home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Columbia Kermit
/
kermit.zip
/
archives
/
cdccyber.tar.gz
/
cdccyber.tar
/
cd3kerdoc.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1988-08-16
|
21KB
|
458 lines
CYBER 170 KERMIT
Author: Jim Knutson, University of Texas.
Language: CDC FTN5 (Fortran 77) and COMPASS Assembler
Version: 2.2 September 1984, Jim Knutson, University of Texas.
2.2.1 June 1985, Mark Miller, S. O. Lidie, Lehigh University.
2.2.2 July 1986, S. O. Lidie, Lehigh University.
3.0 October 1984, Joerg Hallbauer, Cal State University.
3.1 December 1984, Paul Wells, University of Washington.
3.2 February 1987, Steve Roseman, Lehigh University.
3.3 March 1987, Steve Roseman, Lehigh University.
CYBER 170 Kermit Capabilities at a Glance:
Local Operation No
Remote Operation Yes
Transfers text files Yes
Transfers binary files Yes
Wildcard Send Yes
^X/^Z interruption Yes (through micro)
Filename collision avoidance Yes
Can time out Yes
8th-bit prefixing Yes
Repeat count prefixing Yes
Alternate block checks No
Terminal emulation No
Communications settings No
Transmit BREAK No
Transaction logging Yes
Session logging No
Raw transmit No
Sliding windows No
Long packets Yes
Act as server Yes
Talk to server No
Advanced server functions No
Advanced commands for servers Limited
Handle Attribute Packets No
Command/Init files Yes
Command Macros No
1. Cyber File Systems
The features of the Cyber's file system that are of greatest interest to Kermit
users are storage class, file structure, file specifications and character
sets.
Cyber Storage Classes
The NOS operating system uses the concept of local and permanent file storage.
This means that files that are to be kept around after a job is finished must
be moved to permanent storage first. Jobs that wish to use a file from per-
manent storage must copy or attach it to local storage before using it.
To send a file from the Cyber, you may GET/ATTACH the file before entering Ker-
mit, or have Kermit access the file itself. If you request that Kermit send a
file which is not found as a local file, it will attempt to find a matching
permanent file. You may restrict Kermit to local or permanent files by prefix-
ing the file name with L: or P:, respectively. After receiving a file on the
Cyber do not forget to SAVE/REPLACE/DEFINE the file to make it permanent.
The DIRECTORY command and REMOTE DIRECTORY server command allow the user to
display the names of available local or permanent files.
Cyber File Structure
Many Cyber files use internal structure information. Cyber Kermit supports two
file types: Z-type (line image, unit record) called TEXT, and any other ar-
bitrary file whose data is transferred 8 bits at a time (7.5 bytes per 60-bit
word), called BINARY. Other internal file structures, such as other Cyber
Record Manager record types, are not supported by Cyber Kermit.
Cyber File Specification
A NOS file name consists of from one to seven alphanumeric characters. Special
characters are not allowed in the file name. File names beginning with ZZ or
SCR should be avoided, since these are commonly used scratch file names.
Cyber Kermit allows a group of files to be specified in a single file
specification by including the special "wildcard" characters, "*" and "?". A
"*" matches any string of characters, including no characters at all; a "?"
matches any single character. Any number of "*" and "?" may appear in a
wildcard specification. To complement the selection criteria, suffix a "-" to
the wildcard specification.
Here are some examples:
*BUG All files ending in BUG.
*DOG* All file names containing DOG.
F* All files whose names start with F.
F?X* All files whose names start with F and contain X in the third posi-
tion, followed by zero or more characters.
FRED- All files except FRED.
Wildcard notation is most commonly used to instruct Kermit to send, or display
a directory of, a group of files. Its usage is similar to capabilities on many
other computer systems.
Cyber Character Sets
Until the recent NOS/VE operating system, the character set used by most Cyber
systems was a six bit DISPLAY CODE character set. The six bit character sets
supported by Cyber Kermit are the 63 and 64 character sets. These character
sets differ in the use of the COLON and PERCENT SIGN characters.
There are also several ASCII character sets in use on NOS. One set, called
6/12 or simply ASCII, uses 6-bit DISPLAY CODE characters with certain charac-
ters set aside as flags to indicate lower case or control characters.
Another ASCII character set is the 8/12 or ASCII8 character set. This stores
ASCII characters as 8 bits in a 12-bit byte. The exception to this is that an
EOL (End-Of-Line) is indicated by the usual CDC convention of at least twelve
bits of 0 (0000B) in the low order bits of the word. NUL characters are
represented as 4000B to prevent interpretation as an EOL sequence.
Cyber Kermit will normally automatically recognize the character set when send-
ing a TEXT file, and will do the appropriate conversions. The first buffer
full (approx 1000 characters) from the disk file is examined and the file is
recognized to be 8/12 ASCII if the top 4 bits of each byte are zero; 6/12 ASCII
if the first 2 characters in any CM word are lower case; display code other-
wise. Received TEXT files are normally converted to 6/12 ASCII. The SET
TEXT-MODE command allows the user to request specific conversion modes of DIS-
PLAY, 6/12-ASCII, or 8/12-ASCII, or set AUTO conversion as described above.
2. Program Operation
Cyber Kermit's prompt is "Kermit-170>". It must be run interactively and has
no parameters. Commands can be typed in like this:
/kermit
Cyber-170/NOS KERMIT Ver 3.2.0 (87/01/16)
Kermit-170>send dog*
[the files are sent]
Kermit-170>status
[performance statistics are printed]
Kermit-170>receive
[files are received]
Kermit-170>exit
/
Cyber Kermit provides an initialization file capability. It will look for a
file named KERMINI in the user's local files, and then in the permanent file
catalog. If found, Kermit will take commands from this file before requesting
commands from the user.
Cyber Kermit mimics the DEC-20 style command parser in that a question mark
followed by a carriage return may be placed anywhere on the command line
(except for the SEND and DIR commands). This will display the options avail-
able at that point. Unfortunately, the entire command will have to be retyped
afterwards.
Command keywords may be abbreviated to their shortest unique combination. This
comes in very handy since Cyber Kermit does not support command completion.
Cyber Kermit may only be run as a remote Kermit. This Kermit is "smart" and
hence need not be closely watched during a transfer since it will timeout in a
deadlock situation.
A Cyber filename is restricted to 7 alphanumeric characters. When a file is be-
ing sent to the Cyber, Kermit will take up to 3 characters of the extension
(part following a period) of the micro's file name, plus as much as possible
from the first part of the file name. This will lessen the conflicts when
transferring a group of files with the same name but different extensions.
If a file under that name already exists, an "error packet" stating so will be
sent back to the micro and Cyber Kermit will abort the entire transfer.
If you are having trouble transferring files with Kermit, it may be due to the
parity. Cyber Kermit has no way of determining the parity of the connection
and does not affect it in any way. If you are having problems getting the
first packet to transfer, then this is probably the problem. If necessary,
enter a ! TRMDEF command from within Kermit to set the Cyber front-end's parity
to match that of your micro (eg. ! TRMDEF,PA=N for no parity, ! TRMDEF,PA=E
for even.)
3. Cyber Kermit Commands
The following is a list of Cyber Kermit commands and their descriptions.
! command Execute a NOS command and then return to Kermit. Note that a single
space must follow the ! character. Cyber Kermit will supply a con-
trol statement terminator if needed.
DIRECTORY [filename]
Displays the names of the files local to the user's job, or the names
of files in the user's permanent file catalog; filename may be a
wildcard filename.
If the command is specified with no parameters or the L: parameter,
all local files are listed. If the P: parameter is used, all per-
manent files are listed.
To list a single local file or subset of local files, the user may
specify a file name or wildcard file name. To list a single or sub-
set of permanent files, the user may precede the file name or
wildcard file name by P:
[The above syntax is also applicable to the REMOTE DIRECTORY server
command.]
EXIT, QUIT
Exit from Kermit-170. You may also stop Kermit-170 in the midst of a
transfer or during server operations by aborting your local Kermit
with a CTRL-C. Connect to the Cyber Kermit (don't forget to first
FINISH if you were using the Cyber Kermit in server mode) and then
EXIT.
HELP [topic]
Give Help. There's a general help text, plus separate help texts for
each Kermit-170 command. HELP ? lists the available topics.
PUSH Exit to NOS command level, saving the current Kermit environment.
The environment will be restored when Kermit is reentered.
RECEIVE Receive a file or group of files from the other host. If the name in
the header packet is not a legal Cyber file name, the first 7 legal
characters will be used.
If the file already exits as a local file, Kermit will abort the
transfer. If an error occurs during transfer, the local file being
received will be deleted to allow the transfer to be retried. After
entering the RECEIVE command, you should escape back to your local
Kermit and give the SEND command.
SEND filename or L:filename or P:filename
Send one or more files to the local (micro) Kermit; filename may be a
wildcard filename. The name of each file is passed to the other Ker-
mit in a file header packet, so that the file can be stored there
with the same name. You should escape back to your local Kermit and
give the RECEIVE command. If you don't do this fast enough the
"send-init" packet may arrive prematurely. To prevent this, use SET
DELAY or hit the RETURN key on your microcomputer if it does not
timeout.
If you use the first form of this command and no local file(s) match
your request, your permanent file catalog is searched for matching
file(s). If you prefix the filename with L:, only your local files
are searched; if P:, only your permanent file catalog is searched.
(Note that for a permanent file transfer, any local file which has
the same name as a permanent file being sent, is deleted.)
SERVER Act as a server for another Kermit. Whatever options were previously
SET will be used. The server may be shut down from the local Kermit
by using the BYE or FINISH commands. Generally, you should use the
FINISH command if you were transferring a file to the Cyber so that
you may then connect and make the file permanent. The BYE or LOGOUT
command causes the remote Kermit to logout and thus should be used
when receiving a file from the Cyber and there is no real reason to
re-connect.
The following server features are currently supported in Kermit-170:
GET, SEND, FINISH, BYE, REM DIR
SET keyword value
Establish system-dependent parameters. You can examine their values
with the SHOW command. Numeric values may be decimal, octal
(postfixed with a B), or hexadecimal (postfixed by an H). The fol-
lowing may be SET:
DEBUG option
Show packet traffic explicitly. Options are:
ALL Set all debug options (PACKETS and STATES).
LOG-FILE filename
Log states and packets to the specified file. The default
log-file is named KERMLOG.
OFF Don't log debugging information (this is the default). If
debugging was in effect, turn it off and close the log file.
PACKETS
Log each incoming and outgoing packet (lengthy).
STATES
Log Kermit state transitions and packet numbers (brief).
DELAY decimal-number
Sets the number of seconds to wait before sending the first
packet. This gives you time to "escape" back and issue a RECEIVE
command. The default is 2 seconds.
DUPLEX keyword
Changes the method of echoing characters when being prompted for
commands. The choices are FULL and HALF. FULL means the Cyber
will echo the characters you type. HALF means the local system
echoes them. FULL is the default, and is used by most hosts.
FILE-MODE ftype
Declares the file mode to be used while processing Cyber disk
files. Allowable values for ftype are TEXT and BINARY. TEXT
means that the file contains text in either 8/12 ASCII, 6/12 AS-
CII, or Display Code (See SET TEXT-MODE command). BINARY means
that file contains binary data, packed 7.5 8-bit bytes per 60-bit
word. The default is TEXT.
INIT-RETRY decimal-number
Set the maximum number of retries allowed for the initial connec-
tion before giving up. Default is 15.
RECEIVE parameter value
These commands allow you to specify to the other Kermit what the
packets it sends should look like, or to inform this Kermit what
to expect. Value may be specified as a decimal number, an octal
number (B suffix), or a hexadecimal number (H suffix). Character
values are specified as the numeric equivalent of the ASCII
character.
END-OF-LINE value
The octal value of the ASCII character which will be used as
a line terminator for packets by the other system. Carriage
return (15B) is the default.
PACKET-LENGTH value
Maximum packet length the other system may send, a decimal
number, between 20 and 1000, 94 by default. Size used is the
minimum of this parameter and the SEND PACKET-LENGTH of the
other Kermit.
PAD-CHARACTER value
Character to use for padding. Default is NUL.
PAD-LENGTH value
Set the number of padding characters to send before a packet.
Default is no padding.
QUOTE-CHARACTER value
The printable character to use for quoting of control charac-
ters. Default is # (43B). There should be no reason to
change this.
SYNC-CHARACTER value
The control character that marks the beginning of the packet.
Normally SOH (Control-A, ASCII 1). There should be no reason
to change this.
TIME-OUT value
The number of seconds the other Kermit should wait for a
packet before asking for retransmission. Default is 10
seconds.
RETRY decimal-number
Sets the maximum number of retries allowed for a particular
packet before giving up. Default is 10.
SEND parameter value
These commands allow you to specify how outgoing packets should
look, in case the other Kermit has non-standard requirements.
END-OF-LINE value
The octal value of the ASCII character to be used as a line
terminator for packets, if one is required by the other sys-
tem. Carriage return (15B) by default.
PACKET-LENGTH value
Maximum packet length to send, decimal number, between 20 and
1000, 94 by default. Size used is the minimum of this
parameter and the RECEIVE PACKET-LENGTH of the other Kermit.
PAD-CHARACTER value
Character to use for padding. Default is NUL.
PAD-LENGTH value
Set the number of padding characters to send before a packet.
Default is no padding.
QUOTE-CHARACTER value
The printable character to use for quoting of control charac-
ters. The default is # (43B). There should be no reason to
change this.
SYNC-CHARACTER value
The control character that marks the beginning of the packet.
Normally SOH (Control-A, ASCII 1). There should be no reason
to change this.
TIME-OUT value
How many seconds to wait for a packet before trying again.
Default is 10 seconds.
TEXT-MODE ctype
Sets the character set of TEXT files. Allowable values for ctype
are: AUTO, DISPLAY, 6/12-ASCII, and 8/12 ASCII. The default is
AUTO, which tells Cyber Kermit to attempt to auto-recognize files
on send, and write 6/12 ASCII files on receive.
SHOW Display current SET parameters, version of Kermit-170, and other in-
formation.
STATUS Give statistics about the most recent file transfer.
TAKE filename or L:filename or P:filename
Take Kermit commands from a file. Kermit will first look in the
user's local files; if not found it will then look in the permanent
file catalog. You may restrict the search by prefixing the filename
with "P:" or "L:". (See the SEND command above.) When an logical
end-of-record is encountered on the TAKE file, Kermit will revert to
accepting commands from the terminal. TAKE commands cannot be
nested; a TAKE command read from a file will begin reading commands
from the new file, but at it's end will not revert to the first file.
Index
! 0
Control-C 1
Debugging 1
DIR 0
DIRECTORY 0
Duplex 1
EXIT 1
File Type 1
Help 0, 1
KERMINI 0
Kermit Initialization 0
Parity 0
PUSH 1
QUIT 1
RECEIVE 1
Receive Files 1
Retry 1
SEND 1
SERVER 1
SET 1
SHOW 1
STATUS 1
TAKE 1
Text Mode 1
Wildcard 0
Table of Contents
1. Cyber File Systems 0
2. Program Operation 0
3. Cyber Kermit Commands 0
Index 3