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From: jmatrow@ncrwic.Wichita.NCR.COM (John Matrow)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems,comp.misc,comp.protocols.misc
Subject: Re: Inquiry on the program 'blast'
Message-ID: <615@ncrwic.Wichita.NCR.COM>
Date: 21 Dec 87 15:43:09 GMT
References: <335@caus-dp.UUCP>
Reply-To: jmatrow@ncrwic.UUCP (John Matrow)
Organization: NCR Corporation, Wichita, Kansas
Lines: 50
Keywords: is it any good?

In article <335@caus-dp.UUCP> root@caus-dp.UUCP (The Super User) writes:
>I was approached by a man from Intellience Communication Services (I think
>thats the company) about a product that their company is reselling called
>'blast'. Apparently it is a GREAT (:-) program that does EVERYTHING (Ever
>heard of these before?)
>
>Actually it was described to me as almost a uucp/kermit/terminal program 
>replacement for the Xenix, Unix, MSDOS, BTOS, etc operating system inter-
>connectivity. It allows for file transfer between the various operating
>systems from a menuing system so your users don't have to learn unix to
>use the thing.
>
BLAST is from Communications Research Group, 5615 Corporate Blvd,
Baton Rouge, LA 70808, 1-800-24-BLAST. It stands for BLocked
ASynchronous Transmission.

It runs on many, many machines. Among the UNIX(tm) machines are:
Altos, AT&T, Convergent Tech., Fortune, Gould, Harris, IBM (Xenix),
Integrated Solutions, Intel, Masscomp, Molecular Poppy, NCR, ONYX,
Pixel, Plexus, Pyramid, Sun, VAX, Zilog. We used it in a VAX-VMS,
DG, NCR Tower, NCR PC environment.

The new PC BLAST-II comes with VT100, VT52, D200, and TTY emulation.
It also supports Xmodem checksum protocol.

A comparison in May 13, 1985 COMPUTERWORLD between BLAST, TANGO (a.k.a.
SYNCHRONY) and PC Works conducted at Yates Ventures showed that the
three has similar throughput UNTIL the line got noisy. Then, only
BLAST came through.

Articles have also appeared in Jan. 18, 1984 COMPUTERWORLD ON COMMUNICA-
TIONS; March 1984 HARDCOPY; October, 1985 HARDCOPY; Sept. 1986 DATA
BASE MONTHLY.

In addition to the file transfer and terminal emulation modes, it has
a data capture mode which we have found useful at our facility. Also,
files can be transferred in both directions simultaneously. Yes, all
functions are through a menu.

I also consider Chapter 5, Communications Concepts, of the BLAST Manual
to be one of the best little tutorials on RS-232, flow control, etc.
that I have ever come across.

I found it useful in a heterogenous environment.

-- 
John Matrow   Automation Engineering, NCR E&M Wichita
 NCR:654-8851 <J.Matrow@Wichita.NCR.COM>
(316)688-8851 <{ece-csc,hubcap,gould,rtech}!ncrcae!ncrwic!j.matrow>
              <{sdcsvax,cbatt,dcdwest,nosc.ARPA,ihnp4}!ncr-sd!ncrwic!j.matrow>