SV2MAC


An Alpha Micro utility which prepares

SuperVue "T" files

(and other text files)

for transfer to Macintosh MacWrite.
















SV2MAC and SV4MAC were written and released to the public domain
 by Loren Amelang, Philo, CA  95466-0024  -  CIS [70110,551]

Alpha Micro and AMOS are trademarks of Alpha Microsystems, Inc.
SuperVUE is a trademark of Micro Concepts, Inc.
Macintosh is a trademark licensed to Apple Computer, Inc.
MacWrite and MacTerminal are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Red Ryder is a trademark of The FreeSoft Company
Kermit is a trademark licensed to the Trustees of Columbia University



















QUICK REFERENCE:

Start SV2MAC from the AMOS dot:                               .SV2MAC (Return)

Enter input filename (MYFILE, for example) and extension:    MYFILE.T (Return)

Enter output filename and extension (.TM recommended):      MYFILE.TM (Return)

When the dot returns, MYFILE.TM is ready to transfer; MYFILE.T is not
changed.


XMODEM provides an efficient transfer method.

Both MacTerminal and Red Ryder work well for XMODEM transfers.  (NOTE: If
your Mac has a hard disk, beware of old versions of Red Ryder!  Version 9.x
knows about hard disks; version 6.x did not and might fail to transfer files or
worse...  Somewhere in between Red learned!)

Use either to connect your Mac as a terminal on the Alpha Micro.  If the
system is not busy, you may run at 9600 baud; on a heavily loaded system,
4800 or even 2400 may actually transfer faster since blocks with errors
won't have to be resent so often.

Using the Mac, login to the Alpha Micro account containing the file to be
transferred.

At the AMOS dot, type                                         .XTRANS (Return)

At "Filename to send:", type                                MYFILE.TM (Return)

Pull down the FILE menu and select                       "Receive File-XMODEM"

When the dialog box asks, type the filename                 MYFILE.TM (Return)

(Note: You may give these commands rapidly, without waiting for them to
complete - both computers will remember what you have typed!)

When the AMOS dot reappears on the Mac, you are finished!

If the transfer "gets hung up", press "Command Period" a time or two on the
Mac, and then type a few Control-C's (Command-C's) to the Alpha.  (The
Alpha won't see them until an XMODEM "timeout" occurs, so wait a minute or
so...)

>>>>> When you load the transferred file into MacWrite, tell it a carriage
return signifies a new paragraph.















THE PROBLEM:

Users want to move SuperVue files to MacWrite - but if you move a .LST file
to the Mac, you find linefeeds (rectangular boxes) at the beginning of lines.
You also find "hard returns" at the end of lines, meaning they don't "reflow"
down the screen if you add or delete text using the Mac.  If right justification
was used, the .LST file will have extra spaces between some words.  It will
always have SuperVue's page breaks, either as control characters or as extra
blank lines.  Worst of all, .LST files for most printers include spaces at the
beginning of each line to provide the left margin.



THE SOLUTION:

SV2MAC is an assembly language program for the Alpha Micro.  It reads in a
SuperVue "T" file (or any other text file...) and goes over it character by
character:
The "header" (which looks to us humans like garbage) is stripped out.

"Hard" page breaks (formfeed characters) are removed ("soft" page breaks
are not stored in the "T" file.)

Dot commands (and, unfortunately, any line beginning with a period) are
removed.

"Soft" spaces (to provide right justification) are stripped out.

"Soft" returns (and, unfortunately, any single return) are removed - only
one or more blank lines cause a new paragraph to begin.  All other text will
"flow" together as a single MacWrite paragraph.

Indented or centered text is moved to the left margin.

NOTE: If you have followed SuperVue's recommendation and used the .MARGIN
command to set the left margin, you may use SV4MAC, which does everything
SV2MAC does, plus marks each indented or centered line with a \
(backslash) character.  You may then "search and replace" such lines
automatically in MacWrite.  (If you have used a SuperVue ruler to set your
left margin, SV4MAC will mark every line - not exactly a useful feature.)

SuperVue "T" files do not contain tab characters, but other text files may;
SV2MAC will preserve tab characters (be sure to put appropriate tab
markers in your MacWrite ruler.)   SV2MAC will remove linefeeds and
other control characters.















THE TRANSFER:

There are three types of file transfer available between Alpha Micro and
Macintosh:  ASCII, Kermit, and XMODEM.

Kermit is slowest, and must be controlled by a second Alpha terminal in
addition to the Mac.  Both ends of it are truly free and public domain.  It will
work if it is what you have.

ASCII transfer is built into the Alpha, but requires additional software on the
Mac.  MacTerminal, unfortunately, will not work for ASCII transfer!  Even at
2400 baud it occasionally misses characters.  If you have "wraparound"
turned off, it throws away everything past the 80th character in a line (and
remember, for MacWrite, a "line" contains a whole paragraph of text!)  If
you turn "wraparound" on, it puts a "hard" return after each 80 characters of
text (which is one of the things we just used SV2MAC to strip out!)  Finally,
unless you explicitly do a "SAVE" of the received file before you do a "SAVE
AS" or "QUIT", MacTerminal will throw away the last screen of your file (it
is not yet "off top"...)!

ASCII transfer with Red Ryder works fine, even up to 9600 baud with the
latest versions.  Since SV2MAC has already dealt with linefeeds, the setting
of "strip" does not matter.  Using ASCII capture, however, requires you to:
Give the Alpha a command to TYPE your file, but don't press Return yet; Select
"Receive File, ASCII" and enter a filename on the Mac; Then press the Return
for the TYPE command; Wait while the file goes past on the screen; Select "End
File Capture" on the Mac.

XMODEM is much simpler to use, and faster because the file is not displayed
on the Mac screen!  Alpha XMODEM is available from AMUS, the Alpha Micro
Users' Society, by modem or on tape.  It consists of:

XTRANS.RUN & XRECV.RUN

XTRANS.CMD & XRECV.CMD (Which run XTRANS.RUN & XRECV.RUN ...)

XLOCK.SBR (Which could be removed from the .BAS source...)

XMEM.SBR (Which could be removed from the .BAS source...)

IMG.SBR (Essential!)

TIMEIN.SBR (Essential!)

CMPCRC.SBR (Essential!)

FILEIN.SBR (Essential!)


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