Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/e/v11.4

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Date: Fri, 26 Jan 90 14:28:11 EST
From: Christine M Gianone <[e-mail]>
To: Info-Kermit
Subject: Info-Kermit Digest V11 #4
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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 [e-mail],
requests for addition to or deletion from the Info-Kermit subscriber list to
[e-mail] or to [e-mail].

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 <[e-mail]>
Via: Steve Jenkins, The National PD Software Archive, Lancaster University, UK
 <[e-mail]>
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 <[e-mail]>
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 <[e-mail]>
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   [phone]     [e-mail]

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 <[e-mail]>
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 <[e-mail]>
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 <[e-mail]>
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
*************************