Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!van-bc!oneb!usenet!oneb!kmcvay
From: kmcvay@oneb (Ken McVay)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Win 3.0 & high speed modem use
Keywords: uart,hst,frontdoor
Message-ID: <26a6a40f-20.2comp.windows.ms-1@oneb>
Date: 20 Jul 90 06:26:42 GMT
References: <26a1d32f-20comp.windows.ms@oneb> <3124@gmdzi.UUCP>
Lines: 56

>It is not a bbs (yet ;-), but I use MS-Kermit 3.01 under Win 3
>in enhanced mode. I can run it in the background or in a window 
>without problems.

Many thanks for your comments, Wolfgang, but I'm still looking for a
solution....alas, my Win3 hasn't arrived yet, so I can't fiddle on my own,
but what little email I've seen (typical response: "Windows 3 communications
sucks - let me know if you figure it out.") I've received has failed to
offer any answers.  In addition, after many discussions with sysops on the
dos side (Fidonet, etc) with similar problems, I'm almost (but not quite)
ready to give the idea up entirely without even trying, and stick with
DESQview.....however, given the rave reviews Win3 is receiving, and the
public clamour for the almighty GUI, I'm going to keep hoping....

Here's more information about the present setup - perhaps it will suggest
something to someone out there (Microsoft has been silent about high speed
background communications, unless I've missed something)...

I run two systems - both run bulletin boards, one runs ms-dos 4.01. The dos
system is a 286 (20MHz) with a USR HST 14.4 modem and 16550 UART - the modem
routinely hits 1680+cps with other similar systems. The system uses a mailer
called FrontDoor as the 'frontend' and a Canadian bbs (Maximus) for human
callers. The buss is locked (via BNU 1.7) at 38,400 baud. The motherboard
carries two megs of RAM.

I can run DESQview 2.26 by changing the CMOS setup a tad and rebooting, but
it doesn't leave me quite enough (about 100k) to do anything useful....and,
as a consultant, I'd be better off replacing the motherboard with a 386 than
adding a RAM card and more RAM to the 286.....

I have ordered Win3 to familiarize myself with it (I already have Word for
Windows) and to see if I could get the mailer (FrontDoor) to run under it,
in the background. I usually do this with DESQview, but DV isn't all that
friendly, and isn't as attractive as the GUI appears to be....since most of
my clients are small businesses, being able to offer my product (the mailer,
and wide-area networks) in the GUI environment would be an attractive plus.

Except that I can't find anyone who has been able to do it, or even offer
encouragement...and I can't believe, in this day and age, that a company
with the resources Microsoft has would be unable to provide the
functionality that Quarterdeck has built in to DV for years.

I suppose I could wait patiently for someone to develop a bbs under Win3, or
a mailer, but if it comes to that, Win3 will end up where 2.11 ended up - on
the shelf, gathering dust....that would be a real shame, given the promise
shown, don't you think?

Did you have problems getting your setup working? How fast is your modem?
What sort of environment does it run under? Would you be interested in
getting a copy of FrontDoor to play with? (The non-commercial version is
freely distributed)

How high is up?

A final note: I've been told that the comm  driver supplied with Win3 needs
to be replaced, and that there's a shareware version floating around that
apparently helps with high speed modems.....anyone heard anything about that?