MiniSport Laptop Hacker - Vol 3                   19 Nov 1992

Thanks for all the feedback!  I heard from W4NQB, N2BQF, W6QJM, NI9X,
N2PBU, N9LNO and KB1UM.  Several comments indicated that the discussion of
COMPSEC, boot drives, etc was too complicated or too confusing.  I'll give
a clearer, more concise rendition in the next volume.

In this issue, two topics are covered:
 1. Building your own null modem FWL (FastWire Link) cable.
 2. Discussion of "extra" DOS files Zenith put on your disk C:

1)
If you have a MiniSport, you *need* a null modem cable to make the computer
useful.  You can purchase a null cable for about $10, but if you're a ham,
you probably have parts to make your own. A cable with *three* terminating
plugs adds tremendously to the convenience of hooking up to unknown "host"
computers you may run across.  The following diagram shows the way I wired
one that has worked for me:

   9-pin fem --------- 4' ---------- 9-pin fem --- 4" --- 25-pin male
      2                                  3                    2
      3                                  2                    3
      5                                  5                    7

Hook the lone 9-pin into your MiniSport serial port and then use either a
9-pin or the 25-pin connector on the other with the host MSDOS serial port.
Of course, the host could just be another MiniSport.
FWL will work successfully with this three-wire cable.  The on-line help
indicates that a full 9-wire null modem will allow faster transfer due to
hardware handshaking.  FWL checks and brings up the transfer speed to the
maximum possible.  This 3-wire cable is sufficient, however.

2)
I believe the following to be a complete list of extra "Zenith special"
programs that are resident on your ROM drive C:.  If you've never looked at
this list before, you're probably missing some fun!  I have no manuals for
any of this.  The comments I'm making are from experimentation only.  If
you have manuals, copy this list, make corrections to my comments and send
it back to me!

  APPLY.COM - Repetitive DOS commands by typing on the changing part.
  BOOTF.COM - Lets you reboot the system from floppy.
  EMM.SYS - Expanded Memory Manager (I use all mine as a drive, however)
  FWL.EXE & FWL.HLP - FastWire Link to transfer to and from another
    computer.  * C a u t i o n *  Don't port FWL over to a computer that
    has a disk partition beyond the original 32 MByte MSDOS limit.  I did
    this and succeeded in scrambling the directory when that computer
    received files.  The only safe way to transfer to a 32 MByte+ formatted
    machine is to use only floppies for the transfer, and then do a local
    copy from floppy to hard drive.
  GDU.EXE & GDUTSR.COM - General Disk Utilities.  They work on other ma-
    chines, but I have not figured out how to use the TSR version.
  MACHINE.COM - This lets you make "post bootup" changes that otherwise
    would have to be made with the SETUP utility prior to boot.
  NOSTACK.COM - I'm not sure what this does.  Any comments?
  SEARCH.COM - A global (all directory) search for a filename.
  ZCACHE.SYS - A disk cache program.  Has anybody ported this to other ma-
    chines?
  ZDIR.SYS - A complete, but compact directory (dual columns).  Port works.
  ZSPOOL.COM - A printer spooler.  So how is this so much better than the
    old fashioned MSDOS PRINT utility?

And these are the MSDOS 3.3 files you *don't* have:
  EGA.CPI
  FASTOPEN.EXE
  FDISK.COM
  GWBASIC.EXE
  RAMDRIVE.SYS
  SHARE.EXE


-----
I recently succeeded in unsoldering the 1 Mbyte SIPP from one computer and
grafting it into a second.  More info on that, squeezing a lot into a 2 MB
ramdrive, and a clearer description of minimum boot files -- in Volume 4.

73, Brian, ka9snf@wb7nnf.#spokn.wa or Internet ka9snf@jupiter.spk.wa.us