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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Xanaa on May 14, 2014, 11:15:47 PM

Title: Transfer files
Post by: Xanaa on May 14, 2014, 11:15:47 PM
Hi
I have 2 Amiga computer a 2000 and a 1200. I want to know how to get files off the 1200 to the 2000 WITHOUT a PC computer. What cables do I need to get or make and software and a someone to explain this to me. The 1200 has  CF card in it and the 2000 a CD Rom drive.
Thank you
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on May 14, 2014, 11:22:40 PM
Many, many ways of doing this. Assuming you already nixed the obvious idea of "sneaker net", you'd want a parallel or serial connection. Seeing as you'll probably also want the correct cable, you can either make your own or just order this one from AmigaKit:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=653

And then just download the software (I believe it's on Aminet).
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 14, 2014, 11:55:53 PM
Been a while since I did it via a cable, but wouldn't SERNET be faster using a serial null-modem cable?  Should be able to grab one of them from any electrical shop (with gender changers/pin adapters if necessary).
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 15, 2014, 12:06:06 AM
Parnet = 1 byte at a time, Sernet = 1 bit at a time.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: takemehomegrandma on May 15, 2014, 12:19:17 AM
Quote from: Darrin;764446
wouldn't SERNET be faster using a serial null-modem cable?


Sernet/null-modem is much slower, Parnet is the way to go...

:)
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: commodorejohn on May 15, 2014, 12:23:38 AM
Serial is still plenty viable though if you want to just grab a cable from the local computer shop and go. (Assuming you have a local computer shop that still stocks this stuff and isn't just a glorified tablet/phone store - my area has a couple, but I'm not sure how common they are in the world at large these days.)
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 15, 2014, 12:25:15 AM
Cheers guys.  I wasn't sure how fast the parallel port was compared to the serial.  I used to use the serial port with Siamese to connect my old Amiga to old PC and that allowed file transfer and RTG graphics.  Ah, the good old days...

Edit:  The Siamese software even allowed you to network over the SCSI ports.  Never tried it myself.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 15, 2014, 01:15:10 AM
Hmm, how fast is one bit at a time versus 8 bits at a time.  I'm sorry the math is just too difficult.  Anyone got a calculator?
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: giZmo350 on May 15, 2014, 02:25:00 AM
Quote from: danbeaver;764452
Hmm, how fast is one bit at a time versus 8 bits at a time.  I'm sorry the math is just too difficult.  Anyone got a calculator?

Ahhh! So what your really saying is... "It's sorta like a guy sittin around the shanty, on a Saturday afternoon, eatin a Chilly Dog with Mr Bongy, watchin Mystery Science Theater 3000" -vs- "How many Tacos can a guy eat in ten minutes?"
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: QuikSanz on May 15, 2014, 03:57:07 AM
maybe easier to just move the CF to the 2000 with files on it.

Chris
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on May 15, 2014, 04:52:21 AM
Quote from: gizmo350;764454
Ahhh! So what your really saying is... "It's sorta like a guy sittin around the shanty, on a Saturday afternoon, eatin a Chilly Dog with Mr Bongy, watchin Mystery Science Theater 3000" -vs- "How many Tacos can a guy eat in ten minutes?"

I have no idea what that reference is, but it's bloody hilarious!  :laughing:
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 15, 2014, 05:30:47 AM
Quote from: danbeaver;764452
Hmm, how fast is one bit at a time versus 8 bits at a time.  I'm sorry the math is just too difficult.  Anyone got a calculator?


If the data transfer speed of the serial port is more than 8 times faster than the parallel port then...

As most Amigas seem to suffer from slow serial ports, I wasn't going to assume that the parallel port was up to snuff.  Is the A1200 port a newer EPP?

Edit:  A bit of Googling and it appears even the old parallel port would kick the Amiga's serial port into touch!
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 15, 2014, 06:08:02 AM
Quote from: Darrin;764457
If the data transfer speed of the serial port is more than 8 times faster than the parallel port then...

Although in a closed loop, tightly controlled artificial environment the Amiga serial Theoretical Throughput is 115,200, one cannot forget the parity, stop bits and handshake requirements of the Amiga serial port which give it a maximum usable speed of about 57,600 bits per second vs the standard parallel port of 12,000,000 bits per sec (12,000 kbits per second).  The add-on Zorro cards were capable of more speed, but only a Silver Surfer Clockport adapter and Surf Squirrel were really available for the A1200.  The parallel port had 4 additional lines for control/handshaking and does not use the data lines for this purpose.  Hence, Darrin, if you divide 12,000,000 by 57,000 you end up with a wee bit more that an "8 times increase.". If one uses a faster processor and or a better serial port and parallel port card, you would in theory be pitted against a EPP port that can transfer at 2 Mbps.  

Again, I'm real bad with math; anyone got a calculator?
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: pVC on May 15, 2014, 06:08:19 AM
Quote from: Xanaa;764442
Hi
I have 2 Amiga computer a 2000 and a 1200. I want to know how to get files off the 1200 to the 2000 WITHOUT a PC computer. What cables do I need to get or make and software and a someone to explain this to me. The 1200 has  CF card in it and the 2000 a CD Rom drive.
Thank you


As both Amigas are perfectly cabable computers for ethernet, I'd foreget serial or parallel hacks, they're soo slow. With ethernet you can share devices of each machine to other and use them just like local drives with quick connection.

Ser/par cables are of course very cheap, but if you can afford to Zorro2 network card for A2000 (used ones probably aren't that expensive) and get practically free PCMCIA network card  for A1200, it's a much better solution in long term. Unless you just plan to make only one transfer with little data.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 15, 2014, 12:23:16 PM
Quote from: danbeaver;764458
Although in a closed loop, tightly controlled artificial environment the Amiga serial Theoretical Throughput is 115,200, one cannot forget the parity, stop bits and handshake requirements of the Amiga serial port which give it a maximum usable speed of about 57,600 bits per second vs the standard parallel port of 12,000,000 bits per sec (12,000 kbits per second).  The add-on Zorro cards were capable of more speed, but only a Silver Surfer Clockport adapter and Surf Squirrel were really available for the A1200.  The parallel port had 4 additional lines for control/handshaking and does not use the data lines for this purpose.  Hence, Darrin, if you divide 12,000,000 by 57,000 you end up with a wee bit more that an "8 times increase.". If one uses a faster processor and or a better serial port and parallel port card, you would in theory be pitted against a EPP port that can transfer at 2 Mbps.  

Again, I'm real bad with math; anyone got a calculator?



Yeah, I managed to work that out for myself with the use of a calculator once I looked at the max transfer speeds possible.  As "actual" speeds are the ones that count, the best benchmarks I could find for PARNET (after lots of digging) shows that it achieves between 33%-50% of the "theoretical throughput" using a 68030 (which still beats even the fastest Amiga serial port setting).  Shame I only ever used the port for my printer, but serial transfers still worked well when you consider the size of the files the average Amiga user has.

Don't become a teacher.  ;)
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 15, 2014, 07:00:35 PM
Those who can, do.

Those who can't, moderate Amibay, er... I mean teach.   ;)

Those who can't teach, ask, "Do you want fries with that?"
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 15, 2014, 07:05:12 PM
Quote from: danbeaver;764483
Those who can, do.

Those who can't, moderate Amibay, er... I mean teach.   ;)

Those who can't teach, ask, "Do you want fries with that?"


LOL.  Those who can't learn have to cook the fries for the guy who asks "would you like fries with that?"  :D

I'm just glad my main Amigas have USB ports now.  All hail the FAT32 formatted memory stick!
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 15, 2014, 07:13:15 PM
More work to making fries than flipping burgers.

I have a diskless server with 5 TB of files on my home network and get to them with AmiFTP although I made a full CD of programs needed to get almost any Amiga online and BoingBagged to full working status (Poseidon, Miami, Picasso96, IBrowse, DOpus, MUI, etc.).  But a USB solution (I'm loving the Mini-Thylacine 4 port device) sure does wonders.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on May 15, 2014, 07:14:40 PM
Before I had SD card readers in all my Amiga's and PC's I would transfer files via CD.  Burn them on one machine, read on the other.  Just throwing other options out there for ya!  :)
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: carvedeye on May 15, 2014, 07:23:41 PM
Try this worked for me.

http://aminet.net/search?query=parbench

And here is a guide on getting it setup

http://www.amigareport.com/ar226/p1-5.html
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 15, 2014, 07:27:38 PM
Quote from: danbeaver;764491
More work to making fries than flipping burgers.


Real men demand "chips" not fries.  :D

Quote
I have a diskless server with 5 TB of files on my home network and get to them with AmiFTP although I made a full CD of programs needed to get almost any Amiga online and BoingBagged to full working status (Poseidon, Miami, Picasso96, IBrowse, DOpus, MUI, etc.).  But a USB solution (I'm loving the Mini-Thylacine 4 port device) sure does wonders.


Mini-Thylacine?  Have I missed something?

I once installed OS3.9 on my A3000 via a serial link between it and my PC (the only CD ROM drive I had was on my PC tower).  It worked, but thank god I'll never have to do that again!
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on May 15, 2014, 07:45:01 PM
Quote from: Darrin;764500
Mini-Thylacine? Have I missed something?

Guy over on AmiBay making them & selling them.

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?53997-MiniThylacine4Ports-(PreOrder)
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 15, 2014, 07:45:58 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;764504
Guy over on AmiBay making them & selling them.


Cheers.  I'll check that out.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 15, 2014, 08:16:36 PM
Genny_Flick makes them with smd components and using Poseidon all you need is the thylacine.device driver.  The original boards came with its own USB stack that works OK for un-acellerated  Amigas.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: Darrin on May 15, 2014, 08:21:05 PM
Quote from: danbeaver;764510
Genny_Flick makes them with smd components and using Poseidon all you need is the thylacine.device driver.  The original boards came with its own USB stack that works OK for un-acellerated  Amigas.


I've got a couple of Spiders in my A4000 and a Deneb in my A2000... one of these might be nice for my A3000.  Reading the link it seems it even works in the A500.  There's supposed to be a CPU/RAM card for the A500 due out from Elbox.  Add both to an A500 and it will make nice "wedge".

The Poseidon stack rocks.  How did the Thylacine's own stack compare?
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 16, 2014, 12:10:09 AM
I've read that the USB stack in OS4.1 is based on the thylacine stack.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: scuzzb494 on May 20, 2014, 02:05:05 PM
Quote from: Xanaa;764442
Hi
I have 2 Amiga computer a 2000 and a 1200. I want to know how to get files off the 1200 to the 2000 WITHOUT a PC computer. What cables do I need to get or make and software and a someone to explain this to me. The 1200 has  CF card in it and the 2000 a CD Rom drive.
Thank you


In such situations I just ask myself why do you need the files on the 2000. And also do you need all the files on the 2000. Most Amiga files were designed to fit on floppy disks so maybe consider if all else fails getting some good old fashioned floppy disks. You could even try and hunt down a HD disk drive.

The option otherwise is... Parnet [ as discussed ] quite slow but effective. Also very usable with a PC where you may be able to burn to CD and then read on the 2000. Maybe also get a ZIP drive set up via a squirrel on the 1200 off the PCMCIA and then fit a ZIP to the PC and again burn to CD. In truth with a CD on the 2000 it really is just a case of transferring to a PC burner. Much easier and quicker.

You could always network the machines. Tricky.

Personally I like to have at least one Amiga networked and then fit ZIPS and Hard drives and generally like external hard drives. Getting stuff onto CD is the answer and so get an old bit of PC junk and piggy back off it to make CDs for your other machines.

Read up on ZIPS, Squirrels, Parnet, CrossDOS and HD floppy drives. Plus SCSI I guess. And if you are going to use disks maybe try your hand at knitting. Give you something to do while you wait.
Title: Re: Transfer files
Post by: danbeaver on May 21, 2014, 04:28:22 AM
Well that is one opinion...

In the '80's I would have used Quarterback to make a backup of the data and then have restored it to the other Amiga.  By the end of that decade, Sernet or Parnet were available.  By the '90s networking with an AppleTalk network or Ethernet were available and expensive.  Then came the ability to burn CDs and we were back to SneakerNet large amounts of data cheaply.  For a once-in-a-blue moon deal, just transferring the hard drive from one to the other if the A2000 has an IDE interface.  IF you have a CF/SD card reader then that is an option, but these are now rare.  USB will work if you have the funds to buy one.  It all depend on the hardware you have and the cash to spend.