The ZMODEM Transport Protocol

BBSs typically offer large archives of free and public software. Transfering file from a bbs to the local machine and vis versa is therefore one of the most beloved application of blackboard systems. This file exchange facility is realized by so called protocols of which exists a confusing collection.

Kom currently offers only one, but a common and efficient one - ZMODEM.

Application notes

If you're logged-in to a linux or unix box via a dialup connection, use sz <Filename> to initalize a download.

In this case you should consider to setup serial line ip instead of using Kom, which is intended to be a client for DOS boxes.

Implementation notes

Chuck Forsberg, the designer and implementor of ZMODEM played a lot which options and possible future extention and past tries in his original program. To keep things simple, obviously obsolete and purely experimental features were not implemented. The implemented features were choosen carefully such that no problems with any ZMODEM complient implementation should ever arise. Further, no drawbacks in performance and/or security will follow from this selection.

Omitted is:

References

The ZMODEM documentation Does anyone have a HTML version of it?
The Home of ZMODEM. It's blatanly commertial, but worth a visit if you're interested in ZMODEM backgrouds and roots.