The vax now supports file transfers using the ZMODEM protocol.  ZMODEM, for
those who never heard of it, is a very quick, very reliable file transfer
protocol.  The main highlights of this protocol are:

	o Faster than XMODEM, YMODEM and KERMIT.
	o Automatically sends file names so you don't have to tell the 
	  receiver what it's receiving.
	o Automatically starts the file transfer process (when transferring
	  to a ZMODEM compatible terminal emulator.
	o Can resume an interrupted transfer right where it left off.
	o Will do translations of CR-LF's so text files appear OK.

To use this protocol, 2 programs are available; RZ (for receive Zmodem) and
SZ (for Send Zmodem).

The format for sending files from the VAX is

	SZ [-y] file1 file2 ...

The optional -y tells ZMODEM to overwrite the destination file.  As yet, SZ
does not understand wildcards, so SZ *.C won't work.  There are other options
that you'll probably never need, but if you type SZ by itself, it will list
them for you.

The receiving end (if it knows ZMODEM) will automatically start receiving the
file.

For uploading files to the VAX, use 

     	RZ [-yn]

to start the VAX listening, then start sending the files from your terminal
emulator however it requires.

The option -y tells ZMODEM to overwrite destination files.  The -n option
tells ZMODEM to translate carriage returns to newlines and to receive a text
file.  Again there are other options, and by typing RZ -help, they will be
displayed.

There are some documentation files that go into more detail, but if you're not
a UNIX weenie they might not be much help beyond describing the options.  The
help files are named DOK:RZ.MAN and DOK:SZ.MAN.  (Yes, these programs are
ports from the original UNIX source).

SZ and RZ have both been defined in the system-wide login file, so you don't
need to set them up in your LOGIN.COM files.

If you have any other questions, let me know.  I will endeavor to stick in wild
card smarts when I get the chance, but unless I hear otherwise, it's not a high
priority.
						-- jim

Here's the latest scoop on ZMODEM transfers.  

1)	I changed the program to use 1024 instead of 64 byte blocks to
	transfer.  This should speed things up a bit.

2)	The problem with some files not transferring seems to stem from 
	the method used to upload the file to the VAX in the first place.
	I'm talking about .RAD files we tried as tests here.  If the file
	is uploaded using NFT COPY on the PC, the PC looks at the first 512
	bytes of the file, and if a carriage return is found, decides the
	file is a text file, and proceeds to transfer the file as text,
	creating a STREAM file on the VAX, which will cause ZMODEM to barf
	when trying to tranfer it.  If no CR is found, the file is
	created with fixed length records.  The sneaky thing here is that
	this error may or may not show up depending on the contents of the
	file.

	The way around this is to ALWAYS transfer BINARY files (like .RAD)
	to and from your PC using NFT COPY/BLOCK.  This forces the file into
	the correct form on the VAX.  Text files are OK to transfer without
	the /BLOCK option.

	If you have a file that won't transfer, a quick fix is to transfer
	it down to the PC via NFT COPY/BLOCK, then NFT COPY/BLOCK it back.
	This should fix the file so ZMODEM will work OK on it.


Let me know if you run into any other problems using SZ or RZ.
							-- jim

P.S.	I'm going to stick in wildcard processing as soon as I get the chance.

Greetings,
	SZ, that nutty little ZMODEM file download program now supports full
	VMS wildcards for filenames.  For instance,

		sz [petrick]	! This will send all files in the petrick dir.
		sz [-]*.com	! This sends all .COM files in the directory
				  above the current directory.
		sz [...]puma.*	! Sends all files in any subdirectory of the
				  current subdirectory that are named puma
		sz p*		! Sends all files starting with the letter p
				  of any file type.

	Anyways, you get the idea.
					-- jim