Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!rice!sun-spots-request From: T20%PSUVM.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu (Stephen G. Simpson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun Subject: Zmodem file transfers via Annex ? Keywords: Software Message-ID: <809@brazos.Rice.edu> Date: 15 Aug 89 00:46:09 GMT Sender: root@rice.edu Organization: Sun-Spots Lines: 46 Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 96, message 11 of 15 Can someone tell me why Chuck Forsberg's Zmodem file transfer program doesn't always work right for PC to Sun transfers via an Annex command interpreter? The details are as follows. Zmodem is a file transfer protocol in wide use on IBM PC bulletin boards, etc. It is extremely fast and robust. The inventor, Chuck Forsberg, also distributes a version of the program for use on VAX and Unix machines. It is available on his bulletin board, Telegodzilla, 503-621-3746 (US phone number), in the form of a compressed archive called RZSZ.ZOO. I often dial in to a Sun 3 from home on my IBM PC clone, using a 2400 baud modem and ProComm communications software (doing VT100 emulation). The dial-in goes by way of a gadget called the Annex command interpreter. I'm not sure what this Annex thing is. When I dial in, I get an Annex prompt. >From there, I have to issue an rlogin command to reach the Sun. I thought it would be neat to use Zmodem for file transfers. So, I got hold of RZSZ.ZOO, extracted the files, uploaded them to an empty directory on the Sun, and issued the command "make bsd" as per instructions. The make went fine and created two executable programs, rz and sz, on the Sun. The sz program (for sending files) works fine. I type sz , then escape to my local Zmodem on the PC to receive the file. It's much faster and smarter than Kermit. The rz program (for receiving files) doesn't work. Well, it sometimes works, maybe once in ten tries. What usually happens is the following. I type rz to receive a file, rz responds and waits to receive the file, then I escape to my local Zmodem and issue the command to send the file. The local Zmodem starts to send the file, but somehow it doesn't get through. Instead, the connection to the Sun gets broken and my local Zmodem finds that it is transmitting to the Annex prompt. The Annex doesn't understand what Zmodem is throwing at it, so I have no choice but to stop the file transfer. It seems that the dial-up connection via the Annex is somehow not sufficiently transparent. Somehow Annex seems to be responding to some escape or control characters that cause it to place the Sun session in the background, where my local Zmodem can't talk to it. Does anybody know anything about how Annex works? Any suggestions on how to make it more transparent? Is the Annex really the source of the problem? Has anyone had any similar problems with an Annex using other file transfer protocols?