| 12.Sending
data files to host (uploading) |
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| 12.0
Overview |
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| PC-PLOT-IV
can send a picture or text file to your host computer. This section describes
the procedure to use and the difficulties encountered when sending data
to a remote computer. ASCII file upload is used when the host cannot accept
an XMODEM file transfer, or when the communication channel is not noisy
enough to cause loss of characters. |
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| 12.1
Using upload mode |
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is a two step process for uploading a file to your host which must be followed
in order to transfer the data correctly. |
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1. Prepare
your host computer to receive the file
2. Send the file (ALT-U) |
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| Your host
computer must be prepared to accept the data file that you are going to
send. If you are going to send a text file, normally you would enter the
host commands to start a text editor and go into text enter mode. If you
are sending a picture file to a graphics program, you will need to enter
the proper commands to set it up to accept the data. |
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| Some systems
may allow you to save a file sent from your microcomputer with a command
similar to the following: |
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COPY TT:
<filename> |
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where TT:
is the name of your terminal (microcomputer)
<filename> is the name of the file to create on the
host |
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| As soon
as the host has been prepared to accept the data, Enter the ALT-U command.
Depending on the upload mode selected in the setup menu, your file will
either be sent a line at a time or as a
long string of characters. |
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| Entering
the ALT-U command will cause a filename prompt to appear on line 25. Enter
the filename of the file on your personal computer that you want to send
to the host. The file can be on any directory or disk on your personal
computer. |
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| Enter
<cr> following the filename to open the file. If you do not want to
upload a file after the ALT-U command, enter <cr> with no filename and
you will return to online mode. |
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| If you
want to stop an upload while it is progress, enter the local command ALT-R.
The upload will be terminated. |
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| 12.2
ASCII Upload modes |
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| There
are two basic ASCII upload modes which can be used in PC-PLOT-IV. They
are one line at a time and continuous data stream. |
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| One line
at a time is usually the mode used with text files. Many host computers
have a limited buffer size when accepting characters in a text editor.
The size is usually one line of characters (80 or 128 characters). If more
characters are sent, an error condition will be detected and the editor
will abort the transfer operation. |
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line at a time mode, you will have to know what character the program which
is accepting the data sends as soon as it is ready to accept another line
of data. For many text editors, a line of text sent to the host is terminated
by a <cr>. As soon as the host has processed the line of text and is
able to accept another line, it will send a line feed back to your terminal
(PC). When PC-PLOT-IV detects the Line Turnaround Character ( LTA ), it
will send another line of data to the host. |
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| In the
simple example above, the LTA character is line feed ( <lf> ). Some
other text editors will send
a line number before each line is to be entered. |
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33 My next line of
text
or |
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33: My
next line of text |
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| The LTA
character in the first example is a space. In the second example the LTA
character is the colon ( : ). |
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| In most cases the text
editor on your host will append a line feed following receipt of a <cr>.
For that reason, you will want to select <lf> strip on upload to be
ON in the ALT-S setup menu. |
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| If the program on your
host will be accepting a picture data file which is not broken up into
lines with <cr><lf>, you will have to select continuous stream upload
mode. Continuous stream mode sends the entire picture file to the host
without any breaks. |
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| To select continuous
mode, select the LTA character in the ALT-S setup screen to be the percent
sign ( % ). Select this mode by moving the cursor bar to the LTA character
select line and depress shift-5 ( % ). |
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| The LTA character is
set in the communications setup menu. Enter the ALT-S command to bring
up the setup menu and depress cursor down until the wide cursor is on the
LTA character line. If the LTA character is a printable character (including
space) depress that key on the keyboard. If the LTA character is a control
code, depress ALT-C until the correct control code appears. As soon as
you have selected the proper LTA character, depress ALT-S to save your
new selection in the setup file. |
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See section 14 for information
on the XMODEM error-free file transfer protocol. |
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| PC-PLOT-IV
Chapter 12 Uploading Files |