Connecting To The World

H/PC TO Mac

By Vicki Brown

I’m a Mac addict. After more than a decade of using and getting to know Macintosh® systems, I have to say it’s my favorite GUI interface and my favorite desktop system. Much of my day is spent in the company of my Mac and I spend far too much of my paycheck on Mac software. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be running Windows, voluntarily, I would have laughed.

All that changed when I saw my first Windows® CE Handheld PC. I had to have one! This past May I became the happy owner of an HP 320LX (I love its wider screen). It had everything I wanted in a handheld – a great concept, a useable keyboard, and the promise of oodles of third-party software. The interface was even, dare I say it, almost Mac-like. There was only one small problem – getting it to work with my Macintosh.

A PC Companion

The Windows CE system, at least for the time being, is designed to be a “PC companion” for Windows 95 desktop PCs. To be a Handheld PC owner and get the most from Windows CE, one must, of necessity, use a Windows 95 desktop computer! The backup and synchronization software (H/PC Explorer, Schedule+, etc.) runs only on a Windows 95 system and the third party applications expect to be unpacked on, and installed from a Windows 95 system! Given how much I like adding software (I am never satisfied with the default system), what was I to do?

I tried to avoid the problem altogether by purchasing a used 486 desktop PC from a friend. I bought a copy of Windows 95 at a used-computer shop, installed Windows and created a partnership with my H/PC. Everything worked fine, if not altogether smoothly, for about a month.

Printer and network access were both rather clumsy to use. I never did get a dedicated printer attached to the 486; printing a document required that I “print” to a file, which I then transferred by floppy disk to my Macintosh, and dumped to the printer.

My network connection was similarly strange. I like to use Dartmouth University’s Fetch program for FTP transfers from the Macintosh, so I would download new software to my Mac, transfer the files via Iomega Zip disk to the 486, then install my new programs. This worked, but it was rather tedious.

Then, one fateful day, my 486 wouldn’t boot. I replaced the hard disk, reseated cables, and attempted to reinstall Windows. It got almost all the way through before the installation failed. I tried one more time – again it failed. I was looking at some sort of hardware error I had neither the time nor the inclination to solve. And, of course, I hadn’t backed up my H/PC in three weeks! At that point, I decided to abandon the PC hardware and try to find a solution on my Mac.

The solution turned out to be SoftWindows^tm 95, from Insignia Solutions (www.insignia.com; suggested retail price, US$199). Soft-Windows 95 creates a Windows 95 environment within the Mac’s operating system. It promised everything I needed: Windows 95 support, hardware peripherals support, and, most important, it would run on my Power Macintosh 7100/80 (a sprightly enough machine for its day, but not the fastest Power Macintosh ever made).

SoftWindows 95 Installation

The installation went smoothly. SoftWindows 95 comes on two CD-ROMs. The first disc contains the installer application; the second disc contains the Windows 95 data files. I chose the Easy Install option, presuming that Insignia had a good idea of what was best.

SoftWindows 95 creates a single Macintosh file to be used as the Windows “hard disk”. I appreciated that SoftWindows 95 presented me with several choices for “hard disk” size: 170, 200, 300, 400, or 500 MB. Insignia also provides an HD Expander utility which can be used at a later time to increase the size of the hard disk file if you decide you’ve made it too small.

Next, I was given a set of choices relating to memory allocation: Delta Cache, PC Extended memory, and Windows Desktop (virtual screen) size. The installation guide provides suggested settings for minimum memory usage, or best performance, as well as a discussion of optimizing performance. I chose the fastest DeltaCache size, 15 MB of Extended PC memory, and a Medium (800x600) desktop size. As I made my choices, the Installer updated the total amount of memory SoftWindows 95 would require to run. (The installer also provides a warning if your selections exceed the amount of Macintosh memory available.)

After the installation finished, I launched SoftWindows 95, filled out the registration form, and waited a few minutes while the program updated drivers and configuration files “for optimum performance.” These updates are only run the first time SoftWindows 95 is launched. At last, amazingly, I had a Windows 95 desktop on my Macintosh screen, ready to install the desktop software to support Windows CE and my H/PC.

Installing H/PC Explorer

I inserted the Microsoft Windows CE CD-ROM that came with my H/PC and followed the instructions. Because SoftWindows 95 was active when I inserted the CD-ROM, the H/PC Explorer Setup Wizard was automatically launched. I followed all on-screen prompts and took the defaults for every choice. (Knowing very little about Windows 95, it seemed safest to allow the Installer to put everything where it thought things should go, rather than make decisions I might regret later!).

I was a bit concerned when the Setup program asked me to insert my Windows 95 disc so it could get the Dial-Up Adapter and TCP/IP Protocol. I inserted the second (WIN95DATA) CD-ROM from the SoftWindows 95 set and crossed my fingers. It took a long time for the Installer to scan the disc, but it eventually succeeded in finding the files it needed.

The last thing I did was to create the appropriate shortcuts for H/PC Explorer, again going with the defaults suggested by the Setup Wizard. This placed a shortcut on the desktop but (at least for now) no shortcut in the Startup Folder. Then I restarted Windows 95 and was ready for the next step in the process: connecting my H/PC!

Connecting the H/PC

I followed the instructions in the SoftWindows 95 manual to assign COM1 to my Macintosh serial (modem) port. The process is straightforward; select PC Serial Ports... from the Setup menu of SoftWindows 95, then select Modem Port Connected to Another Computer under COM1, and click OK. In H/PC Explorer, under Communications in the File menu, I set the Communications Port to Serial cable on COM1 and I was ready to go.

SoftWindows 95’s Setup menu lets you assign the Mac’s modem port as COM1 and configure it to connect to another computer.

You may decide to use another port (COM2, for example), especially if you also have a modem that you plan to connect under SoftWindows 95. If you intend to connect more than one serial communications device to the same (physical) Macintosh serial port, be aware that some devices may “grab” a port and not let it go as you might expect. To release the port, you may need to quit one or more MacOS networked applications, restart SoftWindows 95, or even reboot your Macintosh!

I was lucky enough to have a spare modem cable, from an old Global Village Teleport Gold modem, that wasn’t in use anymore. This cable has a male Mini DIN-8 connector at one end (suitable for connecting to a Macintosh serial port) and a male DB-9 connector at the other, suitable for connecting to the female DB-9 connector on my H/PC connectivity cable. I plugged the modem cable into my Macintosh, connected the H/PC cable to the other end, plugged in my H/PC, and started up H/PC Explorer. In a matter of moments, I had the H/PC Explorer Connection Dialog and the connection was established! I synchronized my schedule and performed a complete backup. The experiment was a total success.

H/PC Explorer screen showing the HP 320LX’s desktop and the Schedule+ Logon dialog box.

Pushing the H/PC-Mac Envelope

Over the next few days, I tested the flexibility of my new Macintosh-H/PC connectivity.

First, I set up a Macintosh folder as a “PC hard drive.” This is not the virtual hard disk created in the installation process, but a kind of “transfer disk” that I can access from either the Mac OS or SoftWindows 95 and transfer files between the two. I followed the instructions in the SoftWindows 95 manual to select a Macintosh folder and set it as my E: drive. The hard disk created in the installation process is the C: drive and can only be accessed from SoftWindows 95.

Then I copied a PocketWord file from my H/PC to my “desktop computer” (SoftWindows 95). The copying process converted the file to a WordPad document. Although I have Microsoft Word on my Macintosh, it cannot read WordPad documents.

Undeterred, I opened my file under SoftWindows 95 using WordPad, saved it as an RTF (Rich Text Format) document. Then I copied the file to my E: drive (my Macintosh folder) and opened the file with Microsoft Word on my Macintosh. The first three paragraphs of this article, in fact, were written on my H/PC and transferred in this way; the article was completed using Word 5.1 for the Macintosh.

Next, I attempted to install an update of my favorite third-party Windows CE application, HPCNotes (www.ocr.com/hpc/hpcnotes.htm). I downloaded the update from the HPCNotes web site onto my Macintosh, then transferred the file to the folder I had previously designated as my E: drive.

From within SoftWindows 95, I transferred the installer package from the E: drive to a folder located on the “primary hard drive” (C: drive). Then I double-clicked on the package. The Install Shield application took a while to load and run, but the installation was flawless.

Printing a Windows document is very easy under SoftWindows 95. Just select Print from the application’s File menu, choose the appropriate printing options, and click OK. The Macintosh Print dialog will appear; click OK again and the document will be spooled for printing.

Things I’ve learned

I’ve learned a few things in the process of performing this experiment. SoftWindows 95 on a PowerMac 7100 is slower than running Windows on real PC hardware. I’ve learned to be patient and to take care double-clicking (timing is important when the system is slow). The Install Shields and Wizard applications, in particular, take much longer to run than I expected. Eventually, however, they do run.

To increase performance, I’ve learned to use the E: drive (Macintosh folder) as a transfer disk only, copying files to the C: drive (“primary hard drive”) before I use them. Things run much faster when they are stored on the “primary hard drive.” Occasionally, H/PC Explorer will fail to start communication services to the H/PC, resulting in a “Failed to Start Communications” message. H/PC Explorer then closes its main window and exits, leaving a connection icon at the far right end of the task bar.

Shortly thereafter, the H/PC usually tries to connect to the desktop system and generally succeeds. The icon in the task bar will show the connection, and can be double-clicked to bring back the H/PC Explorer window. Or you may need to launch the PCLink application, located in the Communications folder on the H/PC.

Connectivity cables a problem

I was lucky that the Mac modem cable I had on hand connected properly to the end of the H/PC connectivity cable. I’ve unsuccessfully tried to find another cable that works. Some cables don’t work at all (no connection attempt is made). Others appear to work, but ultimately fail; for example, the H/PC may think a connection has occurred, but the desktop machine cannot establish a partnership.

For those who are interested, the figure below shows the “pinout” for my working modem cable.

Pin diagram

Pins are numbered looking into the end of the cable (not into the connector socket on the computer). Some later Macintosh models use the Mini DIN9 serial connector; the MD9 is identical to the MD8 except that the 9th pin (absent in the MD8) carries voltage. This voltage is not required by the H/PC connection and will be ignored

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