Wartrans - Warlock's Amiga Transfer Program


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General info

What is Wartrans, and why was it written?

WarTrans is a small program which will assist you in getting files from a PC to an Amiga 500 (newer Amigas has support for reading PC formated 720k diskettes). Since I quickly wrote a AmigaBasic program to stop all the whining at the UAE Discussion Board back in 1997 (*whine whine* "I have an old Amiga500 with a lot of disks (but no terminal program or similar). How do i get these to my PC?") many have been asking me to make a more "user-friendly" program (bet 99% was Windows-users, still I have to agree with them, it was rather stupid .. hehe).


So here it is, WarTrans PC Version:

Screenshot of WarTrans PC Version.
Looks nice doesn't it?


What must be done to get it to work?

First connect the PC to the Amiga 500 with a 25pin to 25pin or 9pin to 25pin serial cable. (Isn't technick.net just great?). Actually you just need the "Receive Data" "Transmit Data" and "System Ground" to transfer files.

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
 
--- (Printable Version) ---

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?


So, what's different in this version compared to the one found at http://amiga.nvg.org/warlock/oldwartrans/?

  • 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 ;)
Probably a lot of other features too,which I could not think of at the moment.


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...))


Ok, it's impressive considering it's made by a litte warlock, but what will this program cost me?

I'ts postcardware that means that the program is totaly free for download, but if you like it I hope you would considering sending me a postcard (make sure you include your email address).


My address is:

Amund Gjerde Gjendem
Frostavn. 1, L301
7043 Trondheim
Norway


The Warlock
warlock@nvg.org