Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1991 15:28 EDT From: Christine M Gianone Subject: MS-DOS Kermit 3.11 Prerelease Ready for Testing Keywords: MS-DOS Kermit 3.11, TCP/IP From Professor Joe R. Doupnik (JRD) of Utah State University, a new release of MS-DOS Kermit. The final release will occur in about one week, so rapid testing and reporting of bugs is needed. Please report problems directly via e-mail to Joe: jrd@cc.usu.edu (Internet), JRD@USU (BITNET/EARN), with cc to Info-Kermit@watsun.cc.columbia.edu. Please limit your reports to bugs (and/or fixes) -- the design and features of this release are frozen. The sooner you get your bug reports in, the greater the chances of getting the bugs fixed! The differences from version 3.10 are: NETWORKS: . Built-in TCP/IP network support for PCs with Ethernet-style packet drivers. . New SET PORT TCP/IP , SET TCP/IP commands. . Alt-n has \Knethold assigned by default. . SET NETBIOS-NAME allows you to set the PC's Netbios node name. TERMINAL EMULATION: . VT220 terminal type now supported. . Alt-minus now toggles between current text terminal and graphics screens, rather than all possible terminal types. . SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET DEC-SPECIAL. . SET TERMINAL UPSS {DEC-MCS, LATIN1}. SCRIPT PROGRAMMING: . New OPEN, CLOSE, READ, and WRITE commands for local file access. . "Long variable names": \m(this-is-a-variable-name). . Maximum length for macro definitions raised from 255 to 1000. . GOTO is now global, rather than confined to current macro or command file. OTHER: . New simplified and expanded dialing directory using a plain text file. . All known 3.10 bugs are fixed. . Improved help and status screens. . New help and beware files. The long variables work like this. Define them as if they were macros: define telephone-number 7654321 Refer to them using the new \m() construct: output atdt \m(telephone-number)\13 Those who want to try out the TCP/IP networking support, but don't have packet drivers, use anonymous FTP to get them from Clarkson College in Potsdam, NY, host sun.soe.clarkson.edu [128.153.12.3], cd pub/ka9q, use "type binary", get the appropriate zip, arc, zoo, etc, files, and use PKUNZIP or ZOO on your PC to unpack them. Only Ethernet-style packet drivers are supported. The new version of Kermit has been sucessfully tested with the following boards and accompanying packet drivers: Ungermann-Bass PC/NIC board with Clarkson UBNICPC packet driver 9.1 3COM 3C503 with Clarkson 3C503 packet driver 9.4.0 Western Digital WD8003E with Clarkson WD8003E packet driver Cabletron boards with Cabletron CSIPD_E (1.05) and CSIPD_X packet drivers IBMTOKEN.COM 3C501 emulation packet driver 1.9 over Token Ring board+drivers DIS_PKT over NDIS for LAN Manager networks (incl DECnet/DOS, AT&T StarGROUP) The new Kermit commands are: SET TCP/IP ADDRESS Tell Kermit the IP address of your PC SET TCP/IP BROADCAST IP broadcast address SET TCP/IP SUBNETMASK Your local IP network subnet mask SET TCP/IP GATEWAY IP address of nearest gateway SET TCP/IP DOMAIN Domain name for your local IP network SET TCP/IP PRIMARY-NAMESERVER Address of primary nameserver SET TCP/IP SECONDARY-NAMESERVER Address of fallback nameserver SET TCP/IP HOST Default host for SET PORT TCP SET PORT TCP/IP Specify host to connect to Automatic downloading of some of these parameters via BOOTP or RARP is also supported. Before using Kermit's TCP/IP features, be sure to read the TCP/IP sections at the end of MSKERM.HLP and MSKERM.BWR! Many thanks to Erick Engelke of Waterloo University in Ontario for contributing his Waterloo TCP package (WATTCP), and for his cooperation in adapting it to Kermit. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1991 14:00:00 EDT From: Christine M Gianone Subject: MS-DOS Kermit 3.11 is Released! Keywords: MS-DOS Kermit 3.11, TCP/IP, MCGA, Dialing Directory, Windows 3.0 This is to announce the final release of MS-DOS Kermit 3.11 from Professor Joe R. Doupnik of Utah State University, and a new Second Edition of the documentation, "Using MS-DOS Kermit" (see message below). The major new feature of version 3.11 is its built-in support for TCP/IP networking, adapted from parts of the Waterloo TCP package from Erick Engelke of Waterloo University in Ontario. Also included are script language improvements that allow for a much improved DIAL command that can use a plain text file as a dialing directory, and VT220 emulation to fill the gap between VT102 and VT320. And finally, a last-minute, down-to-the-wire improvement: support for high-resolution Tektronix graphics on the PS/2 Model 25 and 30 MCGA video adapter. Give the command SET TERMINAL GRAPHICS VGA to use it (otherwise Kermit thinks the MCGA is a CGA, and uses low-resolution graphics). TCP/IP NETWORKING Why add TCP/IP to Kermit? Many people use both network and serial connections, and until now had to switch between a Telnet program (which doesn't support serial connections) and Kermit (which didn't support Telnet connections). For file transfer, the TCP/IP FTP protocol, while fast, does not support many of Kermit's advanced features. Kermit offers you features not found in Telnet and FTP: a script programming language, flexible key mapping, macros, international character set translation, and VT320 and Tektronix 401x terminal emulation. Perhaps most important of all, now you have a single application program and a common user interface for both serial and network communication. Kermit's TCP/IP and TELNET implementation takes up only about 30K of additional program space. It runs only over Ethernet-style packet drivers (see Joe's article below) available from your network board vendor, or via anonymous FTP from Clarkson University, host sun.soe.clarkson.edu [128.153.12.3], cd pub/ka9q, use "type binary", get the appropriate zip, arc, zoo, etc, files, use PKUNZIP, PKXARC, or ZOO on your PC to unpack them, read the files READ.ME, MANIFEST.DOC, and INSTALL.DOC, and take it from there. Copies are also available on watsun.cc.columbia.edu in kermit/packet-drivers (source and documentation) and kermit/packet-drivers-bin (PC binaries). Kermit supports downloading of its network parameters from BOOTP and RARP servers, making it possible for all users of a corporate or campus network to have the same initialization file -- a big plus for network managers. Keep your network information in a central database, rather than spread around on scattered PC hard disks and diskettes! Kermit's TELNET implementation automatically negotiates TELNET protocol parameters such as local echoing, so connecting to a linemode TELNET server (such as found on an IBM mainframe) works automatically. However, Kermit does not include built-in 3270 terminal emulation, so it is not (yet) a replacement for tn3270. But, it can be used with reverse telnet terminal servers connected to IBM 7171 or other 3270 protocol converters. Contrary to expectations, Kermit *can* make TCP/IP connections from within a Microsoft Windows 3.0 Enhanced Mode window. Kermit does not support multiple simultaneous TCP/IP sessions, and the fact that you can run it under Windows is not, unfortunately, an escape clause to this rule. The packet driver only allows one one application per protocol; this also means, for example, you can't use Kermit and (say) NCSA telnet at the same time for TCP/IP connections. However, you can still have multiple copies of Kermit running, as long as each one is using a different communication method, or a different serial port. Read the new help and beware files for more information about TCP/IP. DIALING DIRECTORY AND MODEM SUPPORT Kermit's new dialing directory is an ordinary plain-text file that Kermit's DIAL macro searches using Kermit's new OPEN, READ, and CLOSE commands. To take advantage of this new feature, make sure you get a copy of the new sample initialization file, MSKERMIT.INI, as well as the Hayes modem dialing script program, MSIHAY.SCR (which you must rename to HAYES.SCR). A sample dialing directory is available as MSIDIA.TXT (which you must rename to DIALUPS.TXT). Kermit can also manage other types of modems besides Hayes. Two steps are necessary: (1) change the definition of the "_modem" variable in MSKERMIT.INI, and (2) write a dialing script program for your modem, to substitute for HAYES.SCR. An example is provided for the IBM/Siemens/Rolm CBX data phone (ROLMphone) in the file MSIROLM.SCR (which you should rename to ROLM.SCR). Readers are encouraged to develop scripts for other kinds of modems and dialing methods, following the conventions used in HAYES.SCR and ROLM.SCR, and send them in to us for distribution.