General info

To make it work on the Amiga500 you have to write the following 33 lines in AmigaBasic found on your "Extras 1.3" floppydisk (actualy 10-12 of these lines could be excluded, but I like it the way it is):

--- (Printable Version) ---

OPEN "com1:9600,n,8,1" AS #1
PRINT #1,"Hi";
BEGINNING:
IF INPUT$(3,#1) = "Hei" THEN
 PRINT #1,"Nl";
 NameLength = VAL(INPUT$(3,#1))
 PRINT #1,"Nn";
 FileName$ = INPUT$(NameLength,#1)
 OPEN FileName$ FOR OUTPUT AS #2
 PRINT #1,"Ll";
 Tall = VAL(INPUT$(3,#1))
 PRINT #1,"Fl";
 FileLength=VAL(INPUT$(Tall,#1))
 PRINT #1,"Fb";
 FOR I=1 TO FileLength
  Byte = VAL(INPUT$(3,#1))
  PRINT #2,CHR$(Byte);
  IF (I/100) = INT(I/100) THEN
   PRINT #1,"ok";
   CLS
   PRINT I;"/";FileLength;SPC(5);INT(I/FileLength*100);"%"
   END IF
  NEXT I
 CLS
 PRINT "Filetransfer completed"
 CLOSE #2
 GOTO BEGINNING
ELSE
 PRINT #1,"Hi";
 GOTO BEGINNING
 END IF
 

PS: Make sure you have the casing right in the "PRINT #1 ..." and the "INPUT$(..)" sections.

Then just start the Amiga 500 program you just wrote, and select the file on your PC which you want to send and click "Transfer" on the PC applet. Could it be easier?

• You control (mostly) everything from the PC.

• You don't have to run an emulator (then you dont need illegal roms and WB disks etc.)

• You don't have to convert to HEX and back anymore, and just one program at both sides of the serial cable.

• You can send as huge files as you want, personally I've sent a 500k huge file (which filled up my ram to allmost the last byte) with no problem.

• The Windows program supports Drag-n-Drop, Cut'n'Paste and shortcut keys for those who likes these things.

• Quick access to (hopefully) updated online helpfiles.

• The hole prosess of converting files and transfering is much easier and faster (but I'm not sure if the actual communication through the serial cable is faster).

• Easteregg for all those who send me a postcard ;)

What more can I say? Only that I now have to make ports of it to other platforms (if I get too much whining.. hehe) and I still think it is a bit slow, but thats just due to AmigaBasic.... AmigaBasic wont even keep up with a 19200bps transfer (but 9600bps seems rock solid (it puffed along for 2 hours atleast...))