User:Tingo/Tips

Various tips that I have found useful.

Removing parity bit from text files
If you have transferred text / ascii files from a machine running SINTRAN III to some other machine, you might find that the files reads garbled. The reason for that is that SINTRAN III requires files to be in ascii 7-bit format, with even parity. Thus, the highest (most significant) bit might be set on many characters to achieve even parity. If you want to read those files as text files, you can convert them. It is easy, simply strip the most significant bit on all characters. Note: this will render the file unusable for SINTRAN III. Always keep a copy of the original file if you need to use it under SINTRAN III again. For any unix-like system, you can use the 'tr' command, like this: tr "[\201-\377]" "[\1-\177]" < PREP.SYMB > prep.symb.txt The file PREP.SYMB is read, and the acsii file is written as prep.symb.txt. Note: it is also possible to instruct transfer programs like 'kermit' to translate the file when it is transferred.

Transferring files
Transferring files from a ND machine running SINTRAN III to a unix-like machine (FreeBSD in my case). The machines are connected via a serial connection; a serial port is connected via an appropriate cable to a terminal port (serial) on the ND machine. You must be able to login to the ND machine from the unix-like machine.

usb to serial port adapters
If you are having trouble with timeouts and / or transfer errors when using an usb to serial port adapter, try to use a machine with a built in serial port instead. In my experience, usb to serial port adapters might work nicely as a terminal, but fail to work when transferring files.

Kermit
See description of Kermit on Wikipedia.

from ND to unix
Before starting, you should know the name of the serial port you are usingon the unix-like machine. Start Kermit and set the following parameters set modem type none set line /dev/ttyU0 set speed 9600 set parity even set flow xon/xoff set carrier-watch off set prefixing all replace /dev/ttyU0 with the name of the serial port you are using. Connect to the ND machine by using connect Press Escape to get the ENTER prompt, then login to the ND machine. Start Kermit on the ND machine @KERMIT set parity and other needed parameters, Transfer files with the 'send' command. After starting a transfer, go back to the unix-like machine by pressing CTRL-\ followed by 'C' and you are back in kermit on the unix-like machine, issue the connect command again. Kermit on the unix-like machine will automatically detect the file transfer, and start receiving the file.

from unix to ND
The procedure is the same as described above, but you need to swap send and receive commands. Also, Kermit on the ND side doesn't automatically receive files, so you need to issue a 'rec' (receive) command yourself.