26-Jan-90 19:37:17-GMT,16116;000000000001 Return-Path: Received: by watsun.cc.columbia.edu (5.59/FCB) id AA11037; Fri, 26 Jan 90 14:28:11 EST Date: Fri, 26 Jan 90 14:28:11 EST From: Christine M Gianone To: Info-Kermit Subject: Info-Kermit Digest V11 #4 Reply-To: Info-Kermit@watsun.cc.columbia.edu Queries-To: Info-Kermit-Request@WATSUN.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU Message-Id: Info-Kermit Digest Fri, 26 Jan 1990 Volume 11 : Number 4 Today's Topics: PRIME Kermit Version 8.00 For PRIMOS R21 and R22 Announcing Microsoft Windows Kermit 4.11 MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 News "WKERMIT" Moved Additions to REMOTE SET Proposal Kermit Required in Government Contracts? Digest submissions may be sent to Info-Kermit@WATSUN.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU, requests for addition to or deletion from the Info-Kermit subscriber list to Info-Kermit-Request@WATSUN.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU or to KERMIT@CUVMA.BITNET. Kermit files may be obtained over networks and by mail order. On the Internetwork, use FTP to log in to host WATSUN.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU, a SUN-4/280 running UNIX (SUNOS 4.0), IP host number 128.59.39.2. Login as user anonymous (note, lower case), any password, and GET or MGET (MULTIPLE GET) the desired files. The Kermit files are in directories kermit/a, kermit/b, kermit/c, kermit/d, and kermit/e. Test versions are in kermit/test. You can also get Kermit files over the BITNET/EARN network; to get started send a message with text HELP to KERMSRV, the Kermit file server, at host CUVMA. For detailed instructions, read the file kermit/a/aanetw.hlp (AANETW.HLP on KERMSRV). To order by mail, request a complete list of Kermit versions and an order form from Kermit Distribution, Columbia University Center for Computing Activities, 612 West 115th Street, New York, NY 10025 USA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 90 12:51:45 WET DST From: John Horne Via: Steve Jenkins, The National PD Software Archive, Lancaster University, UK Subject: PRIME Kermit Version 8.00 For PRIMOS R21 and R22 Keywords: PRIME Kermit, Sliding Windows This is to announce a new release of PRIME Kermit, version 8.00, that replaces version 7.57 of May 1986, which was contributed by The Source Telecomputing, Alexandria, VA, recently gone out of business. Initially I was asked to investigate some problems our users were having with large files. However, the code seemed to be getting a bit old and messy. So it seemed somewhat easier to look at all of the code. This version should work exactly as the old version, but there is more functionality in it and the use of packets should be more efficient. The error handling has been much improved, and I think that this will cure most problems that users used to have. All the previous known bugs have been sorted out in the code. Where possible version 6 of the Kermit Protocol Manual has been followed. The new version has been tested at PRIMOS revisions 21.0.5q and 22.0.1a. Here is a brief summary of the changes: - Support for 8-bit no-parity file transfers. - Better error handling and messages. - Full support for pathnames within commands. - Improved logging. - More command line options available (use -HELP to show them). - SET INCOMPLETE command. - Pound sign conversion option (US/UK). - CONVERT command to convert files to PRIME format. - Support for file size and date attributes, user settable. - Support for nested TAKE files. - Local file management commands added including SPACE, RENAME, COPY, PUSH. - Better use of timeouts. - Filename collision detection and avoidance, user settable. - Many internal cleanups. John Horne Polytechnic South West Plymouth, Devon, UK [Ed. - Many thanks to John for this new version, and to Steve for sending it to us! The new files are installed in the Kermit Distribution D area as PRIME8.*. PRIME8.UPD includes a detailed list of changes since version 7.57. PRIME8.SRC includes the build procedure, four insert files, and 39 source files written in PLP, PRIME's version of PL/1. Within PRIME8.SRC, each of these files is separated by a line of -----'s and can be separated using a text editor. Warning, PRIME.SRC contains some rather long lines (some of them up to 144 characters in length), which will no doubt cause problems for BITNET transfers. We are trying to find out if there is a way to legally break these long lines. Meanwhile, the old PRIME Kermit files for version 7.57 will remain available in the D area as PRIME.*. It is not known whether Version 8 will run under older versions of PRIMOS, such as R19, which 7.57 was written for. Please let us know whether we can retire the old version. By the way, PRIME Kermit supports sliding window packet protocol, and so PRIME users are particularly encouraged to test it against MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 with window sizes greater than 1. Reports welcome!] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jan 90 18:15:26 EST From: Christine M Gianone Subject: Announcing Microsoft Windows Kermit 4.11 Keywords: Microsoft Windows Kermit X-Ref: MS-Windows, See Microsoft Windows >From Bill Hall of Santa Clara, CA, comes version 4.11 of Microsoft Windows Kermit (WINKER). This program works on any PC that has Microsoft Windows 2.0 or greater. It performs Heath-19 terminal emulation, does Kermit file transfer, and two copies of it can be going at once, one on each COM port. Version 4.11 is a minor update to the previous release, 4.10 of September 1989. The major change is the inclusion of a comm driver (with Microsoft's permission) that fixes an Xon/Xoff bug in the standard driver that is distributed with Windows 2.10 and 2.11. The source (Microsoft C 5.1) and .BOO files are in the "A" area of Kermit distribution as win*.*. Binaries (for those who have access to binary FTP) are in kermit/bin/win*.*. The .BOO files may be "un-Boo'd" using the MSBPCT utilities, also found in the Kermit distribution "A" area. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jan 90 17:14:35 EST From: Christine M Gianone Subject: MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 News Keywords: MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 Graphics, MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 Network Support EARLY REVIEWS "I LIKE IT!!! ... Thanks for great program." - Kevin Lowey, University of Saskatchewan "I *LOVE* Kermit! It is wonderful to have a free communication package that I can distribute to users just getting started dailing in to our VAX 8800 and/or online library catalog." - Prof. Joe St Sauver, University of Oregon "I'm very impressed with the new features, and am anxious to see the sliding windows suport added to the [other] versions. Kudos to JRD, and everyone involved in the new release." - Mark Zinzow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "I just received MS-DOS Kermit 3.00, and I must say that what I saw of it is very nice ... the much faster scrolling ... Good for me, who scrolls a lot." - Matthias Niemeyer, Org. Chem. Inst., Goettingen, West Germany "MS-DOS Kermit is the only PC communication program that works 100 percent with speech devices and software used by the blind." - Rick Hayner, Portland, MI "This version is AMAZING!!!! ... Until today, I didn't realize how powerful the DECnet interface is... I have modem servers around the network and I never thought that a PC could Kermit over one of those modems - but SET PORT DECNET does the trick. Nice job!!!!" - Chris Lent and Robert Weiner, Cooper Union, NYC BUGS AND PROBLEMS But of course most messages of praise also included questions, suggestions, or bug reports. These are being added to MSKERM.BWR as they come in, and a future message will give news about fixes for some of them. Meanwhile, keep the reports (good and bad) coming in! One problem -- the one in which the program hangs AT&T 6300s running MS-DOS 3.10 -- is fixable by a DEBUG patch. See the new file MSVIBM.DBG. This file will be used to record DEBUG procedures that can be used to fix bugs in or otherwise change the IBM version of 3.00. The MSZIBM.ASM file contained one line in which a comment extended beyond column 80, preventing BITNET users from getting it via BITNET mail. This has been fixed. Thanks to Franz Maier at the University of Salzburg, Austria, for pointing out the problem. NETWORKS DEPARTMENT Kermit includes high-level interfaces for a variety of local area network protocols (Netbios, DECnet, NASI/NACS, etc), but it does not include device drivers for specific network boards and it does not execute the TCP/IP or Telnet protocols. Kermit is Kermit and can't really afford (in terms of space and complexity) to do this. What is needed here is a public-domain (or copyright but free, like Kermit) program which executes Telnet (like NCSA) over TCP/IP, allows drivers for various Ethernet boards to be plugged in, and can be run as a TSR interceptor for Bios Int 14H, the communication port interrupt. Such a program would work through Kermit's SET PORT BIOS1 command. Several such programs already exist, but they are commercial products. There is some possibility that a future release of NCSA Telnet itself will provide the desired Bios hook. We'd like to start collecting information about how to set up MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 to work with various kinds of PC LANs (or vice versa!), similar to the information in MSKERM.HLP about Novell networks. If you have hints about setting up and using 3.0 with DECnet-DOS, 3COM, Netbios, Starlan, etc, please send them in and we'll start collecting them into a file called MSVIBM.NET (no such file yet). Particulars about which programs and versions are used, how to run them and in what order and with what options, etc, would be very useful. NEW GRAPHICS DOCUMENTATION A file listing all of MS-DOS Kermit 3.0's graphics escape sequences is now available as kermit/a/msvibm.tek on watsun.cc.columbia.edu for Internet FTP access, and as MSVIBM.TEK on CUVMA for BITNET access via KERMSRV. As readers will note, there are many strange and powerful new capabilities here that graphics-oriented applications can take advantage of, once educated to them. Kermit does not emulate one particular kind of graphics terminal, but rather combines the features of the Tektronix 4010 and 4014 monochrome graphics terminals with selected features of the HDS 2000/3000 and DEC VT340 terminals, including color control, sixel graphics, line and area patterns, rectangle fill, and more. So far, very few host programs know how to take full advantage of this mix of capabilities. In fact, the only one we know of is host-resident WordPerfect version 4.2 or 5.0. SAS Institute has been furnished with the new Kermit graphics specifications, and they will consider adding support to SAS/Graph in a new release -- thanks to all of you who called them about this, but please don't call them any more, they got the message! Experimentation is needed. Try telling your graphics application that you have a Tek 4010, a Tek 4014, an HDS 2000, an HDS 3000, and a VT340, and compare the results. Let us know which terminal type produces the best results for which application (SAS/Graph, SPSS, S, DISSPLA/TELL-A-GRAPH, etc). Note once again that VT340 will usually mean REGIS graphics to the host, but Kermit does not support VT340 REGIS graphics, only sixel. Better still, if your graphics application allows it, use the information in MSVIBM.TEK to build a new driver, say "MSKERMIT300" (or encourage your package vendor -- except SAS -- to do so), so that maximum advantage can be taken of Kermit's new features. If you succeed in doing this for a particular package, please send us the information and we'll add it to the MSVIBM.TEK file. A second new file is also available: MSGTIF.DOC. This is the Aldus/Microsoft memo describing TIFF 5.0, the format used by MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 when dumping graphics images to disk. Note: MS-DOS Kermit cannot read TIFF files, it can only write them. To our knowledge, Kermit's TIFF format is supposed to be compatible with WordPerfect 5.0, Pagemaker, Ventura Publisher, PC Paint, Gem Paint, and Publishers Paintbrush. Users of these packages are encouraged to send reports, hints, etc, and we'd also like to hear about any other uses for, or packages that go with, Kermit's TIFF files. Packages that definitely do not import Kermit's TIFF files include Microsoft Windows Paint 2.03 (even though TIFF is partially a Microsoft invention) and the MIT X graphics conversion utilities PGM, PBM, etc (these only have support for an earlier version of TIFF). PROGRESS ON VERSION 3.0 FOR NON-IBM SYSTEMS We have received an offer from John Nyenhuis at Purdue University to port MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 to the GRiD Compass, HP Portable Plus, HP 110, and HP 150. If you are interested in helping out with any of these systems, please get in touch with John: John Nyenhuis Purdue University School of Electrical Engineering West Lafayette IN 47907 (317)494-3524 nyenhuis@ee.ecn.purdue.edu We also have some possible help with the DEC Rainbow and H/Z-100. If you are willing to (help) port 3.0 to any of the other computers supported by previous MS-DOS Kermit releases (Sanyo, Victor, NEC, etc), please let us know! UNIX TERMCAP NEEDED FOR MS-DOS KERMIT 3.0 In response to the many requests we've had for a UNIX termcap for Kermit's VT-320 emulation, we can only say that most of the features that distinguish the VT-320 from the VT-102 have to do with its 8-bit character set capabilities, and most UNIX systems do not normally support 8-bit terminal i/o, 8-bit control characters, or international character sets. This has started to change. We also understand that release 19 of GNU EMACS will support 8-bit character sets. Anybody with VT320 termcaps, please send them in! Meanwhile, remember that the VT320 is compatible with the VT102 and VT100, so you can still tell your UNIX host that you are using one of these, even if MS-DOS Kermit's terminal type is set to VT320 (provided UNIX doesn't inquire the terminal type via ESC Z). ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jan 90 12:51:00 EST From: Christine M Gianone Subject: "WKERMIT" Moved Keywords: Sliding Windows, WKERMIT Speaking of Windows, PRIME, and The Source... the old, original sliding windows Kermit -- an adaptation of C-Kermit for the PC that was done in 1986, commissioned by The Source Telecomputing to be used with their PRIME Kermit implementation -- has been retired from the Kermit "A" area (popular versions) to the "C" area (obscure versions), now that MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 supports sliding windows and attribute packets, and that C-Kermit 5A (with sliding windows) is on the way. kermit/a/wkermit.* --> kermit/c/wkermit.*. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jan 90 12:51:21 EST From: Christine M Gianone Subject: Additions to REMOTE SET Proposal Keywords: Kermit Protocol, REMOTE SET Command REMOTE SET FILE BLOCKSIZE 311 number REMOTE SET FILE RECORD-LENGTH 312 number REMOTE SET FILE RECORD-FORMAT 313 F (fixed), V (variable), etc... This is just for the record, to assign these numbers to these commands for somebody who needed them. Details to be filled in later. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Jan 90 17:42:25 EST From: Christine M Gianone Subject: Kermit Required in Government Contracts? We have heard many reports that certain requests for proposals or bids from the US government for computer-related equipment include a requirement that the Kermit protocol be supported. We'd like to hear about any RFPs or contracts, past or present, that called for Kermit. Knowing about such things helps us to convince those who need convincing that Kermit is not just a toy used by hobbyists. Still looking for other interesting stories about Kermit for Kermit News! ------------------------------ End of Info-Kermit Digest *************************