Kermit 95 GUI Preview Screen Shots

As of: 20 February 1997

As a tangible demonstration of progress on the new graphical user interface (GUI) for Kermit 95, the following screen shots are offered.

IMPORTANT: The appearance of these screens -- icons, buttons, toolbar, status bar, etc -- is not complete or final. Everything you see here is subject to change, replacement, or redesign. The purpose of these screen shots is to illustrate the new kinds of functionality that will be available in the GUI version.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When will the GUI version be available?
As soon as we finish working on it. It is a very big job. All previous estimates of availability have proven somewhat overoptimistic so we will refrain from setting dates until we can do so with confidence.

Will the GUI version cost more?
Yes. But it will be a no-cost upgrade to licensees of the console version.

Will the console version be retired?
No, we plan to also offer Kermit 95 in a console-mode version for those who prefer it in this form. Unlike the GUI version, for example, the console version can be used in fullscreen mode.

Will there still be a command window?
Yes. There will be GUI-style dialog boxes for all settings and actions, so you will not have to use the command window at all. But you can if you wish. The commands will be the same as in the console version, and will continue to form the basis of the script programming language.

Shot 1 - Startup

Screen Shot 1 shows the startup screen. The terminal canvas is dim because there is no connection. The "Connect" menu item has been clicked and the connection dialog box is shown.


Screen shot

Shot 2 - The Terminal Screen

Shot 2 shows the terminal screen. In this example, we have used the drag handle at the lower right to change the screen dimensions to 42 rows by 92 columns, and we are using EMACS on the host to view a file that has long lines. Notes:


Screen shot 2

Shot 3 - Multiple Language Support

In the GUI version, Kermit 95's terminal emulator is based upon Unicode, and fully supports ISO 2022 character-set designation and invocation. When used with a Unicode font, such as Lucida Console, this allows multiple character sets (and languages) to be displayed on the terminal screen at the same time, as shown in the screen shot. Kermit 95 takes care of translation between the host encoding and the local PC encoding (Unicode or Code Page); at present 45 different character sets representing Roman, Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, and other scripts are supported, including all ISO 646 and ISO 8859 versions, plus numerous proprietary sets. Notes:
Screen shot 3

Shot 4 - VT100 Features

At last -- even in Windows 95 -- we have true 132-column VT terminal screens, and true double-wide and double-high-and-wide characters.


Screen shot 4

Shot 5 - More VT100 Features

And also true underlining and blinking. Nothing is simulated. Of course you can't see the blinking in the screen shot...


Screen shot 5

Shot 6 - Initiating a File Transfer

Click on Upload on the menu bar and "Upload Files" dialog box pops up. Here you see the regular Windows 95 file browsing box that lets you go through different disks and directories and pick out files to be uploaded just by double-clicking on them, which sends the file specification to the file list on the bottom. This way, files from different disks and directories can be mixed and matched in the same transfer. And each file can be sent in either text or binary mode; just double-click on a file's transfer mode to change it.


Screen shot 6

Shot 7 - A File Transfer in Progress

This panel shows the file transfer in progress, with all sorts of information about the file, the protocol, and the progress of the transfer displayed dynamically, along with buttons for one-touch cancellation (for example if you noticed you were sending a file in binary mode that should have been sent in text mode). Notice that the terminal screen remains visible, and that no commands were given at the host to start Kermit there -- this is handled automatically by K95's "autoupload" feature.


Screen shot 7

And Lots More...

Work on the GUI continues; pulldown menus, dialog boxes, various popus, etc, are being added at a furious rate. The software is not yet ready for public testing, but it's getting there. Watch the Kermit newsgroups:
for announcements.


K-95 GUI Preview Screen Shots / 20 February 1997 / kermit@columbia.edu