans.config" file on the Amiga.
6. Press OK, and you are ready to test the software.
7. Make sure your cable is connected allright (you will probably need a
standard 25 to 9 pin adapter at the Amiga end)
8. "s5-dir c:\" should now give you a listing of the Psion's internal
RAM-disk's root directory
9. If you get "Serial timeout" - check cables and serial settings.
Hints:
- You should always be able to break any transfer with Ctrl-c on the
Amiga side.
- The Psion doesn't need to be turned on for theese programs to work.
It will simply turn itself on automatically as soon as you try to do
anything.
- The link will drain batteries from your Psion even when not used, so
it might be a good idea to turn it off if you are not going to use it
for a while.
- On the Psion S5, paths always ends with "\" or ":"
- If you are getting a lot of CRC errors, try to lower the baud rate
and make sure no other programs are running in the background.
Settings for all utilities: (In file "env:s5-trans.config")
Option description default value
---------------------------------------------------------------
Device Serial device to use, e.g. serial.device
"serial.device" for the builtin port
Unit/N Device unit, e.g. "0" for the builtin 0
port
Baud/N Device speed. Must be same on Psion! 115200
Quiet/S Print nothing but error reports FALSE
(Overrides Verbose)
Verbose/S Print more than normally (e.g transfer FALSE
rates, etc)
The command line option "Quiet" overrides the Quiet and Verbose settings
in the config file.
Utilities documentation:
Name option description
-----------------------------------------------
s5-get From/A Psion file to copy
To Optional destination file or path on Amiga.
Quiet/S Minimises output
Comment:
If given only a Psion file name it will copy it to the current Amiga
directory. If given an Amiga path it will copy the file there.
If a full Amiga path with filename is specified, the file will be
named as specified.
Name option description
-----------------------------------------------
s5-put From/A Amiga file to copy
To/A Destination file or path on Psion
Quiet/S Minimises output
Comment:
If given only a Psion path it will copy the file there. If given a
complete destination file specifikation, the file will named as
specified.
Name option description
-----------------------------------------------
s5-dir Dir/A Psion dir to list
Quiet/S Minimises output (still prints dir listing though)
Comment:
Supports basic wildcard pattern ("*" and "?"). E.g. "s5-dir c:\*.txt"
would list all files in the root dir ending with ".txt".
File flag explanations
m - modified
r - read only
h - hidden
s - system
t - temp file
c - compressed file
Name option description
-----------------------------------------------
s5-rename From/A Old file name including full path.
To/A New file name or path
Quiet/S Minimises output
Comment:
Can also be used for moving files between Psion folders.
s5-delete File/A Psion file to delete
Quiet/S Minimises output
Comment:
There is currently no way do delete read-only files.
s5-makedir Dir/A Psion directory to create
Quiet/S Minimises output
s5-rmdir Dir/A Psion directory to remove
Quiet/S Minimises output
A cry for help:
There are some things I would like some help with:
- ARexx scripts
If you make some clever scripts like one to copy a whole dir
structure, or a DirOpus interface - please send them to me, and I
will distribute them with the next version of s5-trans.
- Remote printing
With the PsiWin software it is possible to print via Windows.
This is done in two parts. First the page(s) to be printed is
rendered into a special format on the Psion, then they are
transferred via the Remote Printing Protocol to Windows. Here the
pages are processed again and sent to the printer.
I have sucessfully reverse-engineered the printing protocol, but
have not enough time to start working on the data I get. It seems
fairly simple with font descriptions, graphics primitives and
stuff.
If you think you are brave enough to start working on this I can
send you a small utility to capture the data and write it to a
file.
- Comments
I want comments on these programs, lots of them!
This is both to see how big the need is for utilities like this,
and to see what people out there really wants!
FAQ:
Q: How fast is it?
A: The file transfer speed depends on your processor and serial
hardware. On my 060/50Mhz, standard amiga serial port I get a speed
around 6.5kb/s, but with an add-on IO board like the IOXtender or
Whippet you would get higher transfer rates.
Q: Why are the executables so large?
A: This software is in a very early development phase, and I decided
that it was a higher priority to get the software out than to make
it space-efficient. Later releases will have most code in a shared
library, making each executable somewhat 20kb smaller.
Q: Wouldn't it be great to be able to mount the Psion as a file system
on the Amiga and browse on it via Workbench?
A: Yes it would. That is one of the main goals with this development
(see future below)
Q: I would like to see feature xxx or have a utility to yyy!
A: Please let me know what you would like to see. I need a lot of user
feedback to continue this development.
History:
v0.4 - 990428 - Minor bugfix
* Fixed serial configuration problems that would cause "serial
timeout" on some hardware.
v0.3 - 990422 - Min