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Date: Sat, 11 Jul 92 15:00:00 EDT From: Charles Lasner <lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu> Subject: A few more release files for Kermit-12 Now available are two new versions of K12DEC and K12ENC, which have a new feature for image transfer of an entire device optionally split into two parts. This comes at the request of a user, and was quite easy to add. As before, the sources document how to use the programs, etc. The new files have been installed in the regular places: BITNET/EARN Internet KERMSRV@CUVMA watsun.cc.columbia.edu Description K12MIT ANN kermit/d/k12mit.ann Announcement of KERMIT-12 K12MIT UPD kermit/d/k12mit.upd Release update (this) file K12ENB PAL kermit/d/k12enb.pal .BOO-format encoding program K12DEB PAL kermit/d/k12deb.pal .BOO-format decoding program K12MIT NOT kermit/d/k12mit.not Release notes file K12MIT DSK kermit/d/k12mit.dsk Description of RX02 diskettes ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Mar 92 15:52:25 EST From: Charles Lasner <lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu> Subject: A few more release files for Kermit-12 Now available are two new versions of K12DEC and K12ENC, which have a new feature for image transfer of an entire device. This comes at the request of several users, and was quite easy to add. As before, the sources document how to use the programs, etc. I am working on an upgrade (specifically a handler) for OS/278 to allow complete transfer of RX50 diskettes as an encoded ASCII-fied file. This utility merely handles records available to the normal file structure, but in the OS/278 RX50 case (from DEC) this is not the entire disk structure. In part this is a safety feature, so you can't access the "slushware" tracks; you can't transfer an entire image of an RX50 currently. When the system is upgraded with a suitable handler, the encoder and decoder gain access to the entire device; all other system utilities can utilize the entire RX50 as an effectively larger device. If the handler project takes too long (it is actually quite involved surprisingly enough) I will possibly resort (by popular demand) to releasing an interim program that does its own RX50 I/O as a special case of encode and decode. That would be withdrawn later when the handler is available. (DECmates are becoming available to various people around the world, but they don't have the support software to get it running; this method would allow them to get their machines up after they had merely an OS/278 bootable disk (available from DECUS) and the Kermit-12 files :-).) The two new utilities are currently useful for other devices. For example, an entire OS/8 RX01 or RX02 can be encoded as a file. With the WPS-oriented handlers installed (commonly available), images of an RX01 WPS document disk can be encoded/decoded directly. (This even includes bootable WPS RX01 systems diskettes, or even RT-11 RX01 disks!) The existant WPS/COS-style handlers allow transfer of any RX01 as long as track zero can be ignored. This is generally the case on RX01/02, but NOT RX50, thus the above problem. The new files have been installed in the regular places: BITNET/EARN Internet KERMSRV@CUVMA watsun.cc.columbia.edu Description K12MIT ANN kermit/d/k12mit.ann Announcement of KERMIT-12 K12MIT UPD kermit/d/k12mit.upd Release update (this) file K12ENB PAL kermit/d/k12enb.pal .BOO-format encoding program K12DEB PAL kermit/d/k12deb.pal .BOO-format decoding program ------------------------------ Date: Mon Oct 21 1991 12:00:00 EDT From: Charles Lasner <lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu> Subject: Release of Additional Kermit-12 Utilities Keywords: .BOO, PDP-8, PDP-12, VT-78, DECmate, OS/8 Xref: DEC PDP, See PDP This is a release of companion utilities to KERMIT-12 for the purpose of enhancing file distribution. Two areas are addressed: 1) Initial program acquisition, 2) Binary file encoding. 1) Utilities are provided to create and load copies of KERMIT-12 "on the fly" from a server such as a remote time-sharing system or a local PC on the other end of a "clean" connection to the PDP-8. Unfortunately, most PDP-8 family systems lack a communications predecessor to KERMIT-12. Most communications applications were limited to terminal emulation only, so it is rare that any PDP-8 system has an existing utility sufficient to acquire KERMIT-12. (Of course some sites have prior versions of KERMIT-12 already.) Assuming an error-free serial connection to the other system, it is possible to down-load KERMIT-12 directly into the PDP-8 memory without a protocol. This is similar to the process used for years by DEC field service to load paper-tape copies of diagnostics. Loading is limited to a single PDP-8 field at a time. Performing several load operations yields intermediary image files which can be combined into K12MIT.SV identical to the release version (except for irrelevant loading artifacts which is a consequence of the operating system itself). The format chosen for Initial Program Load (.IPL) is an encoding that yields ASCII files that should pass through any system with ease. The scenario of loading is assumed to be either direct system-to-system, or between a remote system and one of its terminals. All control characters (such as CR and LF) are ignored, thus the encoded files contain frequent line breaks to make the encoded file pallatable to the serving system. Strictly lower-case letter messages are added at the beginning and end of the file to serve as leader trailer fields as well as file documentation. Please note that while spaces are insignificent, the rest of the ASCII character set is used for loading information, so editing of .IPL files must scrupulously avoid changes to the "body" of the file. A simple program (K12IPL.PAL) is provided for .IPL loading of a single field. The user must customize it for local requirements, and then enter two variant forms of the loader. (Future releases could require additional variants to be created. The current release occupies two fields.) This process is similar to customizing the communications requirements of KERMIT-12 itself. The program is sufficiently small to allow manual entry into the system debugger (ODT) directly. Examples of such an entry session are provided as K12IP0.ODT and K12IP1.ODT. The source program may also be retyped by any available means (TECO, EDIT, etc.) if desired. Only standard PDP-8 peripherals are supported such as KL8E, KL8-JA, etc., as opposed to KERMIT-12 itself which supports various DECmate communications hardware as well. It was felt that the greatly increased complexity of supporting the DECmate communications ports would make this process too unwieldy. However, it is possible to load the data through the DECmate's printer port. The VT-78 and all prior PDP-8 models are fully supported. Distribution files include K12FL0.IPL and K12FL1.IPL which are the encoded copies of field zero and field one respectively. K12IPL.DOC is a discussion of the .IPL encoding format itself. K12IPG.PAL is the utility used to create K12FL0.IPL and K12FL1.IPL from the standard release file K12MIT.SV. (K12MIT.SV is itself distributed in encoded form as K12MIT.ENC and now also K12MIT.BOO (see below). K12IPG can be used with other programs for similar purposes if required.) 2) Utilities are provided for encoding and decoding arbitrary OS/8 files using the popular .BOO format encoding scheme. .BOO format should be compatible across dis-similar systems thus avoiding intermediary "hazards." While quite popular in the MS-DOS world for file distribution purposes, .BOO format as originally designed has an inherent weakness that makes reliable use on OS/8 family systems impossible. I have designed an extension to the format to make .BOO format sufficiently reliable to allow implementation of an encoder and decoder for OS/8 systems. Note that ENCODE format is still the format of choice for file distribution because of its more robust nature, but the shorter files created by a .BOO encoder may be desirable in certain circumstances. .BOO format files cannot pass through WPFLOP "paths" to distribute files on DECmates or VT-78, so ENCODE format is mandatory on systems used this way. The relevant problem with .BOO format has to do with file length anomalies that are a consequence of the format itself. .BOO files either end on a repeat compression field or a complete three-byte data field expressed as four characters, each only six bits significant. Should a file end with only one or two eight-bit data bytes, two or one additional null bytes will be appended to pad out the last data field. This leads to files that are one or two bytes longer than intended. At least this is the behavior on systems like MS-DOS which maintain a file byte count. Since OS/8 files are multiples of whole records, each of which can be viewed as a collection of 384 bytes, any change in a file's length of even a single extra null byte will cause the creation of an extraneous whole record. Besides wasting space, it is conceivable that an OS/8 file corrupted in this manner could actually be dangerous to use! Note also that this problem can be cumulative in that repeated transmission between systems where the file is stored locally in some decoded form, and then encoded locally before transmission to another site, can cause the problem to worsen indefinitely. Clearly, .BOO format must be firmed up to prevent this form of file corruption before it can be used safely on PDP-8 systems. (It has also been noted that widely distributed .BOO encoding programs exist on certain systems which exhibit defects such as erroneous appendage of additional null bytes onto the end of the file not indicated by the file's contents. This is clearly a program bug and not an inherent problem with .BOO format design.) The method chosen to correct the existing .BOO anomaly is to append a correction field to the end of every file requiring it. The basic correction unit is ~0 which means literally a repeat compression field with a count of zero. This construct is ignored by most .BOO decoders because it contributes nothing to the file. (At the bare minimum, .BOO decoders should implement the robustness of ignoring this type of data. It is conceivable that due to design error, a decoding program could "blow up" when encountering this data. Imagine a file lengthened by 2^32 null bytes! The exact amount of extraneously generated null bytes would likely be 2^{how many bits wide are integers on the machine} or one less than that.) .BOO-encoded files may now contain either ~0 or ~0~0 at the end to indicate whether one or two bytes are to be "taken back" respectively. Tests on MSBPCT.BAS and MSBPCT.C as currently distributed by CUCCA indicate that these corrections are perfectly ignored, thus decoded files are erroneously inflated by one or two bytes. This is the expected behavior of these older decoders. When used with PDP-8 DEBOO.SV (distributed in source form as K12DEB.PAL), the correct file length is maintained. PDP-8 ENBOO.SV (distributed in source form as K12ENB.PAL) is the first encoding program that creates the correction field as necessary. It is hoped that this "pioneering" effort will cause other systems' encoders and decoders to be similarly updated. Overall program operation for the encoder and decoder is identical to the equivalent programs for ENCODE format. Documentation is contained in the source files. As in the ENCODE format decoding program, the target file name can be taken from the original file name imbedded within the file, or optionally the user can specify a target file name as well as a target device. When encoding, the imbedded file name will always be the original name of the file supplied as input to the encoder. The user can specify any valid combination of output file name and device for the resultant encoded file. OS/8 files passed through ENBOO/DEBOO are packed/unpacked according to the standard OS/8 "3 for 2" scheme to ensure byte accuracy where relevant. This allows files which are ASCII, but too "delicate" for ordinary transfer to be sent between unlike systems with total accuracy. This includes any file where the precise placement of CR and LF may be critical, or contains unusual characters in the file such as BEL or ESC. A perfect example of this is the interchange of TECO macros between PDP-8s (used with OS/8 TECO.SV) and IBM-PCs (used with MS-DOS TECO.EXE) with a unix system as an intermediary storage site. Both end systems use like line termination schemes incompatible with the intermediary system. Since both systems support .BOO format, the files can still be sent without loss. Most of the existing K12MIT-related files are unchanged. K12MIT.DSK is updated to reflect all new files pertaining to .IPL or .BOO utilities. K12MIT.ANN and K12MIT.UPD are updated per this announcement. All files distributed in ENCODE format are replicated in .BOO format. The new files have been installed in the regular places: BITNET/EARN Internet KERMSRV@CUVMA watsun.cc.columbia.edu Description K12MIT ANN kermit/d/k12mit.ann Announcement of KERMIT-12 K12MIT UPD kermit/d/k12mit.upd Release update (this) file K12MIT DSK kermit/d/k12mit.dsk Description of RX02 diskettes K12MIT NOT kermit/d/k12mit.not Release notes file K12IPL PAL kermit/d/k12ipl.pal .IPL loading program K12IP0 ODT kermit/d/k12ip0.odt ODT session creating IPL0.SV K12IP1 ODT kermit/d/k12ip1.odt ODT session creating IPL1.SV K12FL0 IPL kermit/d/k12fl0.ipl .IPL encoding of K12mit (FL0) K12FL1 IPL kermit/d/k12fl1.ipl .IPL encoding of K12mit (FL1) K12IPG PAL kermit/d/k12ipg.pal .IPL-format encoding program K12IPL DOC kermit/d/k12ipl.doc Description of .IPL format K12ENB PAL kermit/d/k12enb.pal .BOO-format encoding program K12DEB PAL kermit/d/k12deb.pal .BOO-format decoding program K12MIT BOO kermit/d/k12mit.boo .BOO encoding of KERMIT-12 K12PL8 BOO kermit/d/k12pl8.boo .BOO encoding of PAL8 Ver B0 K12CRF BOO kermit/d/k12crf.boo .BOO encoding of CREF Ver B0 K12GLB BOO kermit/d/k12glb.boo .BOO encoded TECO file macro [Ed. - Thanks, Charles! Additional information can be found in the new file, k12mit.not (K12MIT NOT), a message from Charles to the "PDP-8 lovers" mailing list.] ------------------------------ Date: Thu Sep 6 1990 11:00:00 EDT From: Charles Lasner <lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu> Subject: Announcing KERMIT-12 Version 10g Keywords: PDP-8, PDP-12, VT-78, DECmate, OS/8 Xref: DEC PDP, See PDP This is a maintenance release of KERMIT-12. A minor problem relating to incorrect CPU identification messages has been fixed. The problem only appeared when the CPU was a KK-8A single-board CPU; this configuration was previously untested. Thanks to Johnny Billquist of Sweden for his assistance in pinning down the problem. KERMIT-12 operation was not affected in any other way, as only the DECmate-specific identification is crucial; earlier PDP-8 family members are treated in a generic fashion except for the "frill" of model identification (all PDP-8, PDP-12, VT-78 models use software-compatible port hardware; all DECmates are incompatible and must be handled individually). We are still looking for volunteers to test the various DECmate III and DECmate III+ configurations. The rest of the release concerns the encoding of files into the "ASCII-fied" format. The format has been modified to be more robust, since the original method has proven itself to be problematic in certain practical circumstances (as reported in K12MIT.BWR). The new ENCODing format is based on five-bit encoding with repeat compression. As much as 256 repeated 12-bit words will be expressed in a five character field. Any repeated 12-bit value can be compressed, as opposed to simple zero compression, as in other common encoding schemes. (PDP-8 files often have repeated strings of the value 7402 octal, which is the HLT instruction.) The only printing characters required to pass through any distribution "path" are 0-9, A-V, X, and Z. The alphabetic characters can also be lower-case. All command lines are framed by ( and ); all data lines are framed by < and >. These characters can be changed if required, as they are not part of the data; they could be replaced by W (w) and Y (y) if necessary. (Changing the framing characters requires slight modification of the ENCODing and DECODing programs.) The new format supports a 60-bit file checksum to ensure proper decoding at the other end. The former 12-bit checksum could be compromised on long files. The new ENCODing programs creates internal (REMARK commands stating the ENCODed file's creation date, and the original file's creation date. This will aid in distribution of PDP-8 files where the user wishes to maintain proper file dates. The date algoritm used is the one proscribed by the OS/8 DIRECT program. (OS/8 systems only OPTIONALLY support file dates, and there is an eight-year "anomaly" associated with identifying the year; the user must determine the credibility of the year portion of the date. The value provided by the ENCODE program for the original file creation date is always today's year or the previous seven years as necessary; this field will not be provided if the system doesn't support the required AIW feature.) Overall file size is theoretically as much as 6/5 of the original encoding format (as the earlier format was based on six-bit encoding), but actual size varies downward due to slightly less file overhead (wider lines mean less CR LF; there is now less automatically generated verbiage), and the random improvement afforded by simple repeat compression. Virtually all K12MIT-related files are re-released at this time. There are several new files. Due to the "fragile" nature of TECO macro files, the file K12GLB.TEC is no longer being distributed directly; the file K12GLB.ENC is the same file in the new ENCODE format. The new files have been installed in the regular places: BITNET/EARN Internet KERMSRV@CUVMA watsun.cc.columbia.edu Description K12MIT ENC kermit/d/k12mit.enc Encoded binary of KERMIT-12 K12MIT DOC kermit/d/k12mit.doc Documentation file K12MIT BWR kermit/d/k12mit.bwr Updated "beware" file K12MIT DSK kermit/d/k12mit.dsk Description of RX02 diskettes K12MIT ANN kermit/d/k12mit.ann Announcement of KERMIT-12 K12MIT UPD kermit/d/k12mit.upd Release update file K12DEC PAL kermit/d/k12dec.pal Decoding program K12ENC PAL kermit/d/k12enc.pal Encoding program K12PL8 ENC kermit/d/k12pl8.enc Encoded binary of PAL8 Ver B0 K12CRF ENC kermit/d/k12crf.enc Encoded binary of CREF Ver B0 K12MIT PAL kermit/d/k12mit.pal Main source file of KERMIT-12 K12PCH PAL kermit/d/k12pch.pal KERMIT-12 source patch file K12CLR PAL kermit/d/k12clr.pal Memory clearing file K12MIT LST kermit/d/k12mit.lst Symbols-only listing file K12PRM PAL kermit/d/k12prm.pal Sample VT-78 config file K12GLB ENC kermit/d/k12glb.enc Encoded TECO file macro K12ENC DOC kermit/d/k12enc.doc Encoding format description [Ed. - Many thanks, Charles. Believe it or not, there are still quite a few PDP-8 based systems out there, and even some PDP-12s. You won't find very many other new software packages that support them!] ------------------------------ Date: 05-October-1989 From: lasner@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) Subject: Announcing KERMIT-12 Version 10f Keywords: PDP-8, PDP-12, VT-78, VT-278, DECmate, OS/8 Xref: DEC PDP, See PDP This is to announce the release and availability of a highly revamped KERMIT program for the complete family of Digital Equipment Corporation 12-bit computers, known as KERMIT-12 (or K12MIT), Ver. 10f. Unlike its predecessors (K08MIT and K278, upon which it is partially based, as well as prior versions of KERMIT-12), KERMIT-12, as now distributed, will run on any PDP-8 model (8, LINC-8, 8/i, 8/l, 8/e, 8/f, 8/m, 8/a), PDP-12, VT-78, or DECmate (VT-278, aka DECmate I, DECmate II, DECmate III, DECmate III-plus) under any OS/8 family member operating system. Proper operation is accomplished automatically. Companion utilities are provided to deal with "ASCII-fied" binary files in ENCODE format (a mechanism designed by Charles Lasner and Frank da Cruz as a proposed successor to BOO format); ENCODE format has been employed to distribute the binary portion of this release of KERMIT-12. Due to the myriad port requirements of the various models, conditional parameters have been provided in the source (as well as a separate patching file) for models prior to DECmate I. The program auto-configures for all models of DECmate; parameters are available to select the DECmate ports (DP278, communications, printer, etc.) where applicable. Many improvements have been provided to get this KERMIT "up to speed" relative to other KERMITs. KERMIT-12 has been tested successfully with many KERMIT implementations and will run at the maximum baud rate (and sometimes beyond the DEC-stated limit!) of the relevant interface. Any console terminal configuration acceptable to OS/8, etc. can be used at any baud rate as long as local flow-control protocol is obeyed; remote flow control can be disabled at console speeds higher than the remote line rate. Connect mode I/O is fully ring-buffered in all directions with local flow control always enabled for all console terminal operations. (This should satisfy all console terminal requirements ranging from 110-baud teletypes to built-in 350-Kbaud VT-220 emulators, since any of the gamut of these ASCII terminals could be the system console terminal for any of the KERMIT-12 supported computer configurations!). KERMIT-12 will run anywhere OS/8 does, so it runs on any perfect look-alike suitably configured. Some known compatibles are: - TPA made in Hungary, this machine is an 8/l except for the silkscreened letters which are Magyar, not English. - Fabritek MP-12 - Intersil Intercept - Pacific CyberMetrix PCM-12 - Digital Computer Controls DCC-112 and DCC-112H - Computer Extensions CPU-8 (a drop-in replacement for the 8/e or 8/a cpu for a PDP-8/A-400 or -600 hex-wide box) - Computer Extensions SBC-8 (a single-board computer -8 compatible based on the 6120 like a DECmate, but compatible with -8 peripherals, not DECmate peripherals; it also supports up to 16 comm ports) Various emulators are available for PDP-10, 15 and the IBM-PC which will also support KERMIT-12 if suitably configured. Distribution files are available from CUCCA. Testing is under way for some of the more obscure configurations (e.g., DECmate III with comm port); volunteers are welcome for this task. The author can provide copies to interested parties on virtually all of the popular PDP-8 media on a time-available basis. [Ed. - Many thanks, Charles! The files are in Kermit Distribution area D with prefix K12, and the previous PDP-8 versions having prefixes K08 and K278 have been retired. Internet users may ftp the files as kermit/d/k12*, and BITNET users can get them from KERMSRV at CUVMA as K12* *.] ------------------------------