Hello Rod!

Ok, the Telix calls were interesting.  All done under plain dos (ie not a
dos box, ie I went to the dual boot window and typed "y" for
dos).  All connects were done at either V42 or MNP4, no V42bis at all.

The V42 ones were ALL bad when sending smplfido.zip.  Always the MR light
was flashing constantly at my end.

On the other hand the MNP4 connections were all good.  No MR light
flashing. However, maybe MR only flashes if the modem is doing the error
correction using V42, and MNP doesn't show up.  I do not have any
information on this, but I believe you do, and you were getting good rates.

BTW, Telix always showed me "F's" which are for flow control
using CTS/RTS, as opposed to "X's" for XON/XOFF.  Therefor there
is no problem with CTS/RTS.  I cannot say the same for the other com port
which I used to be using, as I didn't do any tests on it.

Will get a telephone extension sometime soon, when I find out where to get
them from.  Hopefully Retravision have them, as they are nearby.

This Spirit problem is not the well known one.  Like you say, it didn't
happen at 12000.  Mine does.  I do have the latest ROMs at the moment, but
then I used to have much older ones.

A much trivialer problem is that when I was sending a file under OS/2 to
you, the SD + CS lights were flashing, but when I swapped to another task
(Golded under DOS) they went off, presumably DOS was swallowing the CPU
time.  I do have Golded set to release timeslices in the OS/2 fashion. 
Dunno why it didn't work.  However, I was also running word perfect, which
could well have been the killer instead (not windows). Anyway, swapping
back to Binkley let it start again.

You said you had too many errors when connecting at 14400 (no error
correction).  I presume you mean Zmodem errors?  If you were getting lots,
then that shows that the line quality is bad, right?  However, whether I
use MNP4 or V42, the line quality doesn't change.  However, only line
quality could explain the fact that you sometimes only get a proper connect
on the 3rd go (or whatever).  Not pretty.

You said a test of me calling you was academic.  But this is an academic
problem, so it may have been useful.

The fact that MNP4 is good, whilst V42 is bad, means that it is a modem
problem.  The fact that my modem is reporting errors, whilst your modem
isn't, means that it is a modem problem.  The fact that it is my modem
reporting errors, whilst THERE IS NO DATA BEING RECEIVED means that it is
bitching about not receiving any data.  Sounds to me like Ymodem might
help.  Let's see if it is available on QWK.

Ah, Sealink is available.  Much better!  Ok, it would have been nice to see
how that went under Telix, but I guess OS/2 is good enough.  Could you try
a Sealink download using V42 and see how far you get.  You should get close
to Zmodem speeds with Sealink, it is very good.  It is available as a
normal protocol, so you can use it to download smplfido.zip.

Another factor is that Adaptive Retrain didn't work.  So my modem thought
it had an error, didn't bother to tell your modem that there was an error,
didn't bother to ask your modem if it would like to try a lower speed, it
just decided to not send so much data.  A very unsociable modem.  You know
what they say about dogs behaving like their owner?  I don't have a dog. 
:-)  Anyway, what could the Spirit possibly be doing when it flashes MR? 
Besides making the light flashing, it doesn't appear to be communicating
any information to anyone else.  So why the slowdown?  Is it resending
data?  No, because your modem would need to be informed if that was the
case.  What about stopping sending data, flashing the MR light to inform us
that there is a problem, then starting sending again?

BTW, you said your modem didn't report any errors, yet you get a lot of
errors when you dial without V42 or MNP.  You're lying!  Either that or
your modem is the one that's buggered.  Sending errors to my modem, without
reporting them to you.  It could only be your modem encountering errors,
because my modem isn't receiving any data to report on.  I know how we can
test this.  I'll upload something to a local node, and if it works fine, it
means the problem is your end. Hang on, I've already done it!!! 
  And it works.

This would explain the observed phenomenon, right?  Do you connect to the
City at V42 or MNP4?  The distance between my computer and my other phone
line is over 7 metres.  An 11 metre cable would allow me to lay it
permanently.  Do you think this would have a detrimental effect at all? 
Actually, come to think of it, my current cable from modem to telephone
outlet is 11 metres.  Could that be causing a problem?  That is the
distance between my plug attached to the wall, and the plug in the other
wall which has all the wires coming in.  BFN.

P.S. Dave Hatch, Ministry Support Group, 3:711/809, ph 02-871-5878 is
running a Spirit II also.  You might like to see how you go downloading
stuff from him. My last download from him was 1625 (for 500k).  Connect was
done at V42bis BTW. Not sure if this would prove anything either way.  I
suppose it would eliminate your modem if it worked, but not point the
finger anywhere if it didn't!

P.P.S. I've come to the conclusion that I should have taken the oppurtunity
of dialling you, so as to give validity to any tests I do with any other
board in Sydney, where *I* am making the call.  Getting other people to
call me for tests is much more difficult.

Paul

--- GoldED 2.40