CHEAPLINK - V1.11 - 27 Apr 89  -- Zero slot Network written by EM - Hong Kong

                  ADDED DOCUMENTATION BY J. M. KING
The advantage of CheapLink for file transfers between computers over
specific file transfer utilities is that you can use your normal file
management software.  If you like to use Xtree or a similar program,
you can use it with CheapLink to move files from the drives on one
computer (the workstation) to or from another computer (the server).

Furthermore, CheapLink is a real "LAN" connection.  You can run
programs on the workstation which are on the server but not on the
workstation disk drives.  CheapLink's limitation is that it is slow
because the link is through a serial port connection rather than via
a special LAN card.

This documentation was written to supplement the information provided
by the author, to clarify the installation command parameter usage, 
and to update the documentation for MS-DOS versions 4.01 and 5.0.

I have had no problems using CheapLink other than occasional read or
write errors with network drives.  In no case was a file or disk in
any way lost or damaged.

               AUTHOR'S DOCUMENTATION FROM CHEAPLNK.DOC
The author provides the following documentation:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation:

On the Server:
   in Autoexec.bat:     SRV $nn1/dd1 [$nn2/dd2...] [UNITS:abc...]

On each Workstation:
   in Config.sys:       DEVICE = WKS $nnn/ddd @n

Notes:

   nnx    = port base address in DECIMAL notation (COM1 = 1016; COM2 = 760).
   ddx    = baud rate divisor (1 = 115,200 bps; 2 = 57,600 bps...).
   abc... = disk units on the server made available to the workstations
            (omitting this option implies "all").
   n      = number of available server drives accessed by the workstation.

   example
                 srv $1016/1 efg
   	         device = wks.sys $1016/1 @3

He states that the commands in this example:

   selects com1 on both machines
           maximum baudrate
           drives A: B: and C: on server become E: F: and G: on wkstation
           workstation accesses 3 drives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         ADDED DOCUMENTATION
                       COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
In the author's example, since the "UNITS:" part of the srv command is not
included, the "efg" will have no effect at all.  All drives will be
available to the workstation which is the default setting.  Furthermore,
since the server has only drives A:, B:, and C:, UNITS:efg (or UNITS:EFG)
will also mean nothing.

The correct command is:

                  srv $1016/1 UNITS:ABC
or
                  srv $1016/1 units:abc

which will allow the server drives to appear as drives D:, E:, and F: on
the workstation assuming the workstation has a C: drive as the highest
drive.  In any event, the server drives take the next higher drive
letters after the highest drive on the workstation.

If you wish to have the workstation only able to access drive C: and
not drives A: or B: on the server, the command is:

                   srv $1016/1 UNITS:C

The server drive C: then becomes drive D: for the workstation.  It is
not necessary to reduce the WKS.SYS @ parameter to 1, but that would
be consistent.

                            BAUD RATE SETTING
Both the server and workstations must use the same baud rate, or
drive read errors occur resulting in the Abort, Retry, Fail message.

                            LASTDRIVE COMMAND
It is not necessary to include a LASTDRIVE command in your CONFIG.SYS
file since these are network drives.  The DOSSHELL in MS-DOS 5.0
recognizes Cheap Link server drives with the net drive symbol.

                        MS-DOS 4.01 and MS-DOS 5.0
I tested WKS.SYS and SRV.COM with MS-DOS 4.01 and 5.0 successfully.  The
WKS.SYS also ran correctly when loaded by the MS-DOS 5.0 DEVICEHIGH
command into the UMB region between 768K and 960K.  The LOADHIGH command
loaded SRV.COM in this region where it also ran properly.  Clearly, the
author need not have been concerned about the operation of his program
with versions of DOS higher than 3.3.

                              PRINT COMMANDS
Since the LPT1 of every workstation is redirected on the server's LPT1;,
if a print command is given (including Print Screen) when the server
is not available, the system will hang until the server is made
available.  There is no time out function, and you can't break out.
If you can't make the server available, it is time to reboot.

                            FILE TRANSFER RATE
I confirmed the transfer rate of 18 seconds to transfer 64k between a
12MHz 286 and a 16MHz 386SX at 115,200bps.  This is the rate for the
full transfer using the DOS COPY command between hard disks.

John M. King
(415) 472-7035 voice
October 30, 1991