Subj : Re: DIY Laplink cable results
To   : Bob Worm
From : kirkspragg
Date : Sat Aug 23 2025 18:05:13

 BW> The intrusive thoughts finally got the better of me so I DOSBox'd two
 BW> copies of LapLink3 and sniffed the traffic going between them. I don't
 BW> understand all the messages yet but it doesn't look ridiculously
 BW> complicated - if I ever get the free time I could probably write an
 BW> implementation of it for my Acorn, which would make copying files back
 BW> and forth much easier. I would need to mangle file names (Acorn allows
 BW> longer filenames, uses . as a directory separator and has file type as a
 BW> file system attribute) but it would make a fun project.
 BW> 
Well if you do get round to making an implementation for Acorn, I'm sure the folks here would be interested so let us know if you do. It would be a pretty cool project.

 BW> I've never tried FastLynx, a couple of people have told me it's better,
 BW> though.

I think laplink can be stable if both ends are roughly the same speed, otherwise it just tends to get unstable and either crash completely or fail part way through a transfer.

Thats said, i've never had much luck running it in dosbox at one end and connected to a 'rea' pc at the other. It works for small transfers but once I try > 10 MB or so it either locks up or craps out mid way through the transfer. I've tried messing with various dosbox settings, increasing and reducing the speed ect, but it never seems to be stable.

Fastlynx seems to be a bit more reliable, though I have noticed if your doxbox machine is considerably faster than the PC at the other end it tends to drop the connection. That is easy enough to fix though, simply by reducing the number of cycles (effectively the emulation speed) it fixes it.

.... Those butts are ripe for kicking - Mike

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