We’ve all seen this problem before. Data that we have carefully assembled over the years and combined into a number of useful files are about to become unusable. Perhaps the office is changing and our old, faithful computer is about to be replaced by a brand new model that reads different size floppy disks and uses a different operating system. Perhaps the data that were produced by a dBase III program need to be transformed so that they can be used by another type of program. What can we do?

One of the things we can do is to read this book. The technical gurus will find it a rather simplistic and repetitious text, which will drive them to distraction, but other classes of users (such as those running packages like dBase III or Wordstar) may find it very useful. The book is written for a lay audience with technical problems in file transfer.

The book is rather badly named. Data communications per se is scarcely touched in this book. What the book does is to explain in great detail how to transfer ASCII files from one computer to another using simple serial port connections. The author emphasizes very basic data moving features, for example, backups. The author states, “Until you have seen hours or days worth of work disappear to the electronic hereafter you cannot fully understand the importance of making copies of data files. Get into the habit of making copies early in your computer career.”

Readers suffering from gender confusion will be reassured by the following:

You have to determine if the receiving computer needs a male or female end plug. To determine which is which, look at the plug on the serial card in the sending computer. Does it have pins you can see or holes? If you see pins this end of the cable has to be male. If you see holes this end of the computer has to be female.

The first two chapters consider the problem of transferring ASCII files from CP/M systems to MS-DOS systems and vice versa. In each case, the transmitting computer uses its operating system to pump the files out to the serial port. The receiving computer uses a program to accept the data from their serial port and place them into files. The programs required are CROSSTALK on MS-DOS and ASCOM on CP/M. In each of these cases, the steps used on both sides of the transfer are spelled out in excruciating detail.

After data have been transferred from one machine to the other, there is often the problem that the data do not have the correct format. This problem is treated in the following chapter. The various formats used by Lotus 1-2-3, dBase II, dBase III, Wordstar, and ordinary ASCII files are studied. It is shown how one format can be converted into another.

In the next chapter, file transfer with modems is discussed. Two cases are treated here. In one case, the telephone system is used to connect modems; in the second case, hard wires are used. File transfer is done using examples that are explained in great detail.

The book concludes with a discussion of some common problems encountered during this type of file transfer. Finally, a brief catalogue of computer software, modems, and books is provided.

This book has the odd error in it, and some things that would make life simpler aren’t included at all. For example, early on in the text the problem of transferring files between an IBM microcomputer and a DEC Rainbow is discussed. Blake says, “you cannot just hand them a disk as the DEC will not understand an IBM disk.” Yet this can be done quite easily. Just format a disk on the PC using the /1 parameter. Such disks can be written to by the PC and read by the Rainbow (but not vice versa). An area that is totally neglected is the use of simple BASIC programs to do the data reception and transmission. This reviewer has used simple BASIC programs along with serial port data transmission for many years. The programs are quite simple and alleviate the use of any extra program of the CROSSTALK or ASCOM type.

This book will be of considerable value to those working in offices who are not experts on the technical details of their microcomputer systems. People who find themselves in the position where data files must be transferred from one machine to another will find the book very useful. The more technical-minded audience will not enjoy it at all.