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- TLXDIR
- Telix Directory Command
- by Bill de Haan
-
- MagicSoft has recently released a useful little program called TT, which
- calculates the time it would take to transmit specified files. Although this
- utility is very useful, it does not account for Telix's transmission speeds,
- which are faster than the standard transmit times. Also, it only allows for
- Xmodem protocol transmissions, so there is no allowance for such things as 1K
- blocks under Ymodem, nor Kermit file transfers. In addition, MagicSoft put a 12
- line header at the top of the printout, which removes the possibility of
- putting the output through any time of filter, such as the SORT utility in DOS.
-
- The program TLXDIR performs in the same fashion as the DOS directory
- command, as well as putting the Telix transmission times in the right 40
- columns. It supports all of the protocols Telix does, and may be used with any
- DOS filter, such as SORT or MORE. I also added a total function, so that you
- can calculate not only the individual transmit times, but the times for an
- entire group of files. In order to make the output as clean as possible, there
- is no inteactive user interface. All options and files must be specified on the
- command line. A TLXDIR command can take either of the forms below:
-
- a) tlxdir fspec1 [fspec2...fspecN] [-baud] [-protocol] [-s] [-p] [-v] [-?]
- b) tlxdir -size filesize1 [filesize2...filesizeX] [-baud] [-protocol]
-
- The options are as follows:
- fspec file specification. Wildcards (* and ?) are allowed. You may
- also specify drive and/or path identifiers, although these
- will not be displayed on the printout.
- -? a help message showing these options is displayed.
- -baud baud rate, which must be 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600 or 19200.
- -h same as -?
- -p pause when screen is full, like dir /p
- -protocol -x or -r (Xmodem) -y (Ymodem) -t (Telink) -k (Kermit)
- -s print out the sum total transmit time for all files.
- -v version number is displayed, and program terminates.
- -size don't read files, just calculate from the filesize given.
-
- NOTE: Although all examples in this documentation file use the Unix
- - option format, TLXDIR will accept the DOS standard / as an
- option card identifier as well. The commands "TLXDIR /300" and
- "TLXDIR -300" are identical. I prefer the Unix standard, but
- both are supported equally.
-
- Both -r and -x support the Xmodem protocol. The -r option supports the
- relaxed version of xmodem. At the moment, these two give the same transmit
- times, so they are effectively the same. If no command line options are given,
- TLXDIR assumes 1200 baud, Xmodem protocol, and all files in the current
- directory. A typical run of TLXDIR looks like this:
-
- C:\TELIX>tlxdir *.exe -y -s
- CL EXE 27044 2-18-85 1:16a 3 minutes, 58 seconds.
- IPL EXE 15906 7-03-86 1:42a 2 minutes, 20 seconds.
- LOGOFF EXE 11788 9-26-86 4:46a 1 minutes, 44 seconds.
- LOGON EXE 11788 9-26-86 6:11a 1 minutes, 44 seconds.
- MSC EXE 27100 2-18-85 1:16a 3 minutes, 59 seconds.
- P0 EXE 32182 2-21-85 3:12a 4 minutes, 43 seconds.
- P1 EXE 74770 2-21-85 3:27a 10 minutes, 58 seconds.
- P2 EXE 103094 7-03-86 9:11a 15 minutes, 7 seconds.
- P3 EXE 69412 2-14-85 5:37a 10 minutes, 11 seconds.
- SNOOZE EXE 1928 8-07-86 3:20a 0 minutes, 17 seconds.
- TLXDIR EXE 16616 9-27-86 0:15a 2 minutes, 27 seconds.
- --- Total of 11 files, 391628 bytes.
- --- Total Ymodem transmission time at 1200 baud is: 57 minutes, 28 seconds,
-
- C:\TELIX>_
-
-
-
- You may specify as many files on the command line as you want. For example,
- "TLXDIR *.EXE *.COM *.BAT -k -9600" is perfectly valid, and will calculate the
- time it would take Telix to transmit to send all executable, command, and batch
- files in the current directory at 9600 baud, using Kermit protocol.
-
- The second form of the TLXDIR command is used to calculate transmission
- times from file sizes entered on the command line. This is useful when you want
- to calculate the transmission time for files on the host system. This is
- especially true on Fido systems, where the Telix times are usually less than
- the Fido calculations. The run below is a typical TLXDIR of this format:
-
- C:\TELIX>tlxdir -size 11788 8615 11788 1817
- File size 11788, 2 minutes, 9 seconds.
- File size 8615, 1 minutes, 35 seconds.
- File size 11788, 2 minutes, 9 seconds.
- File size 1817, 0 minutes, 20 seconds.
- --- Total of 4 files, 34008 bytes.
- --- Total Xmodem transmission time at 1200 baud is: 6 minutes, 13 seconds.
-
- C:\TELIX>_
-
- Note that with this format, you will always get the total time and size.
- The -size option was added so that users could get a quick tally of a group of
- files. As a result, there is no support for the pause, since I doubt anyone
- would enter more than 20 file sizes on the command line. If anyone actually
- wants the pause option installed, let me know.
-
- It is extremely important that you remember to put an option indicator tag,
- either the minus sign (-) or forward slash character (/) in front of a protocol
- character, a baud rate, or any option. If a command line element does not have
- a leading option tag, it is treated as a file name.
-
- Although I like the total time to be listed, TLXDIR was designed to be as
- compatable with the standard dos dir command as possible, so the default is no
- totals. Likewise, the pause option defaults to off, as well.
-
- Please be aware that these time estimations are just that: estimations.
- Although I use the same algorithm as Telix does, it cannot of course take into
- account line noise or other interferences that effect transmission time. Also
- be aware that these times do not take into account the faster throughput at
- higher speeds. Since I only have a 1200 baud modem, I cannot do timing tests
- for the higher speeds, although I am told that they are reasonably accurate, if
- not perfect.
-
- Please send any comments about this program to me on the PC Pub BBS in
- Toronto, phone number (416) 487-2889. Address it to "Bill de_Haan" in either
- the public message area, or the Telix response area.
-
- This program was written in Microsoft C v3.0. This program source code and
- documentation remain my personal property. There are no restrictions on its
- use, except for corporate environments with more than one copy in use, who must
- contact me. In addition, it is not to be modified by the user, or sold with or
- as part of any hardware of software package. The documentation file MUST
- accompany the program.
-
- Bill de Haan
-
-