Interlink Setup?
Todd Meyer
connect(Interlnk) to a PR-233 desktop with WIN95 as (Intersvr), using a
parallel transfer cable.
The config.sys in the 386 is set as follows:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\INTERLNK.EXE /LPT:1
However the connection is not successful when INTERLNK is run.
The PR-233 runs INTERSVR but no client drives are displayed even though
the port displayed is LPT1. This same machine works fine with a laptop
using the parallel transfer cable and WIN95 Direct Cable Connect.
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
Todd
Donald Phillipson
Todd Meyer (tcm...@idirect.com) writes:
> Having a problem to get an old 386 system with Dos 6.2 to
> connect(Interlnk) to a PR-233 desktop with WIN95 as (Intersvr), using a
> parallel transfer cable.
From: ad...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Donald Phillipson)
Newsgroups: ncf.sigs.pc-tech
Subject: Bulk Transfer of Files by Cable
Date: Sun Dec 29 15:29:04 1996
This document advises how to move files in bulk by cable from one
computer to another, using MS-DOS 6 Interlnk/Intersvr (presumably
developed designed to unload laptops into desktops). With
acknowledgments to Stephen Hickey, who pointed me in the right
direction (when the vendor told me Win95 would do the job for me....)
and Frank Waudby-Smith who had done it before, with material from the
MS-DOS 6.22 on-line help file: prepared by Donald Phillipson 29
December, 1996.
Microsoft documentation omits two vital things:
One is that there are TWO DIFFERENT WAYS of using the same software
(INTERLNK and INTERSVR). One uses a parallel cable and LPT (printer)
ports, the other a serial cable and COM ports. When using parallel
cable and LPT ports, you use the normal DOS XCOPY command on the
source (sending) computer. (This is omitted in MS HELP.HLP, which
mentions only the /RCOPY parameter, used by the receiving software,
which is for serial cables only. If you do this with a parallel
cable, nothing will happen.
(I assume INTERSVR /RCOPY with serial cables works equally well, but
did not test this. For most upgraders, parallel cables between LPT
ports are cheaper if slower ways of transferring files in bulk.)
The INTERLNK (client) software "reassigns" drive letters, and tells
you so. What is not quite clear is that the software creates "ghost"
drives (named for the next three unused driveletters in the sending
computer.) The XCOPY command copies files to the GHOST drive -- which
the screen of the receiving computer tells you it pipes to its own
(true) drivename, set as a parameter when you loaded the software at
the receiving end. The help files do not tell you the reassigned
drives are not really inside the sending or the receiving computer:
they actually work like a software-created "ghost" in the cable,
between the two computers.
The terminology used in the software and the DOS 6 printed manual is
"client" and "server."
The "client" is your laptop or your old machine. This loads
INTERLNK.EXE as a device i.e. in config.sys (activated by
rebooting) e.g. as
DEVICE=INTERLNK.EXE /LPT /NOPRINTER ;
(Parameters explained below)
After booting you attend to:
Desktop = "server" computer or your new machine, which activates
Intersvr from the command prompt c:\ or whatever. The
command-line can specify both which drive is to receive files
and whether by /COM or /LPT ports (serial or parallel cable
respectively.)
The difference is important when you make the actual transfer. Serial
transfer through a COM port is controlled by the receiving "server"
(which gives you on-screen commands to set MODE and CTTY on the
sending "client.")
When transferring by parallel cable via LPT ports, you must know how
the "client" computer has set up the "ghost" drives. Transmission is
done by XCOPY at the client computer, sending files to the ghost, i.e.
the cable, by a standard DOS command such as XCOPY D:\*.* G:
INTERLNK reports the ghost drives it creates (the default number being
three), lettered for the next free assignments beyond your sending
computer's configuration. E.g. if you have hard drives C: D: and E,
Interlnk will create drives F: G: and H. From the DOS prompt, keying
just INTERLNK will remind you what is available; and you must then
assign real drives to ghosts by a separate command like INTERLNK D=G.
(No colons: ask Bill Gates why.)
The main weakness in the MS documentation is not making clear the
operational difference between parallel and serial cable transfer (LPT
and COM ports) although both use the same software. Secondly its
references to ghost drives are confusing.
A third point is that you do not need to boot both machines with the
same DOS (as the vendor of my new machine mistakenly told me....) My
personal problem was to move 150 Mb of files from a old computer under
DR DOS into a Win95 Pentium machine. (Win95 provides for cable
transfer of data -- but you might indeed need to have Win95 on both
machines, unnecessary for me, and difficult to hack because of Win95's
long filepath names and preference for talking about "functions"
rather than files.)
My transfer was done by INTERLNK and INTERSVR software from DOS 6.22
system disks, which ran perfectly under Win95 and DR DOS v.5.1 on the
older machine, even with SSTOR.SYS loaded, i.e. two of four drives
compressed to enlarge their total capacity. (Transferring files from
compressed drives required disabling the DR DOS software cache
SUPERPCK: easily spotted as the likely reason for failure and easily
remedied in Config.Sys just by commenting it out. SSTOR compressed
drives were read OK.)
Transferring by parallel cable, using XCOPY with parameters /s and /v
(to copy subdirectory structure as well, and to verify file integrity
after transfer) took about one hour per 100 Megabytes -- slow but
satisfactory, and apparently successful, i.e. no damaged files noticed
yet and none missing. [Correction 11 Jan. 1997: just one file, a "to
do" list for my rural property, was overwritten by a year-old version,
and the up-to-date version could not found in Win95's trashcan.] The
parallel transfer routine was:
1. Set up client (sending computer) by rebooting with Interlnk as a
device.
2. Assign one ghost drive to one real destination drive e.g.
D:\> INTERLNK G=E
This assigns (client) ghost G: to real (server) drive E:
3. Set up server (receiving computer) by command, e.g.
C:\WINDOWS> INTERSVR E: /LPT
This tells the server to use the LPT (printer) ports and
receive on real drive E:
Its screen then shows client (ghost) G: linked to server E:
The software will try all available ports until it makes the
connection, and report it OK. It does not return to the DOS prompt
(and shows on screen a disconnect command, which you key when the
transfer is finished.)
4. Send from the client keyboard e.g.
D:\> XCOPY D:\*.* G: /S/V
This sends all files on D: to the G: (ghost) i.e. to drive E: in
the server (receiver) including file directory structure (/S) and
verifying file integrity after each transfer. The command
D:\> XCOPY D:\MS\*.* G:
would send all files in the D:\MS\ directory. XCOPY syntax works
as normal.
The receiving computer reports (screen bottom left) when it is
reading and when writing. Elapsed time was half an hour for 50 Mb.
Donald Phillipson 29 December, 1996
ALL THE FOLLOWING IS MICROSOFT DOCUMENTATION from Dos 6.22's HELP.HLP
file (not necessarily in the most logical order) for:
1 Interlnk (on laptop or sender)
2 Intersvr (on desktop or receiver)
3 Specifications for cables
1 INTERLNK
Connects two computers via parallel or serial ports and enables the
computers to share disks and printer ports. For example, you could
connect a laptop computer to a desktop computer and share files. You
must install the <INTERLNK.EXE> device driver before you can use this
command.
Syntax: INTERLNK [client[:]=[server][:]]
To display the current status of the Interlnk program, use the
following syntax: INTERLNK
Parameters
client
Specifies the letter of the client drive that is redirected to a
drive on the Interlnk server. The drive must be one that was
redirected when you started Interlnk.
server
Specifies the letter of the drive on the Interlnk server that will
be redirected. The drive must be one listed in the This Computer
(Server) column of the Interlnk server screen. If no drive letter is
specified, the client drive will no longer be redirected.
Related Commands: for more information about the Interlnk device
driver, see <INTERLNK.EXE>. For more information about Intersvr, see
the <INTERSVR> command.
INTERLNK.EXEÄÄExamples
Suppose your Interlnk files are located in the DOS directory on drive
C, and you use the serial port to connect to another computer. To
start Interlnk and specify that printers not be redirected, add the
following command line to your CONFIG.SYS file:
device=c:\dos\interlnk.exe /com /noprinter
To specify that Interlnk use a non-standard COM port whose address is
3F8,add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file:
device=c:\dos\interlnk.exe /com:3f8
INTERLNKÄÄNotes
Installing the INTERLNK.EXE device driver
You must use the DEVICE command to install the <INTERLNK.EXE> device
driverbefore you can use the INTERLNK command.
Canceling redirection on a drive
To cancel redirection of a client drive to a server drive, specify
only the client drive and the equal sign (=).
Starting INTERLNK without a server
If you use INTERLNK to connect to a computer that is not running
<INTERSVR>, INTERLNK will show the connection as three additional
floppydisk drives. However, if you try to show the contents of these
drives, they will appear empty. To show the contents of the redirected
drives, the servermust be running INTERSVR.
Assigning drive letters
When you connect two computers using INTERLNK, each additional drive
will be assigned the next available drive letter. Because the
<LASTDRIVE> setting in your CONFIG.SYS file determines how many drive
letters are available, makesure LASTDRIVE is set high enough to
accomodate the redirected drives.
INTERLNKÄÄExamples
Examples
Suppose drive E exists on a server, and INTERSVR is running. To
redirectdrive G on the client to drive E on the server, type the
following command:
interlnk g=e
To cancel the redirection of client drive F, type the following
command:
interlnk f=
INTERLNK.EXE
Redirects requests for operations on one or more Interlnk client
drives or printer ports to one or more drives or printer ports on the
Interlnk server.This device driver must be loaded by a <DEVICE> or
<DEVICEHIGH> command in your CONFIG.SYS file.
You must install the INTERLNK.EXE device driver before you can use the
<INTERLNK> and <INTERSVR> commands.
Syntax
DEVICE=[drive:][path]INTERLNK.EXE [/DRIVES:n] [/NOPRINTER]
[/COM[:][n|address]] [/LPT[:][n|address]] [/AUTO] [/NOSCAN] [/LOW]
[/BAUD:rate] [/V]
Parameters
[drive:][path]
Specifies the location of the INTERLNK.EXE file.
Switches
/DRIVES:n
Specifies the number of redirected drives. By default, the number
is 3. If you specify 0 as a value for n, Interlnk redirects only
printers.
/NOPRINTER
Specifies that printers not be redirected when you install
INTERLNK.EXE. By default, Interlnk redirects all available printer
ports.
/COM[:][n|address]
Specifies a serial port to use for data transfer. The n parameter
specifies the number of the serial port. The address parameter
specifies the address of the serial port. If you omit n or address,
the Interlnk client searches all serial ports and uses the first port that it
finds connected to the server. If you specify the /COM switch and
omit the /LPT switch, the client searches only for serial ports. By
default, Interlnk scans all serial and parallel ports.
/LPT[:][n|address]
Specifies a parallel port to use for data transfer. The n
parameter specifies the number of the parallel port. The address
parameter specifies the address of the parallel port. If you omit n or
address, the Interlnk client uses the first parallel port that it
finds connected to the server. If you specify the /LPT switch and omit
the /COM switch, the client searches only for parallel ports. By
default, Interlnk scans all serial and parallel ports.
/AUTO
Installs the INTERLNK.EXE device driver in memory only if the
client can establish a connection with the server when the client
starts up. By default, Interlnk is installed in memory even if the
client cannot establish a connection with the server.
/NOSCAN
Installs the INTERLNK.EXE device driver in memory, but prevents
establishing a connection between client and server during setup. By
default, the client tries to establish a connection with the server as
soon as you install INTERLNK.EXE.
/LOW
Loads the INTERLNK.EXE device driver into conventional memory,
even if the upper memory area is available. By default, INTERLNK.EXE is
loaded into the upper memory area if the upper memory area is
available.
/BAUD:rate
Sets a maximum baud rate for serial communication. Valid values
for rate are 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, and 115200. The default is 115200.
/V
Prevents conflicts with a computer's timer. Specify this switch if
you have a serial connection between computers and one of them stops
running when you use Interlnk to access a drive or printer port.
INTERLNK.EXEÄÄNotes
Specifying the number of drives
When specifying the number of redirected drives in the /DRIVES switch,
makesure the <LASTDRIVE> command in your CONFIG.SYS file is set high
enough to accomodate that number of redirected drives.
Loading into the upper memory area
By default, the Interlnk device driver is loaded into the upper memory
area,if MS-DOS UMB support is enabled and memory is available. To load
the device driver in conventional memory, use the /LOW switch.
Position of the Interlnk command in the CONFIG.SYS file
The position of the DEVICE command that loads INTERLNK.EXE can affect
pre-existing drive assignments. For example, suppose your computer
includesa floppy disk drive (A), two hard disk drives (C and D), and
two RAM drives (E and F). If you load the INTERLNK.EXE device driver
before installing the RAM drives, and you choose to redirect three
drives, Interlnk will assignletters E, F, and G to the redirected
drives and letters H and I to the RAM drives. To prevent this from
happening, load INTERLNK.EXE last in your CONFIG.SYS file.
Saving memory
By default, the Interlnk device driver loads all its code into memory.
You can save memory by specifying the /NOPRINTER, /LPT, or /COM switch.
If you specify the /NOPRINTER switch, the Interlnk program does not
load code thatre directs printers. If you specify the /LPT switch
without the /COM switch, the program does not load code that supports
serial ports. If you specify the /COM switch without the /LPT switch,
the program does not load code that supports parallel ports.
Using a serial mouse with Microsoft Windows
If you are using a serial mouse with Microsoft Windows, specify either
the /LPT switch or a /COM switch that designates a COM port other than
the one the mouse is using. For example, if the serial mouse uses
COM1, and you are using a parallel connection, specify the /LPT switch
to prevent Interlnk from scanning all COM ports.
Redirecting LPT1 or LPT2 and printing from Microsoft Windows
If you redirect LPT1 or LPT2 and print from Microsoft Windows, use
ControlPanel to assign the printer to either LPT1.DOS or LPT2.DOS.
Version of MS-DOS
Some features of MS-DOS may not be available to the client computer if
you are running a different DOS version on your Interlnk server. For
example, if you have large partitions on your Interlnk server and are
running MS-DOS 3.0 on your client, the partitions will not be
available to the client because MS-DOS 3.0 does not support them.
Running an application located on the server
If you use the Interlnk program to run an application located on the
server, make sure the application is configured for the computer you
have designated as the Interlnk client.
Limitations on using INTERLNK with other commands:
The following commands do not work with the INTERLNK.EXE device
driver or its complement, INTERSVR.EXE:
CHKDSK FORMAT
DEFRAG MIRROR
DISKCOMP SYS
DISKCOPY UNDELETE
FDISK UNFORMAT
2 INTERSVR
Starts the Interlnk server.
Syntax
INTERSVR [drive:[...]] [/X=drive:[...]] [/LPT:[n|address]]
[/COM:[n|address]] [/BAUD:rate] [/B] [/V]
To copy Interlnk files from one computer to another, use the following
syntax:
INTERSVR /RCOPY
Parameter
drive:
Specifies the letter(s) of the drive(s) that will be redirected.
By default, all drives are redirected.
Switches
/X=drive:
Specifies the letter(s) of drive(s) that will not be redirected.
By default, all drives are redirected.
/LPT:[n|address]
Specifies a parallel port to use. The n parameter specifies the
number of the parallel port. The address parameter specifies the
address of the parallel port. If you omit n or address, the Interlnk
server uses the first parallel port that it finds connected to the
client. If you specify the /LPT switch and omit the /COM switch, the
server searches only for parallel ports. By default, all parallel and
serial ports are scanned.
/COM:[n|address]
Specifies a serial port to use. The n parameter specifies the
number of the serial port. The address parameter specifies the address of
the serial port. If you omit n or address, the Interlnk server
searches all serial ports and uses the first port that it finds connected to
the client. If you specify the /COM switch and omit the /LPT
switch, the server searches only for serial ports. By default, all parallel
and serial ports are scanned.
/BAUD:rate
Sets a maximum serial baud rate. Valid values for rate are 9600,
19200, 38400, 57600, and 115200. The default value is 115200.
/B
Displays the Interlnk server screen in black and white. Use this
switch if you have problems reading your monochrome monitor.
/V
Prevents conflicts with a computer's timer. Use this switch if you
have a serial connection between computers and one of them stops
running when you use Interlnk to access a drive or printer port.
/RCOPY
Copies Interlnk files from one computer to another, provided that
the computers are connected with a 7-wire, null-modem serial cable
and that the <MODE> command is available on the computer where you are
installing Interlnk.
INTERSVRÄÄNotes
Specifying the order of drives
Interlnk redirects drives in the order you specify. The first server
drive specified is redirected to the first available client drive, the
second server drive specified is redirected to the second available
client drive, and so forth.
Redirected devices
Interlnk does not redirect network drives, CD-ROM drives, or any other
device that uses a redirection interface.
Remote copy procedure
To copy Interlnk files from one computer to another by using the
/RCOPY switch, you must connect the 7-wire, null-modem serial cable to
the computers' serial ports.
Using a serial mouse with Microsoft Windows
If you are using a serial mouse with Microsoft Windows and you start
the Interlnk server while Windows is running, you need to specify
either the /LPT switch or a /COM switch that designates a COM port
other than the onethe mouse is using. For example, if the serial mouse
uses COM1 and you are using a parallel connection, specify the /LPT
switch to prevent Interlnk from scanning all COM ports.
Using Interlnk in a task-switching or multitasking environment
If you start the Interlnk server in a task-switching or multitasking
environment, task switching and key combinations that switch you out
of your current task are disabled. To restore these functions, quit
the server.
INTERSVRÄÄExamples
Suppose you have two computers that each include drives A, B, and C.
To start the Interlnk server and specify that server drive C be
redirected to client drive D, server drive A be redirected to client
drive E, and server drive B be redirected to client drive F, type the
following command:
intersvr c: a: b:
To specify that all server drives except drive A be redirected and
that LPT2 be used to connect to the client, type the following
[[[ something dropped here ]]]
Pin Connections for a Parallel Cable
This section describes the wiring specifications for parallel Interlnk
cables.
Make a parallel cable with male DB-25 connectors at both ends. Eleven
wiresare required for data transmission.
25 pin 25 pin
====== ======
pin 2 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 15
pin 3 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 13
pin 4 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 12
pin 5 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 10
pin 6 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 11
pin 15 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 2
pin 13 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 3
pin 12 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 4
pin 10 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 5
pin 11 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 6
pin 25 <ÄÄÄÄ> pin 25 (Ground-Ground)
--
| Donald Phillipson, 4180 Boundary Road, Carlsbad Springs, |
| Ontario, Canada, K0A 1K0, tel. 613 822 0734 |
--
| Donald Phillipson, 4180 Boundary Road, Carlsbad Springs, |
| Ontario, Canada, K0A 1K0, tel. 613 822 0734 |