[TUHS] Floppy to modern files for Usenet maps

[Larry McVoy]

Arthur's comments bring back some memories.  I probably still have this,
a ribbon serial cable with male and female connectors on both ends and
a breadboard in the middle.  I could hook anything to anything :)

That said, I'm *ecstatic* that I no longer have to deal with serial ports.

On Sun, Jun 23, 2019 at 08:53:19PM -0400, Arthur Krewat wrote:
> Both the AT&T and the USB cable will be "DTE" (Data Terminal Equipment - ala
> terminal) vs. "DCE" (Data Communication Equipment - ala modem) - you'll need
> a null-modem cable to correct that mismatch. Basically, if not using
> hardware handshake, swap pin 2 and 3. ;)
> 
> 
> On 6/23/2019 8:35 PM, Mary Ann Horton Gmail wrote:
> >These are great ideas. I can easily get USB-to-serial (and even
> >USB-to-parallel) cables online that will fit the PC/XT compatible DB-25
> >plugs on the back of the PC.?? I'll have to figure out how to fiddle with
> >the baud rates and such.
> >
> >I solved the GRF file puzzle.?? It turns out it's a text file - a Usenet
> >article. And the same article is in the Google archive.
> >
> >https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/group$3Anet.news.map$20philabs!dal/net.news.map/lhqyD7MOFe8/v0CQFMZyGboJ
> >
> >
> >There is a cutoff notice at the end, both on the Usenet article and on the
> >floppy file, but that may be intentional.?? I'll have some fiddling to do.
> >
> >?????? Mary Ann
> >
> >On 6/23/19 5:02 PM, Grant Taylor via TUHS wrote:
> >>On 6/23/19 5:52 PM, Arthur Krewat wrote:
> >>>Does the AT&T have a serial port?
> >>>
> >>>Kermit would be the way I'd go, but since you say you have nothing
> >>>with serial ports, that could be a problem. A cheap usb-to-serial port
> >>>might be in order. Then you can run Kermit 95 on a Windows 7 or
> >>>earlier machine. (might work on later OS's too, but it's not
> >>>supported)
> >>>
> >>>The flip side is how to get Kermit onto the DOS machine.
> >>
> >>Does Kermit have an option like INTERLNK & INTERSVR have where you can
> >>run a "copy COM1 INTERxxx.EXE" to push the software across the serial
> >>port?
> >>
> >>I wonder what the requirements are for INTERLNK & INTERSVR. I don't know
> >>if they would go back to (MS-)DOS 2.11 or not.
> >>
> >>>I used a floppy recovery service a while back to read my old Commodore
> >>>64/PET disks - he was relatively inexpensive, and very responsive.
> >>>
> >>>http://retrofloppy.com/
> >>
> >>If the machine is able to read the files without error, then a recovery
> >>service might not be necessary.?? IMHO it's a question of getting one or
> >>more copies onto something else so that the existing floppy isn't the
> >>only copy.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >

-- 
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Larry McVoy            	     lm at mcvoy.com             http://www.mcvoy.com/lm