Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!utah-cs!i-core!slack!pete
From: pete%slack.uucp@cs.utah.edu (Pete Ashdown)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: HPREAD
Message-ID: <1990Feb16.102339.4721@hellgate.utah.edu>
Date: 16 Feb 90 17:23:38 GMT
Organization: Shrine of The Broken Carrot
Lines: 39

Mark Adler writes:
>Thanks to Pete Ashdown for posting the source and compiled version of
>hpread 1.3.  Pete, could you tell me your experiences with the program?
>Also, I will incorporate your indirect suggestion of optionally beeping
>upon starting a transfer in the next version (assuming there is one).
>Mark Adler
>madler@hamlet.caltech.edu

It would be nice to have more translation.  That is, the translating of
the begin program character to << and the end to >> and the boolean operators
to != >= <= and so forth.  You could go to extremes and offer a translation
for all the other odd characters, but I doubt that is necesary.  Another
needed translation would be the arrow to ->.

Another thing that bothers me is the 3 second timeout and the error saving.
There should be an option to lengthen or eliminate the timeout, so you could
blast whole directories to your PC while eating a pizza somewhere else.  Of
course, the error correction problem would be a problem in this case.  IMHO,
if there is an imbedded error, the transmission should be tossed instead of
sent to the output.  Trailing errors have caused me no real problems.  A
program for the HP could be written in conjunction with the reader.  It would
take the CHK of the desired program, + that to the name of the program, then
RCL the program and + that to the name and CHK.  Then Alonzo's ESC trick
(which should be stripped by the HPREAD program as an option) would be used
to send the whole thing off to the IR.  If errors were received, HPREAD would
simply log the name of the program and list the log when it was finished.
Graphics support would also be swell, but I don't know if anyone short of
Alonzo and Toonen could manage to translate the code :-).

This of course would mean a lot of extra code for HPREAD, but you did ask :-).
By the way Mark, my $5 is on the way.  Best value I've ever purchased.  Any
suggestions for implementing HPREAD on an Amiga?  For anyone else who is
interested, I've nearly completed the HP font (with all the special chars)
for the Amiga.  I use HPREAD on the IBM, then Cross-DOS it to my Amiga to
display everything.
"People should be beat up for stating their beliefs."  - They Might Be Giants
This is to certify and promulgate American Family Publisher's intent to award
 TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS to PETE ASHDOWN!  Yippee!  UseNet is on me everyone!
[pete@slack.uucp]       [...utah-cs!i-core!slack!pete]        [slack=AMIGA!!]