Re: [NTLK] Win'XX' and NCU Connectivity

From: Johannes Wolf (mp2100_at_mail-gw.estec.esa.int)
Date: Wed Aug 31 2005 - 05:47:18 PDT


Nooooooooooooo - it would have been too nice to be really true ;-(((

I tried - but now I remember what was my previous experience from years ago:
you can well set the default settings for the COM port in Win XX,
but normally the applications that make use of the serial port use their own
settings
and thus overrule the default Win settings. (and taht was already teh ase
for Win 95)
And still I am pretty sure that Win-NCU does NOT make use of the hardware
handshake.
A clear sign for that is that you cannot even control this setting in NCU.
The only thing you can set is the connection speed.

And one thing is clear as well: both, PC and Newt need to talk/listen at the
same speed (i.e. Baud rate) in order to communicate properly.
The point for the (hardware) handshake is that one of the two (most probably
the Newt) will need some time to "digest" received data and/or to "prepare"
data to be sent.
The much faster device (in this case the PC) is simply not patient enough to
wait for the Newt - so it determines timeout and cuts the connection.
This is exactly what happended to me when I tried again to transmit a larger
amount of data (backup or package download).

Again: I am absolutely convinced that the Win-version of NCU does NOT make
use of hardware handshake. I believe to remember that long time ago I
checked whether the cable is configured correctly for hardware handshake -
an IIRC it was NOT ...

Back to the brute force method of slowing down the PC...

Cheers
Johannes

> -----Original Message-----
> From: newtontalk-bounce_at_newtontalk.net
> [mailto:newtontalk-bounce_at_newtontalk.net]On Behalf Of Martin Joseph
> Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 8:51 PM
> To: newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Win'XX' and NCU Connectivity

> On Aug 29, 2005, at 4:57 PM, Arnold DeRoy wrote:

> > Just wanted to add my two cents for this issue - NCU and WinXP or
> > Win98:
> > I do not use the 'slowdown.exe' on either this machine (2.4ghz
> > w/WinXP) or the laptop (1.1ghz
> > w/Win98) to connect the Newton MP2k or MP2k1.

> > What I do instead to go to the Control Panel, Devices and locate the
> > COM port the cable is
> > connected to. There I force the setting to 57.6k (or 38.4k) hardware
> > handshaking. Any and all
> > NCU connects, backups, or transfers are started from the Newton only.
> > No problems in
> > almost 4 years and 3 different desktops.
> <snip>

> Odd, one would think if hardware handshaking worked that you could go
> at maximum speed? I know many macs didn't support hardware handshaking
> and relied on XON/XOFF, so I wonder about the Newton in this regard.
>
> Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can comment?

> Marty

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