Baslinux mailing list

[Mike Dinolfo <mdinolfo AT erols.com>]

A suggested method for copying large files (over 1.44 Mb) via floppy is 
described below:

baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

> Sindi wrote:
>
>
> > I am able to use Kermit with ramdisk BL2 and I am dialed into my bbs with 
> > it right now (and telnetted to another computer from there since I cannot 
> > get the mail list mail at my usual bbs email address due to timeouts).
> >
> > I copied kermit to /tmp after loading bl2.  If your computer has at least 
> > 8M RAM there is an additional 4M of ramdisk created and kermit is only 2M 
> > so it fit easily.  If you have only 4M RAM you are out of luck but minicom 
> > is about 250K .tgz and you might be able to copy just the binary.
>
> My computer, a P166, has 84 megabytes of RAM
>
> I can't copy a two megabyte file from a floppy drive to my ramdrive 
> because my floppy drive holds only up to 1.44 megabytes of data.


This does not deal with the specific issue of copying files to ramdisk 
(I'm not exactly sure what you mean), but:

One method that you can use to transfer large files (over 1.44 Mb) via 
floppy (provided that the source machine is running linux) is as follows:

Say you've got a 3.5 Mb file named xxx.zzz on machine "source" that you 
want to duplicate on machine "target", with only floppies available to 
do the job.

With the linix (or unix) command "dd" you can selectively copy portions 
of the original file on "source" (with each portion less than 1.44 Mb, 
so it will fit on a floppy) and transfer the individual portions (via 
floppy) to "target", then add the individual portions back together to 
reconstruct a copy of the original file.

Procedure (for the sample 3.5 Mb file):

For the 3.5 MB file described above, on the source machine, type the
following command:

  dd if=xxx.zzz bs=1k count=1400 of=x0.zzz

This command copies the initial portion of source file xxx.zzz (about 
1.4 Mb, slightly smaller than will fit onto a floppy) to a new file 
called x0.zzz.  Using a floppy, transfer the x0.zzz file to the target 
machine.

Then run

  dd if=xxx.zzz bs=1k count=1400 skip=1400 of=x1.zzz

and

  dd if=xxx.zzz bs=1k count=1400 skip=2800 of=x2.zzz

This creates two more files.  Taken together, the contents of the three 
files you have created includes the contents of the original source 
file; you will notice that the sum of the bytes for x0.zzz + x1.zzz + 
x2.zzz equals the byte total for the original (still intact) xxx.zzz file.

(Of course, this method is described for a 3.5 Mb source file.  If your 
source file is larger or smaller, additional or fewer "chunk" files will 
result.)

Continuing...

Just like you did for the x0.zzz file, move a copy of the x1.zzz and 
x2.zzz file to the target machine.

Then, on the target linix machine, enter the following commands:

cat x0.zzz > xxx.zzz
cat x1.zzz >> xxx.zzz
cat x2.zzz >> xxx.zzz

And you will have reconstructed the original xxx.zzz file on the target 
machine.

If the target machine is running DOS, the file can similarly be 
reconstructed using

copy x0.zzz /b + x1.zzz /b + x2.zzz /b xxx.zzz

This procedure can be extended to any large file.

> I have heard that there is a way to format a floppy drive for linux 
> so that it can hold a lot more data than just 1.44 M.
>
> I haven't yet learned how to copy stuff from my hard drive to my 
> ramdrive.  I haven't yet even tried to learn how do that.  I'm 
> afraid to try it without knowing what I'm doing.  I sure don't want
> to mess up my hard drive.
>
>
> > Kermit also telnets and ftps and does file transfers and fetches files 
> > from the web and maybe other tricks as well. I use it to read Russian 
> > online after loading a VGA screen font.  Type 'reset' after exiting kermit 
> > or less won't display anything at all. 
> >
> > kermit (you get a prompt)
> > then, to dial:
> > set line /dev/ttyS1             for com2
> > set speed 115200                for a modem at least 28K
> > dial 2345678                    the phone number
> >
> > C to connect; Ctl-\, C to get back to kermit.
> >
> > Or instead of dialing, type ftp or telnet and the URL to go to.
>
> Thanks for the info.  I have heard that Kermit is a fine program.  I have 
> never yet tried to run any version of it.
>
> Sam Heywood 
> -- Message handled by BasicLinux, v. 2.1 
> -- See "http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/baslinux/";
>
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