@part(170KERMIT,root="USER") @Chapter @label<-k170> @Index[CDC] @Index[NOS] @Index[NOS/BE] @Index[CYBER] @begin @i(Authors:)@\Jim Knutson, University of Texas @i(Version:)@\2.2 @i(Date:)@\September 1984 @end Cyber Kermit was written for a Cyber 170/750 in FTN5, CDC's FORTRAN 77 compiler. It should run on any NOS or NOS/BE system with only minor changes to the I/O routines. This is a necessary evil since every Cyber site seems to run a different front end. @Section The features of a Cyber file system of greatest interest to KERMIT users are storage class, file structure, file specifications and character sets. @Subheading The NOS and NOS/BE operating systems use the concept of local and permanent file storage. This means that files that are to be kept around after a job is finished must be moved to permanent storage first. Jobs that wish to use a file from permanent storage must copy to local storage first before using it (actually, direct access permanent files help alleviate this problem). Most Kermit users will only want to use local files. @Subheading Many Cyber files use internal structure information much like VMS files. These internal structures are mainly used in executable binary files or certain CRM record types. The internal structure of files is not currently supported by Cyber Kermit. Cyber executable binaries, and multi-record files are not transferable using Kermit. @Subheading A Cyber file name consists of from 1 to seven alphanumeric characters. NOS systems allow the first character to be numeric but most Cyber processors do not support this. Cyber Kermit allows the first character to be a digit on NOS systems. Special characters are not allowed in the file name. File names beginning with ZZ or SCR should be avoided, since these are commonly used scratch file names. The Cyber Kermit command processor does not support wild cards at this time. @Subheading Until the recent Cyber 800 Series mainframes, the character set used by most Cyber systems was a six bit Display Code character set. The six bit character sets supported by Cyber Kermit are the 63 character, 64 character and UT 64 character sets. These character sets not only differ in their ordering but also in the characters they use. Some use the underscore and percent sign, others do not. ASCII characters received by Cyber Kermit are translated to the appropriate display code when possible. A character that can not be translated will be set to a blank. Users of the 64 character set may have problems with colons at the end of a line being truncated or lines with sequential colons being split into two or more lines since the character value of a colon is 00B (half of an End-Of-Line). There are also several ASCII character sets in use on the various Cyber systems. One set, called 6/12, uses 6 bit display code characters with certain characters set aside as flags to indicate case (upper/lower) or control characters. Cyber Kermit does not support the 6/12 character set. Another ASCII character set is the 8/12 character set. This stores ASCII characters as 8 bits in a 12 bit byte. The exception to this is that an EOL (End-Of-Line) is indicated by the usual CDC convention of at least twelve bits of 0 (0000B) in the low order bits of the word. NUL characters are represented as 4000B to prevent interpretation as an EOL sequence. Cyber Kermit also support UT 8/12 ASCII. The difference between this and NOS 8/12 ASCII is UT 8/12 ASCII uses the NEL character (205B) from the 256 character ASCII set to represent an End-Of-Line. @Section Cyber Kermit's prompt is "Kermit-170>". It must be run interactively and without any parameters. Commands can then be typed in like this: @begin .@ux[kermit] Kermit-170>@ux[send foobar] [file foobar sent] Kermit-170>@ux[status] [performance statistics are printed] Kermit-170>@ux[receive] [files are received] Kermit-170>@ux[exit] . @End @index Cyber Kermit mimics the DEC-20 style command parser in that a question mark followed by a carriage return may be placed anywhere on the command line. This will display the options available at that point. Unfortunately, the entire command will have to be retyped afterwards. Command keywords may be abbreviated to their shortest unique combination. This comes in very handy since Cyber Kermit does not support command completion. Cyber Kermit may only be run as a remote Kermit. It must be watched during transfer if the local Kermit has no timeout since it has no timeout capabilities. A Cyber filename is restricted to 7 alphanumeric characters with the first character being an alpha. Kermit will use the first 7 valid characters of any file being sent to the Cyber. If a file under that name already exists, an Error packet stating so will be sent back and Cyber Kermit will abort the transfer. @index If you are having trouble transferring files with Kermit, it may be due to the parity. Cyber Kermit has no way of determining the parity of the connection so it just guesses that it will be NONE. If you are having problems getting the first packet to transfer, then this is probably the problem. If you are running with a parity other than NONE, then you must use the SET PARITY command every time you enter Cyber Kermit. @Section The following is a list of Cyber Kermit commands and their description. @begin @Index ! @i@\Execute a Cyber control command and then return to Kermit. @Index@index@Index EXIT, QUIT@\Exit from Kermit-170. You may also stop Kermit-170 in the midst of a transfer or during server operations by aborting the program (CTRL-C or CTRL-G ABORT); the program traps them and puts your terminal back to normal before halting. @Index HELP [@i]@\Give Help. There's a general help text, plus separate help texts for each Kermit-170 command. @Index PUSH@\Exit to control command level saving the current Kermit environment. The environment will be restored when Kermit is reentered. @index RECEIVE@\Receive a file or group of files from the other host. If the name in the header packet is not a legal Cyber file name, the first 7 legal characters will be used. @blankspace<1 line> If the file already exits as a local file, Kermit will abort the transfer. If an error occurs during transfer, the file being received will be removed from the local file list to allow the transfer to be retried. You should escape back to your local Kermit after entering RECEIVE mode and give the SEND command. @index SEND @i@\Send a file to the other host. The name of the file is passed to the other host in a file header packet, so that the file can be stored there with the same name. You should escape back to your local Kermit and give the RECEIVE command. If you don't do this fast enough the "send-init" packet may arrive prematurely. To prevent this, use SET DELAY or hit the RETURN key on your microcomputer if it does not timeout. @Index@Index SERVER@\Act as a server for another Kermit. Whatever options were previously SET will be used. The server may be shut down from the local Kermit by using the BYE or FINISH commands, or by connecting back to the Cyber, and typing Control-C or Control-G ABORT. @Index SET @i{keyword value}@\Establish system-dependent parameters. You can examine their values with the SHOW command. Numeric values may be decimal, octal (postfixed with a B), or hexadecimal (postfixed by an H). The following may be SET: @Begin(Description,leftmargin +8,indent -8) @index DATA-MODE @i@\Set the character code to use for files received by Kermit-170. Allowable values for @i are: ASCII, DISPLAY-CODE, IMAGE-ASCII, NOS-ASCII. The interpretation of these is dependent on the system. DISPLAY-CODE will be the six bit character set in use at the site (63 or 64). ASCII will be NOS 8/12 ASCII for all sites except the University of Texas. NOS-ASCII is used to describe NOS 8/12 ASCII at UT while ASCII describes UT 8/12 ASCII. The default character set in use when Kermit starts up is DISPLAY-CODE. Automatic character set recognition is used for sending files unless IMAGE-ASCII is set. @index DEBUG @i