Kermit FAQ - I'm Having Terminal Emulation Problems with C-Kermit

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36 I'm Having Terminal Emulation Problems with C-Kermit

C-Kermit on UNIX, VMS, etc, does not perform terminal emulation at all; nobody ever claimed it did. Instead, it is a semitransparent (or, if you make it so) a fully transparent communications pipe between the remote computer or service and your local terminal, terminal emulator, terminal window, or console, which provides the terminal functions. Thus, it is similar to Telnet, cu, tip, "set host" in VMS, etc, but with added functionality (file transfer and management, character-set translation, scripting, etc).

If you experience fractured screens, you probably have a mismatch between the type of terminal or emulator you are running C-Kermit and the type the remote host or service thinks you have. Solution: let the host know what type of terminal you really have. For example, in Linux it would be ANSI or SCOANSI. In an HPTERM window, it would be HPTERM. In an AIX window, it would be AIXTERM, etc.

If your arrow and function keys don't work, then you must configure your terminal or emulator to have these keys send what the host or application expects them to send. The method for doing this depends on your terminal or emulator. For example, when using xterm or another X-based terminal window, use xmodmap to configure your keyboard. C-Kermit itself can't be used for this (even though it has a SET KEY command) because it can't "see" the special keys (arrow keys, function keys, editing keys, etc).

If host-directed transparent printing doesn't work, this is a deficiency in your terminal or emulator and has nothing to do with Kermit. However, if you have the ability to change the host application, then you can use C-Kermit's autodownload and/or APC features to accomplish the same thing. See the manual for details.


Kermit FAQ / Columbia University / kermit@columbia.edu