• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

New to me Rainbow 100A and VR201

There are ways to transfer files to dos computers using a serial cable. Laplink and fastlynx both are able to do this. Basically you transfer control to the remote computer using the dos ctty command. The problem is I have no idea if laplink or fastlynx executables are Rainbow compatible. Whether they just use DOS or if they try to write to the hardware directly. The other issue would be that those are dos or windows programs, so you’d need a virtual machine running windows (or maybe dual boot boot camp) if using a fruity computer.

Here is some documentation:
http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/transfer/fastlynx33/sl_transfer.htm
 
Aha. I was flipping thru the floppies given me and found one that had Kermit on it. I was able to transfer the file
I dumped with debug. Is there an easy way to verify a ROM dump. Is there some signature block. The dump starts
with B8 00 EE 8E D0 BC ... This matches the data that debug gave me so I hope it's correct. So this file now
lives on my MacBook Air. Where can I store it for others to check? If I didn't get this quite correct then I'll
be glad to try again. I followed the debug dump instructions as provided.
 
Aha. I was flipping thru the floppies given me and found one that had Kermit on it. I was able to transfer the file
I dumped with debug. Is there an easy way to verify a ROM dump. Is there some signature block. The dump starts
with B8 00 EE 8E D0 BC ... This matches the data that debug gave me so I hope it's correct. So this file now
lives on my MacBook Air. Where can I store it for others to check? If I didn't get this quite correct then I'll
be glad to try again. I followed the debug dump instructions as provided.
 
It appears the dump make be truncated. It stops at 5FCE instead of 5FFF or 6000 which is the number of bytes dumped. Maybe the final buffer
did not get sent by Kermit or properly received? I haven't used Kermit in years so any ideas? I would think it would send the entire file.
 
It appears the dump make be truncated. It stops at 5FCE instead of 5FFF or 6000 which is the number of bytes dumped. Maybe the final buffer
did not get sent by Kermit or properly received? I haven't used Kermit in years so any ideas? I would think it would send the entire file.
I would be gathering some more data points by seeing what happens if you try a different protocol like YMODEM or ZMODEM.
 
Don't believe the Kermit I used supports other modes. I will have to look. I also need to check the original file to see if
it too is truncated.
 
As I expected the size of the file on the Rainbow is 24576 (6000 * 4096) but on the Mac it's 24526. 50 bytes less. Hmmm.
Does the Kermit "Finish" command push thru any remaining bytes? Any other way to guarantee that the entire file gets
sent thru? I have to do some reading to try to find the answers.
 
Is this Microsoft Kermit 3.10? If so, I think you'll need to do a set file type binary and you'll need to do something similar on the Mac side too, assuming it cannot figure it out on it's own.
 
Is this Microsoft Kermit 3.10? If so, I think you'll need to do a set file type binary and you'll need to do something similar on the Mac side too, assuming it cannot figure it out on it's own.
Yes it is MS Kermit 3.10. I will try that.
 
That worked once I figured out how to set binary on the Rainbow. There was no way to set binary on the receiving end
but the file now has the correct size. Thank you.
 
Don't believe the Kermit I used supports other modes. I will have to look. I also need to check the original file to see if
it too is truncated.

OK I've learnt something hear. For me Kermit is just a file another transfer protocol in the manner of XMODEM, YMODEM and ZMODEM than you can select in your terminal program for a file transfer.
I didn't realise it was an executable. Great work - you overcame a lot of hurdles.
 
OK I've learnt something hear. For me Kermit is just a file another transfer protocol in the manner of XMODEM, YMODEM and ZMODEM than you can select in your terminal program for a file transfer.
I didn't realise it was an executable. Great work - you overcame a lot of hurdles.
I too never had heard of a Kermit transfer protocol. I've use the program Kermit many times in the
past but never had noticed that protocol selection. Maybe the Kermits I used didn't have it.
Who knows. Now to figure out where to post this file so it can be used?
 
I too never had heard of a Kermit transfer protocol. I've use the program Kermit many times in the
past but never had noticed that protocol selection. Maybe the Kermits I used didn't have it.
Who knows. Now to figure out where to post this file so it can be used?

The reason Kermit was created to start with was to allow transfer of files between different type of machines. As such, of course it is a protocol. But just as much you also needed an implementation, so of course it was also a program, with many different implementations for different machines.
 
Now that i have a lot of downtime I took the Rainbow out again to troubleshoot the K/B error. I had ordered some likely candidate IC's a while back so thought it is time to get the soldering iron and scope out. I connected up the VR201 and K/B and powered on and low and behold it passes self test now with no K/B error. It also boots the CP/M and the diagnostic floppy and passes the tests on the floppy. The only thing I can think of is that I have the BC202 cable connected the other way around to previous power up. I now have the angled connector connected to the VR201 and the straight connector connected to the base unit. I'm not going to try it back the other way until I've checked a few things and had it working for a while. Now to find some extra software for it.:confused:

When I try and upload some jpg images the uploader informs me that the maximum size for this file type is 256.0kb. I have uploaded larger files in the MB range in the past without issue.
 
Back
Top