File Transfer Before Ethernet
Before the ethernet Local Area Network was available, file transfer between systems could only be done using common media ( cards/paper tape/magnetic tape or disk). When Peter Stocker got a VAX 11/750 for a specific research project we had no way of transfering data from the 11/780 in the University village as there was no media in common. There were however asychronous lines from the Plain to the Village for user logins from VDU terminals. Connecting terminal devices back to back provided a physical link but there was no software available to do a file transfer. I wrote the VAXLINK code to do this job when PMS wanted the FORTRAN compiler ( licensed on the 11/780 ) to be made available to him on the 11/750. The VAX terminal devices were connected back to back via the MICOM switch in CPC and run at 2400 baud for the file transfers. Following on from the success of moving the FORTRAN binary I tweaked the code to allow transfer of VMS Backup Save Sets ( equivalent to a Unix tar archive )and moved whole Operating System updates between the two systems on overnight runs.
The code comments in the following indicate that the link was originally between the Village 11/780 ( Computer Studies & Accountancy) & CPC but was later moved to the CPC 780. Terminal Reset code