Hombre Project - PC to Amiga

[ppill]

Originally Posted by frantic

Did this project get finished?

Version 0.5 is not quite there yet (need to finish the docs). But it will be a major update to the 0.4b.
I'll have some free time this weekend and will see You can always get the ADF without the docs. Just say where to send it.

[ppill]

In a nutshell, Hombre is a collection of utilities aimed at users of low end Amiga models (like the A500) who want to transfer files from their PCs. It is both versatile and easy to use. All the software crammed onto the disk comes from legal sources and can be freely distributed (this compilation is NOT for sale).

After a looong delay I’ve finally managed to put together a new release of Hombre. Lot’s of new things included (just have a look at the features list below – new functionality is highlighted; I've made dozens of other minor changes but these are not worth mentioning). As I’m still writing the docs that will eventually be included on the disk I will provide brief step-by-step guides for the different methods of transfer (floppy, serial, parallel) and a quick reference for the three start-up modes available (standard, minimal, remote) in this thread. This should do for now and allow anyone with even a limited knowledge of AmigaOS to get files across without major hassle. Docs for every program on the disk are included in a separate zip file so if you ever feel lost refer to them for extra parameters and usage.

• the whole package is built around the small (36K) yet powerful and memory efficient ZShell giving you (among other things) command line editing options, wildcards, file name completion and 68 in-built commands!;

• you don’t have to remember long and cryptic command line arguments since you can invoke most of the programs by pressing one of the Function keys. Plenty of useful aliases are also defined;

• all software on the disk is compatible with 1.3 version of Kickstart. Most of the programs work with later revisions;

• various methods of transferring files:

• using floppies (FAT, long filenames supported);
• via the Serial port. TransWarp, TwinExpress (DOS only), DNet (WinUAE required) and ZModem;
• via the Parallel port. Paradise (can be made WinXP compatible) and Apccomm (Linux);

• special startup-mode for using Hombre over a text terminal (useful when you want to back up your floppies but don’t have the required cables/monitor or Amiga‘s hardware is faulty -- keyboard, RGB port etc.). Although the connection utilises the serial port as the shell runs over an AUX: style device ZModem transfers are still possible;

• a ‘Minimal Mode’ that you can select during boot-time that gives you >910000 bytes of free memory with a command shell up and running on a 1 meg machine. Should also come in handy on Amigas equipped with only 512kb of memory;

• a comprehensive support for ADF files:

• (g)zipped images can be written straight onto floppies (as long as the file is smaller than 760kb). It‘s best to use this feature in Minimal Mode with files >650kb;
• creation of normal/extended images;
• transfer ADF files directly to/from disks using both(serial/parallel) link-up methods;
• command aliases for ‘chopped’ ADFs (useful when using PC floppies for transfer) -- now for 0,5 meg machines too. There’s even an interactive shell script that simplifies the whole procedure. All you have to do is swap disks and press Enter when prompted.

• thanks to the combination of DNet and WinUAE you can access a folder on your PC from the Amiga just like any other drive. You can also use PC's keyboard and mouse as if they were connected to the Amiga (only works with system friendly apps);

• utilities that make working with many windows much easier (window/screen cycling, mouse acceleration, auto point etc.);

• programs that let you copy, format, check, validate, repair disks and salvage data from them;

• a screen grabber, text editor, text viewer, preferences program, topaz.font replacements and SnoopDos are also included;

• plus docs that guide you through different methods of transfer and give tips on how to get the most out of Hombre.

I really wanted to include docs in this release but writing them’s a b*tch (converting, layout, proofreading etc.). Since it was holding back the whole thing (pretty much everything was ready a month ago) I decided to leave them out for now. Just a read.me file is included (it’s a start).

Here’s a list of people that somehow contributed to the project that I’d like to thank:

• Zuza for being so kind and considerate throughout my work on Hombre :*;
• all the people responsible for the software included (check the read.me file in docs/ on the disk for a detailed list);
• Lombi of Anarchy who put together an amazing collection of utilities that inspired me to do something similar;
• Pazza of LSD and his ‘LSD Legal Tools’ collection where I got most of the programs from;
• Fred Fish for his amazing software collection; (RIP)
• creators and maintiners of aminet.net;
• Toni Wilen for WinUAE which made my life so much easier when preparing this collection;
• Bloodwych for his brilliant classicWB packs which saved me a lot of time and effort;
• Paul for helping me out with the wiki page; (RIP)
• Tygrys for lending me his A500 (wielkie dzieki!);
• Zetr0 for the webspace (I'm sure I'll find some use for it cheers!)
• scaf for his ADFDump disk;
• Josh for the SAAR PD disks;
• Jimbo for his great FTP server;
• Nyder, frantic for offering their help with testing the package (appreciate it!);
• Alexh for useful suggestions;
• ppa.pl staff (especially mailman -- you ROCK) for a fantastic web site;
• all active EAB users for making it the best Amiga related website in the galaxy;

Link to files: http://www.box.net/shared/oeoo1c27sy

Hombre_v0.5_24-08-07.zip - ADF with the latest version.
Docs_v0.5_24-08-07.zip - Docs for all utilities on the disk plus a .guide viewer for Windows.
DOS_Hombre_v0.5_24-08-07.zip - DOS floppy image based on FreeDOS. Needed when you want to use twinexpress.
UserPort.zip - makes Paradise Win2000/XP compatible

Programs that you'll need on the PC:

Windows
WinUAE
ADF Sender Terminal
Paradise

Linux
Apccomm

Terminals (for running Hombre in remote mode):
HyperTerminal
Putty
Term (the best one to use but needs WinUAE) + libs
TinyTerminal

File splitters
FFSJ (my favourite)
HJSplit

That's it. Watch this space for step-by-step guides.

Why not check the wiki page here on abime.net

[keropi]

posted this great news on amigahellas.gr and www.retromaniax.gr
great job ppill!

[ppill]

Thanks keropi!

[DamienD]

Nice work ppill

I've updated your entry in the EAB Projects thread

[Zetr0]

@ppill

I am glad you are continuing with this... its indeed in a class of its own!

[Bloodwych]

I've just tried this out and it's absolutely brilliant!!!

Great work and a very useful project. I'm going to add your disk and docs to my webpage under the "file transfer" section as it's useful to anyone looking for methods of transferring files, not just A500 users.

Thanks!

[ppill]

@Bloodwych
Thanks, glad you like it

Have you checked out my CompactFlash versions of ClassicWB packs?

More details here?

Excellent ppill, thanks for Hombre - works for me.

[ppill]

@k2uphill
Good to hear. Have you managed to get apccomm to work (I pressume you're using Linux)? ZModem transfers and transwarp together with a simple 'cat /dev/ttyS1 >/home/ppill/test.adf' or 'cat /home/ppill/test.adf >/dev/ttyS1' do (with the right serial settings of course) but apccomm is proving too difficult to set up. I'm using PCLinuxOS 07 (LiveCD).

[ppill]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

@ppill

I am glad you are continuing with this... its indeed in a class of its own!

Ta Zetr0.

[Bloodwych]

Originally Posted by ppill

@Bloodwych
Thanks, glad you like it

Have you checked out my CompactFlash versions of ClassicWB packs?

More details here?

Just had a read through and it sounds like you've done a great job converting across the packs for Compact Flash users.

Obviously this isn't the thread to go into detail so I'll post in that thread if I have any further comments.

[ppill]

Floppy based transfers with Hombre

Formatting disks:

PC

The first thing you need to do is to prepare a FAT formatted 720kb floppy disk(s). With older versions of Windows (9x) it’s just a case of ticking an option or providing a single switch on the command line. In Windows XP you need to open a Shell by clicking Start>Run, type ‘cmd’ and hit Enter. To format a 720kb disk type format a: /t:80 /n:9 and execute. That’s it. When you intend to use HD disks (High Density, 1,44) remember to tape over the extra hole or you’ll get an error message. To access such floppies on the Amiga you can issue mount fat0: or press F1 (if you’ve got an external drive and want to use that, type fat1: instead of fat0:). In Remote mode it’s 1 followed by ENTER. A new drive called FAT0: will become available. There are some useful aliases for working with such floppies namely ctf, cff. ctf stands for ‘copy to fat0:’ and cff ‘copy from fat0:’. So for example when you want to copy a file over to a PC disk you don’t have to write copy example.file fat0: but simply ctf example.file. cff will copy all the contents of PC disk to RAM:.

Amiga

There’s no need to format disks when transferring ADFs in parts since then program (TrackTool) that writes them back does it for you. But if you’re not using new and reliable floppies it’s a good idea to format and verify before writing anything to them. You still need to format a disk before transferring a compressed ADF image to it. The same goes for writing directly to floppies using one of the link-up methods. Both Paradise and TransWarp require pre-formatted disks. It doesn’t mean they have to be empty but simply need to have the right number of cylinders and tracks (80 and 11 respectively). Of course remember to write enable disks before writing anything to them.
There are a couple of ways to prep disks in Hombre. The first one is a cli command BFormat. You can press SHIFT+F9 to start formatting a disk in DF0: with it (don’t worry you’ll be prompted first, in Minimal Mode it’s F3 and 7 followed by ENTER in Remote mode, you can always press HELP or type help for a list of all shortcuts). If you want to do this with a large number of disks copy BFormat to RAM: and execute it from there or make it resident to avoid having to access the Hombre disk before every time before running the program. To do this type copy c:bformat ram:;cd ram: or resident c:bformat and simply continue on pressing SHIFT+F9 for each floppy you want to prep. This will save you the time needed for swapping disks. As always refer to the program’s docs for info regarding extra parameters and usage.
Another utility is also included for those familiar with titles like X-Copy. A copying program called DCopy. Press F6 or type d-copy in shell to run it. Its usage is pretty straightforward but if you should feel lost consult the docs.

(G)Zipped ADFs

Lets start with transferring (g)zipped ADF images. If such a file fits onto a 720kb disk you can write it to an Amiga floppy directly (on a 1 meg machine). If the file is around the 650kb mark you should boot into Minimal mode for that extra bit of memory (during start-up type y and press ENTER when prompted, “Minimal Mode? (y|n)”). If you’ve got a second drive or the ADF image is smaller you can boot into the Standard mode. Remote mode takes up slightly more memory than Minimal but should be enough for those bigger files. Also make sure the ADF’s file name does not exceed 30 characters and has no spaces. This might save you some problems later on.

Step-by-Step:

Boot into the right mode;

Format the necessary number of floppies if you haven’t already;

Press F1, wait for the command prompt, and press SHIFT+F1 followed by SHIFT+F2;

You may want to start TrackDisplay which shows a floppy’s track number (from 0 to 79) that is being accessed as this will give you some idea about the progress since there will be no other indication on the command line. Type td or press SHIFT+F3 in Minimal mode;

Everything is up end running and you can remove Hombre from the drive;

Insert the PC disk with the (g)zipped ADF file and type cff. This will copy the file to ram:;

Then simply type z filename (remember you can press TAB after the first few letters to complete the filename);

Now you just have to wait for about four minutes for everything to finish. Done!

ADFs in parts


Here's what settings to use with FFSJ when splitting ADFs

Now for those ADFs that wont fit whole onto a 720kb disk. Before splitting them up make sure they’re not packed. In most cases (almost always) and uncompressed ADF image should be exactly 901120 bytes in size. Now with a program of your choice divide each one you want to write into 450560 byte (440 kb) chunks. Now for the important bit. The script on the Hombre disk that makes the whole transfers process a lot easier follows a strict naming convention. The first part of an ADF should have an .adf.001 or .adf.01 extension; .adf.002, .adf.02 for the second respectively (most file splitters append these automatically). Since older versions of FFS support only 30 character filenames this should be the maximum number INCLUDING the extensions. In other case the name will be stripped when copying from a FAT disk and confuse the script. This is especially important when using images from TOSEC as these can be huge. Also remove any spaces.

Here’re some valid filenames: SuperFrog_disk1.adf.001, SuperFrog_disk1.adf.002, SuperFrog_disk2.adf.001 and so on.

The script works in all modes. To start it type adf2disk. When everything has been loaded you should see this message:

"Insert SOURCE disk containg ADF's *FIRST* part."
"Press [ENTER] when ready "

Simply insert the PC disk witch has the file with the .adf.001/.adf.01 extension. Wait for disk activity to finish and press ENTER. It’s a good idea to label disks to get an idea what disk to insert next as things can get pretty confusing with those multi-disk games or demos.

Insert the disk you want to write to when this message appears:

"Insert DESTINATION disk (about to write *FIRST* part)."
"Press [ENTER] when ready "

You will see the progress and when finished the script will delete the file from ram: and ask for the next part:

"Insert SOURCE disk containg ADF's *SECOND* part."
"Press [ENTER] when ready "

This time insert the disk with the ADF’s second part file ending in .adf.002 or .adf.02.

Everything will proceed as previously and when finished you’ll be asked if you want to repeat the whole process with another disk.

It actually seems more complicated than it is. Just make sure you know which disk goes into the drive next and it’ll be a breeze. Also sometimes (depending on the ADF) a requester will pop-up announcing that the disk is not validated and you should use DiskDoctor to fix it. Just ignore it (click on Cancel button or press LAmiga+B) but whatever you do don’t follow its advice. Most ADFs are NDOS disks hence this warning. The games or demos will work regardless.

Manual transfers

Whether you want to transfer disk images form the Amiga to the PC or simply prefer to do things yourself command aliases below will come in handy. All use TrackTool so it’s a good idea to copy it to ram: and run it from there to avoid having to swap disks every time it’s executed. Press F2 in Standard and Minimal modes or 3 followed by ENTER in Remote to do just that.

Aliases:

r1 - store first half of a disk in RAM:%f.adf.001where % is the name you want to give

so issuing r1 Amiga would result in a file called Amiga.adf.001 sitting in RAM:. Then all you have to do copy the file onto a PC disk. Remove the file from RAM:, do almost the same to get next part but this time use r2 Amiga (r2 - store second half of a disk in RAM:%f.adf.002) – you can simply press UP to bring back the previous command and change r1 to r2 leaving the filename intact. Again copy to a PC floppy and join the two files and presto!

And to write ADFs you can use these:
w1 %f - write first half of an ADF to a disk in DF0:
w2 %f - write second half of an ADF to a disk in DF0:

[Calgor]

AWESOME!!!! I have some floppy util boot disks, but nothing as polished as this!!! I am sure this will help many ppl out.

btw, is it possible to somehow verify that the file transferred is the same as the original? Like a checksum checker or something.

Are your instructions here included on the disk?

[ppill]

Originally Posted by Calgor

AWESOME!!!! I have some floppy util boot disks, but nothing as polished as this!!! I am sure this will help many ppl out.

btw, is it possible to somehow verify that the file transferred is the same as the original? Like a checksum checker or something.

Are your instructions here included on the disk?

There're not on on the disk yet. I'm using proff (an ancient type setting package in the style of nroff) to make the docs look good and save time but I can't really say when they'll be ready.

Since V1.4.3 TransWarp is able to calculate CRC-32 of Amiga disks in both directions.
This checksum can be used to confirm the identity of ADF files and that serial transmission
is working properly on your setup. There are many tools to calculate CRC-32 of files and I
would like to recommend GetCRC from Dirk Stoecker on Amiga.

Why not check GetCRC? It can genate different kinds of checksums and even works with kick1.3. The only drawback is that it loads the whole file into memory.

[davidpc]

I'm having trouble getting Hombre to work on my A1000 (with 1.5 megs of RAM, Kickstart 1.3). It starts up OK in Minimal mode, but if I try to start in regular mode I get a red flashing guru-style box at the top of the screen with the text ZShell 11 in it...

Any suggestions on how to get it working?

[ppill]

Originally Posted by davidpc

I'm having trouble getting Hombre to work on my A1000 (with 1.5 megs of RAM, Kickstart 1.3). It starts up OK in Minimal mode, but if I try to start in regular mode I get a red flashing guru-style box at the top of the screen with the text ZShell 11 in it...

Any suggestions on how to get it working?

My bad. NTSC display is too small for the window size that's is the startup file (Error 11 means that ZShell can't open its window).

Here'a a quick fix.

Start up in minimal mode and:

type
ped s:startup-sequence (this will start a text editor)

change
zshell "-wCON:0/0/640/256/ZShell-Hombre" -ss:zstart -d
to
zshell "-wCON:0/0/640/200/ZShell-Hombre" -ss:zstart -d

Press CTRL+Q to save and exit

then
ped s:zstart

change
alias newcli zshell "-wCON:0/0/640/256/ZShell-Hombre" -ss:ncli -d
to
alias newcli zshell "-wCON:0/0/640/200/ZShell-Hombre" -ss:ncli -d

Do the same in s:ncli

Checked in WinUAE with NTSC on and it works Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

You can download a fixed version here (NTSC)

[davidpc]

Ok, making those edits to the startup-sequence, zstart, and ncli files fixed the problem. Thanks!

(A minor, but useful change for the NTSC version would be to adjust the height of the help text to fit on one NTSC screen.)

[P-J]

Originally Posted by mr_a500

I wonder what will happen in the future though. Newer computers won't have serial or parallel ports - just USB.

You buy one of the millions of USB devices that suit your needs USB is a step forward, not a step backwards.

http://www.active-robots.com/product.../act-sib.shtml

In most cases these adapters have a driver which exposes a virtual 'COM' port, and I've yet to find any serial port based software that doesn't work with them.

[ppill]

Originally Posted by davidpc

Ok, making those edits to the startup-sequence, zstart, and ncli files fixed the problem. Thanks!

(A minor, but useful change for the NTSC version would be to adjust the height of the help text to fit on one NTSC screen.)

I changed the menu file in the NTSC version (check the download page). It's less legible than the original but still useful.