Need Xerox 850 to nroff bisync conversion software.

[arl at ut-ngp.UUCP]

We were recently given the project of converting Xerox  850  formatted
text files to nroff format.  This will entail two major steps: reading
the 850 disks onto the UNIX system, then converting the  embedded  850
formating codes to nroff equivalents.

We do not foresee too much difficulty with the second phase,  but  the
first is a bit more trouble.  The Xerox 850 we are using has a commun-
ications board and the associated software.  With this there  are  two
modes of communication,  tty and point-to-point, both allowing upload-
ing and downloading of files from 850 disks.  Tty mode simply emulates
a dumb terminal, while point-to-point uses a more sophisticated bisyn-
chronous protocol (ASCII, not EBCDIC).  Uploading an 850 file  in  tty
mode causes the text to be formatted and, subsequently, all formatting
codes are lost. Our only hope seems to be to  use  the  point-to-point










mode  which supposedly preserves format codes; however, we do not have
available any bisynchronous software for UNIX.

So, does any one out there know of (1) bisynchronous software for UNIX
allowing capturing of received text, (2) code already  written  to  do
the  850-to-nroff conversion, or (3) any better solutions to our prob-
lems?

We can be contacted at this net address (arl at utexas-11), or by phone:

     John Hardin (512) 835-3341

or, at the following address:

     Applied Research Laboratories
     P.O. Box 8029
     Austin, TX   78712
     Attn:  John Hardin

     Thanks in advance for any possible help.