Any tips on transferring a file to an A500?

[Old Thrashbarg]

I've been going by the guide here, trying to get transwarp over to my A500 using a null modem and the TYPE command, but I have been unable to find any success.

The best I've gotten is that something transferred, but it always comes up with a "file is not an object" error. I've tried a couple different cables, and pretty much every combination of settings for the PC's COM port, but to no avail.

The issue could be related to my serial port settings, but the Preferences pane on my WB 1.2 disks lacks the more advanced serial options... the only setting I have available is baud rate... and I'm not sure what the Amiga's defaults are for flow control, etc.

Could someone help me out here? I don't know what else to do... Google searching returns some discussions on the subject, but all of them either end with no solution or with someone getting it working then never posting back about how he did it.

 

[ajcc]

I've tried that guide and I've actually never heard from anyone who actually got it working... some people said you need more RAM others said you needed an external diskette drive... anyhow Amiga Explorer always works, but sadly it's not free (http://www.amigaforever.com/ae/).

If you are lucky enough to have any terminal software on a diskette, you could transfer files over via that.

 

[Old Thrashbarg]

some people said you need more RAM others said you needed an external diskette drive

Well... I have both. But it still doesn't work.

I don't have any terminal programs or anything like that. As a matter of fact, the main reason I'm trying to do this is that 90% of the disks I have for the thing are bad, so I don't really have much of any sort of software for it. I may have to try Amiga Explorer...

But what about the serial settings? I would think I should have more options available there, but there's just the one for baud rate, and that's it.

 

[carlsson]

Dumb question, but did you try to change the file permissions on the Amiga side after transferring data? If not, you were trying to execute a raw data file which I'm sure the computer refused to.

Back in the days I was equipped with CrossDOS or similar free product from day 1, so I could transfer files via PC floppys. However I realize if you don't have this software, you need to transfer it first in order to execute it.

 

[Old Thrashbarg]

Dumb question, but did you try to change the file permissions on the Amiga side after transferring data?

I know nothing about file permissions on the Amiga... can you elaborate?

I honestly have only a tenuous understanding of how the thing works, which I've figured out on my own. Basic documentation on the thing seems to be rather slim on the ground unless you already know exactly what you're looking for...

Edit: what about Wartrans? Anyone tried it/had any success with it?

 

[carlsson]

The command to change file permissions is called protect in AmigaDOS. Quote from the UAE emulator manual:

Protect
Format: Protect File/A Flags ADD/S SUB/S ALL/S QUIET/S
Purpose: Change the 'rwedsp' flags of a file. (r=read,w=write,
e=execute,d=delete,s=script,p=pure)
Example: Protect Editor rwed

If you use the list command, you will see all the current permission flags. Based on the above syntax, I think you can write protect filename e add to simply add the execute flag, but you might want to try a couple of times.

 

[Mr.Amiga500]

The best I've gotten is that something transferred, but it always comes up with a "file is not an object" error. I've tried a couple different cables, and pretty much every combination of settings for the PC's COM port, but to no avail.

What exactly are you transferring? Maybe you're transferring a file that isn't an executable in the first place. Try transferring a text file first, then use the "type" command to see if it's garbled. If that's OK, then transfer a known small executable (something that's simple and testable). If you try to run that executable and you get the "file is not an object", then do the "protect FILE +e" and run it again. It should work.

I honestly have only a tenuous understanding of how the thing works, which I've figured out on my own. Basic documentation on the thing seems to be rather slim on the ground unless you already know exactly what you're looking for...

Amigas originally came with lots of excellent, detailed documentation - large manual (with schematics!), Amiga BASIC and AmigaDOS manual with full examples. I look back to that as a time when documentation was good, unlike modern times when you get a little 5-page pamphlet and have to go out and buy $50-$100 manuals that should have come with it.

Anyway, I'm sure you can find those Amiga manuals as PDF on the internet. (in fact I found one here... a bit old and not sure if it's an "official" one)

 

[ajcc]

lemonamiga.com is a very good place to ask though... or just search through all the posts

 

[Maverick1978]

Back in the days I was equipped with CrossDOS or similar free product from day 1, so I could transfer files via PC floppys. However I realize if you don't have this software, you need to transfer it first in order to execute it.

I second this. So long as you have CrossDOS on the Amiga already, you're set. I used to do this on my A1200 quite often. Much easier at the time than messing with a serial connection, etc. As I remember, CrossDOS only came with Amiga OS 2.1 and higher, however... I seem to remember having used another distribution of it on my A500, and that was probably snagged from Aminet somewhere.

 

[Old Thrashbarg]

Well, I was trying to transfer transwarp, as per the link in my original post. It's supposed to be an executable, but I also tried the self-extracting archive version, and neither worked. I actually already tried the 'protect' command, not realizing that was file permissions, but it simply returned 'protect failed.' I'm going to go with ajcc's analysis, and say that the method I was trying to use, simply doesn't work.

As for the recommendations for CrossDOS, yeah, that would be nice, but I don't have it, so I'm still left with trying to transfer something over the serial port first.

 

[carlsson]

I am unsure about CrossDOS. I know I used it frequently on my Amiga 500+ which however had Kickstart 2.04. I have a faint memory it worked on the old Amiga 500 in our computer club too. That one ran KS 1.3 or even 1.2. However it is true that OS 3.0 and perhaps 2.1 came with a custom version of CrossDOS included.

Too bad about changing file permissions made no difference. As Mr. Amiga 500 said, if you transfer a simple text file, you can identify if it arrives corrupted or not: file size, contents. Perhaps a file with a couple high bit characters as the Amiga character encoding tends to be the same as Latin-1.