Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/newsgroups/misc.19990725-20000114/[e-mail] _Sat Jan 1 21:22:31 2000.msg

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From: [e-mail] (Joe Doupnik)
Subject: Re: MS-DOS Kermit, more capabalities
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 1 Jan 00 19:00:06 MDT
Organization: Utah State University
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
> Hi everybody,
>
> I introduce myself, i'm a DOS_InterNet user and spent about the last two
> years lurking/participating to the same-name echo of the `FidoNet'
> amateur messaging network.
>
> Since the last four years or so i looked for DOS INet FreeWare/ShareWare
> programs in hope that i'd get my hands on some piece of software which
> can be run even on a minimum setup, meaning:
>
> - 8088 4,77 Mhz ~CPU~
> - 640 Kb ~RAM~ memory (512 Kb if possible!)
> - No Hard-Disk
> - Two 5.25"/360 Kb diskette drives or a single 3.5"/720 Kb unit
> - A crude 8250 ~UART~ serial-port
> - A V.42Bis MoDem or better (i tied up an external 56K MoDem to a 8088!)
> - DOS v3.3 (v3.0 compatibility would be fine but not required)
>
    486 and Pentium motherboards are basically free for the asking
from just about everywhere, memory included.

> [...]
>
> I have three topics in mind today:
>
>
> *1*
>
> I am trying to have some working `ZMoDem' and/or `Kermit' file transfer
> protocols for when accessing ~TelNet~ BBSes.  To upgrade the hardware or
> to switch to protocols like ~FTP~/~HTTP~ *IS NOT* an option.  `MS-Kermit

    If running under DOS then 640KB is the program space. However,
MSK can and will use memory above 1MB to store terminal emulation rollback
screens, and that will not be available on 808x machines. Similarly parts
of DOS can be loaded above 640KB on newer hardware. Step up to 386 and above
for that.
    The serial ports in old hardware might well be superior to those
in today's motherboards because they were the real UARTs rather than a
near approximation in a big square chip. The 16550A variety are good for
high speed; the 8250 kind can't cope well at high speed.

> v3.16' is the best thing i seen, so far.  It can outperform practically
> any DOS ~BIOS INT-14~ and/or ~FOSSIL~-capable terminal emulator i could
> find because it INTEGRATES the packet-driver interface, AND the ~TelNet~
> protocol as well...

    It's not because it is integrated, so much, as because the MSK code
is designed to be swift. There is a difference.

  Most unfortunately, `Kermit' doesn't included the
> `ZMoDem' file transfer protocol (with control-character escaping & all);

    Correct. Nor any plans to introduce it. As Frank commented, the
Kermit protocol is just as fast and a lot more robust and clever than
x/y/zmodem protocols.

> making it less than "complete", somewhat.  I would welcome postings from
> people who happen to be doing fine `ZMoDem'/`Kermit' transfers using no
> more than the minimum setup i described above.  I tried a lot of packet
> drivers and ~TelNet~ "shims" but nothing goes beyond D/L cps rates of a
> mere 9k6/19K2 bps connection.  If only i were able to DownLoad some .ZIP
> files at over 1K cps or so using a ~TelNet~ "shim" that can be "shared"
> between `Kermit' and an external `ZMoDem' protocol, euh...

    That's not to be. That bunch of protocol material is far beyond
being a "shim." The intrinsic speed of MSK is basically set by the cpu
in the machine. We've tested it to half a MB/sec over regular Ethernet
as full Kermit protocol file transfers with a 100MHz Pentium processor.
The same code, minus the lan driver part, is used with serial connections,
and we know serial data is vastly slower on the telco wires than Ethernet.
Thus MSK is not the bottleneck. The cpu part is a problem at 4.77MHz, however,
when using serial ports because there are not enough cycles to do much. So
again, grab a surplus motherboard.
    With a more modern motherboard you can also consider the higher
speed serial comms now available in many areas. To Kermit those are all
very very slow and thus not a problem for Kermit to keep up with.

>  i guess that
> would be a good enough.  Any idea?!  I saw fragmented informations about
> the DOS Novell ~NASI~ v3.03k interface, what about it?  :^o  I tried all
> these ~TelNet~ "shims" so far:  `INT14', `Net14', `TCPPort', `TelAPI',
> `TNGlass' (`RLFossil' too but it's not for 8088/8086 machines)...  Isn't
> there any MS-DOS `Kermit' update in preparation that will offer `ZMoDem'
> file transfer capability?!  8^o

    Forget the network terminal server stuff (NASI et al) and related
shims. They are way beyond what you are dealing with and yield no advantage.

>
> *2*
>
> I discovered that i could access my ~POP3~ server on ~IP~ port #25 but
> `Kermit' is the only program not to allow me such access if i try!  Why?
>
    By design, to help supress forged email.
>
> *3*
>
> In the same way that i found ~TelNet~ can be made usefull for doing a
> lot of InterNet stuff, i have written a small set of `Kermit' scripts to
> read the ~News Groups~ "On-Line".  The problem here is that my postings
> are reformated somehow and i also have trouble with some kind of "memory
> low" error (too many routines accumulate or something like that).  Would
> somebody be kind enough to look at the following set of macros and tell
> me what i'm doing wrong???  So far, i already found that some characters
> pose a problem when found at the end of the line;  "dash" is one...
>
> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::[ MSKermit.INI ]:
> CLS
> SET FILE TYPE BINARY
> SET FILE COLLISION RENAME                ; or APPEND
> ;SET FILE COLLISION NO-SUPERSEDE         ; is this prone to the Y2K bug?
> SET PARITY NONE
> SET BLOCK-CHECK-TYPE 3
> SET RECEIVE PACKET-LENGTH 6608
> SET WINDOW 5                             ; or 32 (max.)

    Window sizes greater than 2 or 3 are useful only on long delay
high speed paths (long fat pipes). Otherwise one is just wasting memory.

> SET LOCAL OFF
> SET PROMPT Kermit>
> SET TERM ANSI
> SET TERM CURSOR BLOCK
> SET DISPLAY REGULAR 8-BIT
> ;
>
> ; TCP/IP - TelNet section
> ;
> SET TCP/IP PACKET-DRIVER-INTERRUPT \x60  ; or ODI if `LWP4DOS' instead?
> ;
> SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED ALL               ; It's to enhance the D/Ls.
> SET CONTROL PREFIXED 0 1 129             ;
> ;
> SET FLOW NONE                            ; Because TCP/IP is used...
> ;
> ; N.B.:
> ;
> ; Using � BOOTP � via `EPPPD' should work but sometimes it doesn't;  so,
> ; i found that a few DOS environement variables can be helpfull here...
> ;
> SET TCP/IP ADDRESS \$(MYIP)              ; Those DOS environement
> SET TCP/IP GATEWAY \$(REMIP)             ;  variables are defined thru
> SET TCP/IP SUBNETMASK \$(NETMASK)        ;  IP-UP.BAT (made by `EPPPD').
> SET TCP/IP DOMAIN \$(DOMAIN)             ; Some more DOS environement
> SET TCP/IP PRIMARY-NAMESERVER \$(DNS1)   ;  variables need be defined in
> SET TCP/IP SECONDARY-NAMESERVER \$(DNS2) ;  YOUR own .BAT command-file.
> ;
>
> ; Syntaxt:  "News"
> ;           "News comp.protocols.kermit.misc"
> ;           "News demon.ip.support.pc capture.log"
> ;
> ; N.B.:  a) 4 of the NG macro-keys are located on the NUMERICAL keypad.
> ;        b) Some older hardware may have to use different scan-codes;
> ;           the "SET KEY" command helps finding a scan-code replacement,
> ;           the same may be true of the 4 other macro-key combinations.
> ;

    Below, there is a problem. The line continuation character - is one
only if it is the last character on a line. Your trailing spaces and comments
make that not true.

> DEF News SET PORT TCP/IP news1.qc.sympatico.ca 119 VT100, - ; ~NNTP~
> SET TELNET TERM-TYPE VT100, PAUSE 0, IF FAIL END, -         ; server.
> IF NOT DEF \%1 DEF \%1 demon.ip.support.pc, -            ; Default
        ...

    Joe D.