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File KERMIT.UPD (MSKERM.UPD) June 1993 SUPPLEMENT TO "USING MS-DOS KERMIT": CHANGES AND NEW FEATURES SINCE VERSION 3.11 Most recent update: Mon Nov 29 10:34:57 1993 Copyright (C) 1985, 1993, Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. The MS-DOS Kermit software may be reproduced and shared without restriction as long as this copyright notice is retained, except that it may not be licensed or sold for profit as a software product itself, and it may not be included in or distributed with commercial products or otherwise distributed by commercial concerns to their clients or customers without written permission of the Office of Kermit Development and Distribution, Columbia University. MS-DOS Kermit is a product of Kermit Distribution, Columbia University Center for Computing Activities. The principal author of the program is Professor Joe R. Doupnik of Utah State University, with help from other volunteer programmers all over the world. The software is copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, with portions of the source code also copyright by other institutions including Waterloo University (Ontario, Canada) and the (US) National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Kermit software is written by volunteer programmers as a public service, and is furnished without warranty of any kind. Neither Columbia University, nor the individual authors, nor Digital Equipment Corporation, nor Digital Press, nor Data General Corporation, nor any other institution or individual that has contributed to the development and documentation warrant the software in any way. See the file KERMIT.HLP (MSKERM.HLP) for contact information. UPDATES MS-DOS Kermit 3.11 was released September, 1991, and is fully described in "Using MS-DOS Kermit", second edition. MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 has several features not described in the book. This file describes these new features. MS-DOS Kermit 3.12 was released in September, 1992. It is a maintenance release, but with several new features added, including: . Networking and communications improvements, including ODI support. . Japanese Kanji text-file transfer translation. . Locking-shift protocol for file transfer. . A new method for transferring files with IBM mainframes. . Ability to SET PORT TCP/IP to non-TELNET ports. MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 was released in July 1993 with the following new features: . A new faster method for transferring binary and precompressed files . Larger packets and windows allowed, up to 9024 x 31. . Switching among multiple simultaneous TCP/IP sessions . Data General DASHER terminal emulation . Graphics-mode support for 132-column operation on EGA and VGA video adapters . Text-mode support for 132-column operation on ET4000 and other VESA adapters . Horizontal scrolling . Expanded-memory option for screen rollback and graphics image retention . Hebrew character-set translation and Hebrew terminal emulation . East European character-set translation . Icelandic CP861 code page support . Separate code page selection for terminal emulation and file transfer . Compose-key sequences for entering accented characters . New KERMIT PATH environment variable . Support for Novell SLIP_PPP ODI driver and other networking improvements . BOOTP improvements . TELNET improvements, including option negotiation display . DIAL-command support for additional modem types UPDATE: KERMIT ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE The DOS environment variable KERMIT may be used for setting certain parameters, even if Kermit doesn't read its initialization file. Set this environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET KERMIT=text <text> can be one or more MS-DOS Kermit startup parameters of the form <name> <value>, separated by semicolons. Startup parameters include: INPBUT <number> (allocates storage for INPUT command buffer) ROLLBACK <number> (allocates storage for <number> rollback screens) WIDTH <number> (allocates sorage for given screen width, 80-207) COMn <address> <irq> (sets COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4 address and IRQ) PATH <path> (where Kermit looks for TAKE files) PATH and WIDTH are new to version 3.13. WIDTH defines the width of the terminal-screen rollback memory. If you want to roll back wide screens, you should specify the width, e.g. 132. AUTOEXEC.BAT Example: SET KERMIT=ROLLBACK 50;WIDTH 132;PATH C:\KERMIT PATH affects the initialization-file search, the TAKE command, and the IF INPATH command. UPDATE: DIALING AND THE DIALING DIRECTORY MS-DOS Kermit does not have a built-in DIAL command, but if you installed Kermit from the distribution disk according to instructions, you'll be able to use the DIAL macro defined in Kermit's initialization file, MSKERMIT.INI. DIAL uses two additional files: xxxxx.SCR, a script program for dialing your modem ("xxxxx" is HAYES, T3000, ROLM, etc, see below for a list), and DIALUPS.TXT, your dialing directory (see MODEMS.HLP). If you do not have a modem for which a dialing script is provided, you can write a new script program for dialing, modelled after one of the other dialing scripts (see Chapter 14 of "Using MS-DOS Kermit) and set a DOS environment variable, MODEM, to be the name of your modem; the dialing script should have the same name, with a filetype of .SCR. For example, for dialing an XYZV32 modem, put the following line your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET MODEM=XYZV32 and install a XYZV32.SCR file in the same directory as your MSKERMIT.INI file. If you don't have a dialing script for your type of modem, you can also dial it "manually" in CONNECT mode. To use a dialing directory, create a plain text file called DIALUPS.TXT. The file contains one line per entry: name number speed parity comments The "name" is the name you want to use for this entry in your DIAL commands. "number" is the telephone number; "speed" is the dialing speed in bits per second, "parity" is the parity to use (even, odd, mark, space, or none). The name, number, speed, and parity are separated from each other by one or more spaces. Any words after the parity are ignored, so you can use them for comments. If trailing fields (speed, parity) are omitted, Kermit's current values are used (but then you can't have a comment). If you want to tell Kermit explicitly to use its current value for speed or parity, use an equal sign (=). Examples: sprintnet 7654321 2400 mark oofanet 6543210 1200 odd This entry has a comment. tymnet 93,876-5432 2400 even You can put punctuation in the phone #. hometone T5551212 1200 none T in number forces tone dialing homepulse P5551212 1200 none P in number forces pulse dialing anyspeed 999-9999 = none Use current speed, whatever it is. anyparity 888-8888 9600 = Use current parity, whatever it is. whocares 777-7777 = = Use current speed and parity. defaults 987-6543 To use the dialing directory, just type DIAL followed by the name, spelled out in full (case doesn't matter), for example: MS-Kermit>dial tymnet If you type a name or number that is not in the directory, Kermit dials exactly the characters you type, for example DIAL 5552370 dials the number 5552370. DIAL FRED (if FRED is not in the directory) tells Kermit to dial the letters FRED, which won't accomplish anything useful with most modems. To view your dialing directory, type LIST. To view particular entries in your dialing directory, type LIST XXX, where XXX is a sequence of characters that appears in the desired entries (usually the name). In the LIST command, case is important because it uses the DOS FIND program to list the entries: MS-Kermit>list tymnet tymnet 93,876-5432 2400 even You can put punctuation in the phone #. In your dialing directory, you can include spaces in the name or number by enclosing it in braces, as in these examples: {my computer} 555-4321 2400 none your-computer {9 1 800 555 1234} 1200 odd {our computer} {212 701 0000} 19200 space Now you can type commands like DIAL MY COMPUTER, DIAL OUR COMPUTER. The DIAL command assumes your dialing directory is stored on your PC as C:\KERMIT\DIALUPS.TXT. If you want to keep it someplace else or you need to use some other name, create a DOS environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET DIALFILE=C:\PHONES\DIALING.DIR If you want to use the directory sometimes but not others, define a separate macro for dialing without it: define call take \m(_modem).SCR (where _modem is defined as your modem type, e.g. HAYES, and you have an appropriate dialing script file in your PATH, e.g. HAYES.SCR). The _modem variable is set automatically from your DOS environment variable, MODEM, and is HAYES by default (i.e. if there is no MODEM environment variable). As of MS-DOS Kermit 3.13, the DIAL command now supports the following modems: Hayes 1200 and 2400 Hayes ULTRA 14400 Penril Alliance V.32 Practical Peripherals 14400 Rolm CBX DCM SupraFAXmodem V.32bis Telebit QBlazer V.32 Telebit T3000 V.32bis Vadic VA2400PA See MODEMS.DOS (MSMAAA.DOC) for further information. UPDATE: NEW FASTER METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING BINARY FILES This feature allows you to improve MS-DOS Kermit's file transfer performance on connections that you know are transparent to a certain set of control characters. It lets you tell MS-DOS Kermit exactly which control characters need to be prefixed and which ones do not when it is sending files. SET CONTROL-CHARACTER UNPREFIXED { <code>..., ALL } Says that you think it is safe to include the control character represented by <code> without prefixing in packets which MS-DOS Kermit sends. The <code> is the numeric ASCII code for a control character, 0-31, 127-159, or 255. For example, linefeed (code 10) is normally sent as two printable characters, #J. SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED 10 lets linefeed be sent literally. You can include the word ALL to unprefix all control characters, or you can specify a list of one or more numeric values, separated by spaces. Examples: SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED 31 ; A single control character SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED 2 4 5 18 20 ; A list of control characters SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED ALL ; All control characters If you can safely declare a lot of control characters to be UNPREFIXED, you can send binary files (particularly precompressed ones) up to about 20-25 percent faster. If you include a control character in this category that causes trouble, however, the transfer will fail, so experimentation is necessary. NOTE: This command will not allow you to "unprefix" the following characters if MS-DOS Kermit's current FLOW-CONTROL setting is XON/XOFF: 17, 19, 145, 147; nor will it let you unprefix characters 127 or 255 on a TELNET (SET PORT TCP/IP) connection. SET CONTROL-CHARACTER PREFIXED { <code>..., ALL } Says that the given control character(s) must be prefixed in Kermit packets. By default, all control characters, 0-31, 127-159, and 255, are prefixed. NOTE: when sending files *to* MS-DOS Kermit, you must SET CONTROL PREFIXED (at least) 1 129 (assuming the start-of-packet character is Ctrl-A). SHOW CONTROL-PREFIXING Displays the code values of the control characters that are currently UNPREFIXED. The purpose of the SET CONTROL UNPREFIX command is to UNILATERALLY configure MS-DOS Kermit to skip prefixing and printable encoding of selected control characters to achieve higher performance when sending files. This feature takes advantage of the fact that most (not all) Kermit programs will accept control characters within packet data-fields literally, provided they get through at all, and provided they do not have a special meaning to the receiving Kermit program (such as, in many cases, the packet-start and packet-end characters). There is no protocol negotiation between the two Kermit programs to determine a "safe set" of control characters, and in fact any such negotiation would be largely meaningless, because in most cases the two Kermit programs don't have all the needed information. For example, there might be a terminal server or PAD between them that is sensitive to a particular control character, even though the two Kermit programs are not. If you include in your SET CONTROL UNPREFIXED list one or more control characters that are unsafe, any of several things might happen: 1. Transfer of any file containing these characters will fail. 2. The receiving Kermit program might be interrupted or halted. 3. Your connection might become hung, stuck, or broken. This includes the situation where a control character causes a PAD, terminal server, or similar device to change modes -- e.g. to go from online mode to command mode. The set of safe control characters depends on the two Kermit programs, their settings, the host operating systems and their settings, the communication and flow control methods, and all the devices, drivers, and protocols that lie between the two Kermit programs. You must be willing to experiment in order to achieve the optimal safe set. Under ideal conditions (totally transparent and clean serial connection, no Xon/Xoff, MS-DOS Kermit is not in SERVER mode, and C-Kermit has been told to SET TRANSFER CANCELLATION OFF), the minimum set of control characters that needs to be prefixed is: SENDER RECEIVER PREFIXED CONTROLS MS-DOS Kermit MS-DOS Kermit 1, 129 MS-DOS Kermit C-Kermit 0 C-Kermit MS-DOS Kermit 0, 1, 129 C-Kermit C-Kermit 0 For example, to set up C-Kermit to unprefix the minimum set of prefixed control characters for sending files to MS-DOS Kermit, tell C-Kermit to: SET FLOW NONE ; Or SET FLOW RTS/CTS SET CONTROL UNPREFIX ALL SET CONTROL PREFIX 1 129 ; C-Kermit always prefixes character 0 When the mininum set doesn't work, use the SET CONTROL PREFIX command to prefix additional control characters. Some experimentation will be required. Here is the list of control characters that are apt to cause trouble and therefore likely candidates for prefixing: set con p 0 ; Ctrl-@ = NUL, internal string terminator in C-Kermit. ; Also, often discarded as padding. set con p 1 ; Ctrl-A = Packet-start character. set con p 3 ; Ctrl-C = Packet breakout for remote-mode C-Kermit, ; packet breakout for server-mode MS-DOS Kermit, ; likely to cause interruptions on other systems. set con p 13 ; Ctrl-M = Carriage return, always prefix on TELNET connections. set con p 14 ; Ctrl-N = Shift Out set con p 15 ; Ctrl-O = Shift In set con p 16 ; Ctrl-P = Commonly-used X.25/X.3 PAD escape character set con p 17 ; Ctrl-Q = XON, must be prefixed with Xon/Xoff flow control set con p 19 ; Ctrl-S = XOFF, must be prefixed with Xon/Xoff flow control set con p 27 ; Ctrl-[ = ESC, prefix if going through some kind of ANSI device set con p 28 ; Ctrl-\ = CONNECT-mode escape for C-Kermit set con p 29 ; Ctrl-] = CONNECT-mode escape for TELNET set con p 30 ; Ctrl-^ = Cisco terminal server escape. set con p 127 ; Ctrl-? = DEL, often discarded as padding. ; Also becomes TELNET IAC if parity bit is added. set con p 128 ; = NUL + 128 set con p 129 ; = Ctrl-A + 128 set con p 131 ; = Ctrl-C + 128 set con p 141 ; = CR + 128 set con p 145 ; = XON + 128 set con p 147 ; = XOFF + 128 set con p 255 ; 255 = TELNET IAC, use P on TCP/IP TELNET connections Notes: . If MS-DOS Kermit has initiated a TCP/IP connection, prefixing of 255 (TELNET IAC) is forced automatically. . Kermit will not let you unprefix XON (17), XOFF (19), XON+128 (145), or XOFF+128 (147) if its FLOW-CONTROL setting is XON/XOFF. If you want to unprefix these, make sure *both* Kermits have been told to SET FLOW NONE (or RTS/CTS), and that XON/XOFF flow control is not in effect anywhere along the communication path between the two Kermits. . When sending files to C-Kermit, you should normally SET CONTROL PREFIX 3 and SET CONTROL PREFIX 131, because C-Kermit (by default) takes two Ctrl-C's (3 or 131) in a row as cancellation of packet-mode. However, you can UNPREFIX these characters if you know your file does not contain two Ctrl-C's in a row, or if you tell C-Kermit to SET TRANSFER CANCELLATION OFF, or SET TRANSFER CANCELLATION ON <code> <number> when you know that <number> copies of <code> do not occur in a row in the data. UPDATE: OTHER FILE TRANSFER IMPROVEMENTS . Bigger file transfer window sizes and packet buffers, depending on available memory. Packets may be up to 9024 bytes in length, and the window can contain up to 31 packets of the maximum length. Use the regular commands to select these sizes: SET RECEIVE PACKET-LENGTH and SET WINDOW. Also see the Memory Management section of KERMIT.BWR (MSKERM.BWR). . Locking shifts for more efficient transfer of 8-bit text on 7-bit connections (important for Cyrillic, Hebrew, and Japanese text). New command: SET TRANSFER LOCKING-SHIFT { OFF, ON, FORCED } The default setting is ON, meaning that MS-DOS Kermit will attempt to negotiate use of this feature with the other Kermit if the parity is not NONE, in which case locking shifts will be used if the other Kermit agrees (C-Kermit 5A and IBM Mainframe Kermit 4.2.4 will agree, others will not). OFF means don't negotiate locking shifts, and FORCED means to use them regardless of negotiations. . Dynamically variable packet length to adapt automatically to changing noise conditions. This happens automatically when MS-DOS Kermit is sending files. No commands are needed. If packets are damaged by noise or timeouts occur, MS-DOS Kermit cuts the packet length in half and then gradually grows it back to the maximum negotiated size as (and if) transmission errors subside. . A new file transfer "thermometer", improved statistics reporting including, for serial connections only, the efficiency of the transfer expressed as a percent. This is the ratio of actual file characters transferred per second to the connection speed. UPDATE: NEW CHARACTER-SET SUPPORT A new command is available to tell MS-DOS Kermit what your actual code page is, for purposes of character-set translation during terminal emulation: SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CPnnn where nnn are digits. This command is necessary because most PCs fail to report active code pages other than CP437 and CP850 correctly, and so Kermit generally has no way to find out when you have some other code page loaded. This command is distinct from SET FILE CHARACTER-SET, so you can select translations for terminal emulation and file transfer separately if you want to. MS-DOS Kermit knows about the following code pages: Code Page File-Xfer Term-Emul Comments CP437 Y Y Original PC, and usually hardware, code page CP850 Y Y Multilingual West European code page CP852* Y Y Multilingual East European code page CP860 Y Y Portuguese code page CP861* Y Y Icelandic code page CP862* Y Y Hebrew code page CP863 Y Y Canadian-French code page CP865 Y Y Norwegian/Danish code page CP866 Y N Cyrillic code page Shift-JIS** Y N Japanese Kanji multibyte code page = CP982 ** New to version 3.12 * New to version 3.13 Roman character sets for East European languages (Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, etc) (version 3.13). Commands: SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET LATIN2 ; ISO 8859-2 Latin Alphabet 2 SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET LATIN2 ; ISO 8859-2 Latin Alphabet 2 SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CP852 ; Code page 852 SET FILE CHARACTER-SET CP852 ; Code page 852 MS-DOS 5.0 and later include the East European Code Page, CP852. To use this code page: 1. Add the following lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and then reboot: C:\DOS\MODE CON: CP PREPARE=((850,,437,852) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI) 4. To load the East European code page, use this DOS command: C:\DOS\MODE CON: CP SELECT=852 New Icelandic code page support (version 3.13). Commands: SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET LATIN1 (or DEC-MCS, or whatever) SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET LATIN1 SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CP861 SET FILE CHARACTER-SET CP861 Use MODE CON CP PREPARE, if necessary, to install this code page. Use MODE CON CP SELECT=861 to load it. Cyrillic terminal emulation and file transfer (version 3.11): For terminal emulation, CP866 or equivalent must be loaded, SET TRANSLATE INPUT tables are needed for host-to-screen character translation (samples available on request), and you'll need a Cyrillic keyboard and driver, or SET KEY commands to configure your Roman keyboard. For file transfer use these commands: SET FILE CHARACTER-SET CP866 SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET CYRILLIC Japanese Kanji file transfer (version 3.12). Commands: SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET JAPANESE-EUC SET FILE CHARACTER-SET SHIFT-JIS Kanji character-set translation during terminal emulation is not yet available, but Kermit CONNECT mode works in Kanji mode on Japanese DOS/V computers, which is useful if the remote host uses the same Shift-JIS character set as MS-DOS Kermit. Hebrew terminal emulation and file transfer (version 3.13). Commands: SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET HEBREW SET FILE CHARACTER-SET CP862 SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET { HEBREW-ISO, HEBREW-7 } SET TERMINAL DIRECTION { RIGHT-TO-LEFT, LEFT-TO-RIGHT } SET TERMINAL CODE-PAGE CP862 Terminal direction is controlled in two different ways: (1) by host-generated escape sequences (automatic, see below) and (2) by the SET TERMINAL DIRECTION command. When the writing direction is changed by escape sequences from the host, the cursor-positioning coordinate system is not changed. For example, if Kermit was in left-to-right mode and the host send ESC [ ? 34 h, position (1,1) would still be in the upper left. This is how a real Hebrew-model VT terminal works. If, however, you command Kermit into RIGHT-TO-LEFT mode, the coordinate system flips right to left so the origin (1,1) is at the upper right corner, which is useful for viewing and composing some right to left text. The host can override the user setting, and the user can later override the host setting. Hebrew character sets: . CP862 is the PC Hebrew code page, available from IBM as EGAHE.COM, or perhaps as a hardware code page on Hebrew-model PCs. We cannot distribute this code page because it is proprietary. You must have this code page loaded in order to see Hebrew characters on your screen. . HEBREW-ISO is the 8-bit standard ISO 8859-8 Latin/Hebrew alphabet. . HEBREW-7 is the 7-bit Hebrew "National Replacement Character Set" (NRC), ASCII with the lowercase Roman letters replaced by Hebrew letters, often used in e-mail. MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 supports: . Automatic selection of writing direction by host escape sequence. . ISO 2022-compliant terminal character-set designation and invocation. . Hebrew keyboard mode. Hebrew-specific escape sequences recognized by the VT220 and 320 terminal emulators: ESC ) H Designates right half of Latin/Hebrew to G1 ESC * H Designates right half of Latin/Hebrew to G2 ESC + H Designates right half of Latin/Hebrew to G3 ESC ( % = Designates 7-bit Hebrew NRC to G0-G3 ESC ) " 4 Designates DEC supplement Hebrew letters to G1 ESC * " 4 Designates DEC supplement Hebrew letters to G2 ESC + " 4 Designates DEC supplement Hebrew letters to G3 DCS 0 ! u " 4 ST Assigns DEC supplement Hebrew as UPSS DCS 0 ! u H ST Assigns Latin/Hebrew as UPSS CSI ? 34 h Sets right-to-left screen-writing mode CSI ? 34 l Sets left-to-right screen-writing mode CSI ? 35 h Sets Hebrew keyboard mapping via Kermit macros CSI ? 35 l Sets Roman (North American) keyboard mapping, ditto CSI ? 36 h Hebrew encoding mode is 7-bit Hebrew-7 "National mode" CSI ? 36 l Hebrew encoding mode is 8-bit ISO Latin/Hebrew Hebrew keyboard mapping: CSI ? 35 h invokes the macro KEYBOARDS, which you must define to set up your keyboard for entering Hebrew characters. If this macro is not defined, nothing happens. CSI ? 35 l invokes the macro KEYBOARDR, which you must define to set up your keyboard for entering Roman (North American) characters. If this macro is not defined, nothing happens. Note: do not define KEYBOARDS without also defining KEYBOARDR to undo its effects! The various reports furnished by MS-DOS Kermit also include Hebrew- specific information, and the following host-initiated operations work in both left-to-right and right-to-left mode: Insert/Replace Mode, Autowrap, Backspace, Carriage Return, Linefeed, Formfeed, Vertical Tab, Horizontal Tab. The keyboard mapping sequences invoke the user-defined macros KEYBOARDS (h) and KEYBOARDR (l). Users should define these macros to accomplish the desired keyboard mappings with SET KEY commands. In VT100 and VT102 mode, the following functions are supported: ESC ) 1 Enter Hebrew mode ESC ) B Exit Hebrew mode West European (including Icelandic), East European, Cyrillic, Hebrew, and Kanji file transfer work in conjunction with C-Kermit 5A(189) and IBM Mainframe Kermit 4.2.4. Hebrew file transfer is not available in C-Kermit 5A(188) or earlier. Character-set translation goal selection: SET TRANSLATION CHARACTER-SET { READABLE, INVERTIBLE } Default is READABLE. INVERTIBLE attempts to use code points as much in common between the transfer and file character sets as possible, with the transfer character set having priority. Thus INVERTIBLE can create code points which do not display correctly on the destination machine but yield the closest match when a file is sent back to the originator. Terminal-to-host keyboard character shifting: SET TERMINAL OUTPUT-SHIFT { NONE, AUTOMATIC, SI/SO, SS2, SS3 } Allows you to type 8-bit characters on a 7-bit terminal connection. MS-DOS Kermit supplies the selected type of shifting: NONE - (Default) No shifting SI/SO - Shift-In Shift-Out around each 8-bit character (GR = G1) SS2 - Single-Shift 2 before each 8-bit character (GR = G2) SS3 - Single-Shift 3 before each 8-bit character (GR = G3) AUTO - Shift type depends on current character set GR assignment UPDATE: IBM MAINFRAME FILE TRANSFER Correct implementation of "Doomsday Kermit" (DDK) techniques for transferring files with IBM mainframes through 3270 protocol converters that do NOT support transparent mode, to be used in conjunction with IBM Mainframe Kermit's SET CONTROLLER FULLSCREEN command on VM/CMS, MVS/TSO, or CICS. IBM Mainframe Kermit 4.2.3 or later required. Commands: SET PARITY EVEN ; Or whatever SET FLOW XON/XOFF ; Or whatever SET SEND START 62 ; Greater-than sign SET RECEIVE START 62 ; Ditto SET BLOCK BLANK-FREE-2 ; New block-check type SET HANDSHAKE NONE BLANK-FREE-2 is a new block-check type, exactly like type 2, except encoded to never contains blanks. Give IBM Mainframe Kermit the following commands: SET CONTROLLER FULL SET SEND START 62 SET RECEIVE START 62 SET BLOCK BLANK-FREE-2 SET HANDSHAKE 0 Doomsday Kermit file transfers are not as reliable as regular Kermit protocol transfers, and they are much slower. Use this method only as a last resort. UPDATE: THE APC ESCAPE SEQUENCE The handling of the CSI ? 34 h / l escape sequences by the VT220 and VT320 terminal emulators changed between versions 3.12 and 3.13 in order to support Hebrew VT220/320/420 terminal emulation, and because DEC software such as DECforms expects to use these sequences to control screen-writing direction. Old way (described on pages 180-181 of "Using MS-DOS Kermit"): CSI ? 34 h / l invoked the TERMINALR and TERMINALS macros, if you had them defined. This required each Kermit user to define them, for example in their MSCUSTOM.INI files, a big management problem for large user communities. New way: CSI ? 34 h / l controls screen-writing direction, left-to-right or right-to-left (for Hebrew and Arabic), as it does on real Hebrew-model VT terminals (see Hebrew section above). To replace the TERMINALR/TERMINALS function, MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 now supports the Application Program Command (APC) escape sequence, which is accepted by MS-DOS Kermit 3.13's VT emulators, VT100 and above: APC <string> ST In the 7-bit environment, APC is ESC _ and ST (string terminator) is ESC \. In the 8-bit environment, APC is decimal 159 and ST is 156 decimal. The <string> can be any MS-DOS Kermit command or list of commands, separated by commas, and can be up to 1024 bytes in length. Upon receipt of this escape sequence, MS-DOS Kermit executes the command(s) in the string and then automatically resumes CONNECT mode. NOTE: In this respect, APC differs from the old TERMINALR/TERMINALS mechanism, which did NOT automatically re-enter CONNECT mode. Thus, if you are recycling your TERMINALR/TERMINALS macros for APC use, be sure to remove the ", connect" from the end of their definitions, or else you will have to escape back twice the next time you want the MS-Kermit> prompt. For safety, the APC mechanism cannot be used to invoke certain MS-DOS Kermit commands that might do damage, like deleting your files. Included in this category is the RUN command, which provides access to DOS and to other applications. This new MS-DOS Kermit command regulates the APC mechanism: SET TERMINAL APC { ON, OFF, UNCHECKED } ON (the default) means that Kermit will execute only safe commands. OFF means Kermit will not execute any commands and will ignore APCs. UNCHECKED means Kermit will execute ANY commands sent via APC. Use UNCHECKED at your own risk. APC is much more flexible than the old TERMINALS/TERMINALR mechanism, and can be used for any purpose at all. For example, it can be used to configure MS-DOS Kermit for use with a particular host or application by sending the appropriate list of SET commands: communication parameters like parity, protocol parameters like packet-length and window size, key mappings, etc. It can also be used to initiate file transfers automatically from the host without having to escape back to MS-DOS Kermit. Here's an example you can use with C-Kermit 5A. In your C-Kermit 5A customization file (.mykermrc or CKERMOD.INI), add commands like this: define autosend set delay 0, apc receive, send \%1 \%2, statistics define autoreceive apc {send \%1 \%2}, receive, statistics Try it! Nothing special is required on the PC side. Note: The APC command is new to C-Kermit 5A(189); if you have an earlier release you can define APC as a macro: define apc output \27_\%1\27\92 You can set up similar procedures with IBM mainframe Kermit, e.g. in VM/CMS by stacking commands and using XECHO to emit the escape sequences. You can expand these commands to handle text and binary mode if you want to: ; Text transfers define tsend set del 0, set file type text, apc receive, send \%1, stat define treceive apc {set fil typ text, send \%1 \%2}, stat ; ; Binary transfers define bsend set del 0, set file type binary, apc receive, send \%1, stat define breceive apc {set fil typ binary, send \%1 \%2}, stat Use your imagination, the possibilities are endless! UPDATE: DATA GENERAL DASHER TERMINAL EMULATION MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 includes built-in emulation of the Data General DASHER D463 (monochrome) and D470 (color) text/graphics terminals: SET TERMINAL TYPE { D463, D470 } Because DASHER escape sequences can include XON and XOFF characters, you must also tell MS-DOS Kermit not to use regular bidirectional Xon/Xoff flow control. Instead, on network connections, SET FLOW NONE; on serial connections, SET FLOW RTS/CTS if available, or else use unidirectional Xon/Xoff with the new command: SET FLOW OUTGOING-XON/XOFF If the remote host echos these characters Kermit will accept them as data instead and that will confuse interpretation of following control sequences. For using Western European languages on a Data General host: SET TERMINAL CHARACTER-SET DG-INTERNATIONAL DG function and special keys are supported via new keyboard verbs, which can be assigned as desired with SET KEY: \KdgF1..F15, \KdgC1..C4, arrow keys, Home, \KdgPoint, \KdgSPCL, \KdgNC. These verbs are not assigned automatically, you must assign them yourself. Here, for example, is a sample macro that assigns the DG F1-F12 keys to the PC's F1-F12 keys: define dasher set key cle,set flow outgoing-xon/xoff,set term type d463,- set ke \315 \kdgf1,set ke \316 \kdgf2,set ke \317 \kdgf3,- set ke \318 \kdgf4,set ke \319 \kdgf5,set ke \320 \kdgf6,- set ke \321 \kdgf7,set ke \322 \kdgf8,set ke \323 \kdgf9,- set ke \324 \kdgf10,set ke \389 \kdgf11,set ke \390 \kdgf12 Arrow-key codes (\Klfarr, etc) are adjusted automatically according to the terminal type (VT52/Heath, VT100/102, VT220/320, or Data General). For SPCL key operation, see the next section. A comprehensive set of DG DASHER key assignments is given in the DASHER.INI (MSIDASH.INI) file, supplied by a volunteer at Data General Corporation. This mapping follows that used in DG's CEO Connection product. Compressed text (see section on compressed text below) is supported in either text or graphics mode, depending on your video adapter and preferences; in graphics mode, regular and compressed text can be mixed on the same screen. Full-color DG graphics are also supported including polygon fill, and the mouse (Microsoft or compatible) is supported for CEO Drawing Board and other graphics applications; mouse movements control the crosshair cursor and the left mouse button sends \KdgF1. The DG International Character Set (DGI) is supported during terminal emulation, with conversion to CP437 if CP437 is active, otherwise to CP850. CP850 is recommended, since it is the closest match to DGI. Other code pages are not supported in DG terminal emulation. Hebrew, Latin/2, and Kanji terminal emulation are not supported in DG terminal emulation. Also not supported for DG terminal emulation: downloadable fonts/character-sets; retention of graphics screens after escaping back or switching to text mode; compressed fornts for monochrome, CGA, or Hercules video adapters. UPDATE: COMPOSE-KEY SEQUENCES FOR ENTERING SPECIAL CHARACTERS Special characters (accented letters, etc) may be entered in the normal ways described in "Using MS-DOS Kermit", second edition, Chapter 13, and now also as compose-key sequences. There are two new compose-key verbs: \Kcompose ; DEC Compose key \KdgSPCL ; Data General SPCL ("special") key In fact, these two verbs are identical. Neither one of them is assigned to any key by default, so to use compose-key sequences, you must first make the appropriate assigment, for example: SET KEY \2334 \KdgSPCL ; Make Alt-a the SPCL / Compose key Now to enter a special character, press this key followed by two more keys. For example, you can enter A-acute like this: Alt-a ' A That is, press Alt-a (or whichever key or key combination you have assigned \Kcompose or \KdgSPCL to), then acute accent (apostrophe), then capital A. See below for a complete listing of compose-key combinations. In general, however, they are intuitive: letter + grave accent ("backquote"), letter + acute accent (apostrophe), letter + doublequote (for umlaut or diaeresis), letter + asterisk (ring above), etc. When you press the compose key, the letter C appears at the right of the terminal-emulation status line and remains there until you type the next two keys. If the two keys form a valid compose sequence, the corresponding character is sent to the host. If not, Kermit beeps. In both cases, the C disappears from the status line at the end of the compose sequence. To cancel a compose sequence in progress, just type one or two Ctrl-C characters (or, in fact, any two characters that are not a legal compose sequence). Compose sequences are available only for those 8-bit Latin1-class (i.e. Western European) terminal character-sets that are valid for Kermit's current terminal emulation: Terminal Type: Character Sets: VT220 or 320 LATIN1, DEC-MCS D463 or D470 LATIN1, DG-INTERNATIONAL Compose sequences are entirely independent of your PC's current code page. Here is the complete table of MS-DOS Kermit's compose-key sequences: Case and order insensitive: Input pair DG Int Latin1 Graphic ++ 23h n/a # AA 40h n/a @ (( 5Bh n/a [ // or /< 5Ch n/a \ )) 5Dh n/a ] ^<space> 7Eh n/a ^ (- 7Bh n/a { /^ 7Ch n/a | )- 7Dh n/a } << B1h ABh << (Left guillemot) 0^ or *<space> BCh B0h Degree, ring above +- B6h B1h +- >> B0h BBh >> (Right guillemot) SS FCh DFh German double s (Ess-Zet) /U A3h B5h Greek mu 2^ A4h B2h 2 superscript 3^ A5h B3h 3 superscript C/ or C| A7h A2h Cent sign L- or L= A8h A3h Pound Sterling Y- or Y= B5h A5h Yen sign SO or S! or S0 BBh A7h Paragraph sign XO or X0 A6h A5h Currency sign A- A9h A4h Feminine ordinal CO or C0 ADh A9h Copyright sign PP or P! B2h B6h Pilcrow sign .^ B9h B7h Middle dot O- AAh BAh Masculine ordinal 12 A2h BDh Fraction one-half !! ABh A1h Inverted exclamation ?? ACh BFh Inverted query mark T- AFh n/a Not equals sign TM B3h AEh Trademark sign FF B4h n/a Florin sign (DGI only) <= B7h n/a Less than or equals sign (DGI only) >= B8h n/a Greater than or equals sign (DGI only) ,- A1h ACh Not sign "" BDh A8h Diaeresis '' BEh B4h Accent acute RO AEh AEh Registered sign || n/a A6h Vertical broken bar -- n/a ADh Soft hyphen -^ n/a AFh Macron ,, n/a B8h Cedilla 34 n/a BEh Fraction three-fourths XX n/a D7h Multiplication sign -: n/a F7h Division sign 1^ n/a B9h Superscript 1 14 n/a BCh Fraction one-fourth Case and order sensitive: Input pair DG Int Latin1 Graphic EO D7h n/a OE digraph AE C6h C6h AE digraph ae E6h E6h ae digraph ,C C7h C7h Cedilla ,c E7h E7h cedilla /O D6h D8h O oblique stroke /o F6h F8h o oblique stroke HT n/a DEh Icelandic Thorn (yes, HT, not TH) ht n/a FEh Icelandic thorn (ht, not th) -D n/a D0h Icelandic Eth -d n/a F0h Icelandic eth Case sensitive, order insensitive: Input pair DG Int Latin1 Graphic 'A C0h C1h A-acute 'a E0h E1h a-acute `A C1h C0h A-grave `a E1h E0h a-grave ^A C2h C2h A-circumflex ^a E2h E2h a-circumflex "A C3h C4h A-diaeresis "a E3h E4h a-diaeresis ~A C4h C3h A-tilde ~a E4h E3h a-tilde *A C5h C5h A-ring *a E5h E5h a-ring 'E C8h C9h E-acute 'e E8h E9h e-acute `E C9h C8h E-grave `e E9h E8h e-grave ^E CAh CAh E-circumflex ^e EAh EAh e-circumflex "E CBh CBh E-diaeresis "e EBh EBh e-diaeresis 'I CCh CDh I-acute 'i ECh EDh i-acute `I CDh CCh I-grave `i EDh ECh i-grave ^I CEh CEh I-circumflex ^i EEh EEh i-circumflex "I CFh CFh I-diaeresis "i EFh EFh i-diaeresis ~N D0h D1h N-tilde ~n F0h F1h n-tilde 'O D1h D3h O-acute 'o F1h F3h o-acute `O D2h D2h O-grave `o F2h F2h o-grave ^O D3h D4h O-circumflex ^o F3h F4h o-circumflex "O D4h D6h O-diaeresis "o F4h F6h o-diaeresis ~O D5h D5h O-tilde ~o F5h F5h o-tilde 'U D8h DAh U-acute 'u F8h FAh u-acute `U D9h D9h U-grave `u F9h F9h u-grave ^U DAh D8h U-circumflex ^u FAh F8h u-circumflex "U DBh DCh U-diaeresis "u FBh FCh u-diaeresis "Y DDh n/a Y-diaeresis "y FDh FFh y-diaeresis 'Y n/a DDh Y-acute 'y n/a FDh y-acute UPDATE: WIDE SCREENS AND HORIZONTAL SCROLLING As explained in "Using MS-DOS Kermit", Kermit changes between 80 and 132 column mode upon host request (CSI ? 3 h / l) or when you give an explicit SET TERMINAL WIDTH { 80, 132 } command. Until now, 132-column screens were possible only on PCs with video adapters that provide a 132-column text mode. As of version 3.13, MS-DOS Kermit also includes support for DEC VT 132-column mode and Data General compressed text on EGA and VGA video adapters, which do not provide 132 columns in text mode, by entering graphics mode and writing the characters dot-by-dot. 128 columns are displayed rather than 132 due to the PC's screen geometry but you can use MS-DOS Kermit 3.13's new horizontal scrolling feature to see the rightmost 4 columns (see below). Normally, Kermit only keeps 80 columns in its screen-rollback memory. If you want to be able to roll back screens of 132 (or, for DG terminal emulation, up to 207) columns, you must set the KERMIT environment variable WIDTH to 132 (or the desired number) in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, for example: SET KERMIT=WIDTH 132 The KERMIT environment variable must contain a WIDTH definition before you start MS-DOS Kermit in order for it to take effect. NOTE: The KERMIT=WIDTH value and SET TERMINAL WIDTH value are two different things. The former controls memory allocation in the rollback buffer, the latter controls the actual display width (virtual or real) of your screen. You can specify whether Kermit should use text (fast) or graphics (slow) mode for compressed text with the new command: SET TERMINAL COMPRESSED-TEXT { GRAPHICS, TEXT } Text mode will not actually display compressed text unless your video adapter supports this function (see below), but Kermit's virtual screen is adjusted to the terminal-emulation width. For example, if your screen shows 80 characters per line, but your terminal width is 132, then wrapping occurs at column 132 (perhaps off the screen) rather than column 80, and Kermit reports its screen width as 132 (e.g. in response to a report-request escape sequence). If your logical screen width is greater than the physical screen width, MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 lets you scroll the screen horizontally by pushing keys. The new keyboard verbs are: \Klfpage Scroll left one "page" (= 20 columns) (screen moves right) \Klfone Scroll left one column \Krtpage Scroll right one page (screen moves left) \Krtone Scroll right one column These verbs are unassigned by default. Here are the commands you could add to your MSCUSTOM.INI file if you wanted to assign them to the gray (T-pad) arrow keys on the extended (101) PC keyboard: SET KEY \4427 \Krtpage ; Left arrow makes screen move left on page SET KEY \5491 \Krtone ; Ctrl-Left arrow moves screen one column to left SET KEY \4429 \Klfpage ; Right arrow makes screen move right one page SET KEY \5492 \Klfone ; Ctrl-Right arrow moves screen one column right When these keys are used in combination with the PageUp/Down keys, your screen becomes a "virtual window" on your session, which you can move around in arbitrary directions. By analogy with SET TERMINAL ROLLBACK { ON, OFF }, which tells Kermit whether to move a rolled-back screen automatically to the bottom when new characters arrive from the host, the new command: SET TERMINAL HORIZONTAL-SCROLL { AUTOMATIC, MANUAL } tells Kermit whether to scroll horizontally when a character arrives that would be displayed to the left or right of the visible screen. By default, horizontal scrolling is MANUAL during VT terminal emulation, and AUTOMATIC during DASHER emulation. MANUAL means you have to push keys to scroll the screen horizontally, AUTOMATIC means that Kermit moves the screen to "catch" incoming characters. Of course, for 132-column operation, it is always better if your video adapter supports 132 columns directly -- the video board does all the work, which is much faster than writing screen dots in software! This works if Kermit knows which kind of video adapter you have (Kermit determines this from a hopefully unique "signature" in the video BIOS) and it knows how to set the desired video modes. Here is a list of such boards: ATI EGA and VGA Wonder AST, Dell, and other boards based on Western Digital VGA boards AT&T / Olivetti Everex Viewpoint EV-659, FVGA-673, EV-678, Micro Enhancer Deluxe IBM SVGA (= Tseng ET4000, e.g. on PS/ValuePoint) IBM XGA Paradise AutoSwitch EGA Mono Paradise Professional Paradise VGA Plus 16 (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware) Paradise VGA Plus (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware) Paradise VGA Professional (ROM BIOS 003056-xxx firmware) Paradise VGA1024 STB VGA/EM (Tseng TVGA) STB VGA/EM Plus (Tseng 4000), VGA/EM-16, VGA/EM-16 Plus Tseng Labs EVA board with 132-column kit installed Tseng Labs UltraPAK mono/Hercules with 132 column modes Tseng Labs ET4000 SVGA VESA-compatible video BIOS Video 7 Vega Deluxe with 132X25.COM driver installed and Video 7 VGA If you have an adapter capable of 132-column operation, but Kermit does not know how to activate it, set up your COLS132.BAT and COLS80.BAT files to do the switching, as described in "Using MS-DOS Kermit". For Data General DASHER terminal emulation, screen widths up to 207 are supported for purposes of horizontal scrolling, but no more than 128 can be shown across the screen at a time. DG terminal emulation is in text mode by default. As soon as the host commands the terminal to display compressed text, Kermit switches the entire screen to 132-column text mode if your video adapter supports it, and otherwise switches to (slower) graphics mode. As in VT terminal emulation, this behavior is controlled by the SET TERMINAL COMPRESSED-TEXT command. Unlike VT terminals, DASHER terminals (and MS-DOS Kermit, when in graphics mode) can display compressed and regular text on the screen at the same time. UPDATE: EXPANDED MEMORY Graphics screens and terminal rollback screens can now be kept in expanded memory (EMS), and the size of the screen rollback buffer can selected and changed at runtime. When sufficient expanded memory is available, you can have up to 8000 rollback screens. SET ROLLBACK <number> Specifies the number of text screens to be kept in the rollback buffer. Each 24x80 screen occupies about 4K; bigger screens need more space. Don't confuse this command with SET TERMINAL ROLLBACK, which tells what to do when characters arrive for the screen while it is rolled back. SET TERMINAL EXPANDED-MEMORY { ON, OFF } Whether to use expanded memory for retention of graphics screens and for text terminal-emulation rollback screens. The default is OFF, to use conventional memory. ON leaves extra room in conventional memory for running other programs, does not rely on your video adapter's memory for storing graphics images, and allows more rollback screens, limited only by the size of your PC's available physical memory. ON requires that an expanded memory manager, such as EMM386 or QEMM, be correctly installed. Also see SET ROLLBACK, which tells how many screens are to be saved in the rollback buffer. See the Memory Management section of KERMIT.BWR (MSKERM.BWR) for further information. UPDATE: NEW SCRIPT PROGRAMMING COMMANDS AND FEATURES OUTPUT \L Sends a Long BREAK (1.5 sec). OUTPUT \B continues to send a regular BREAK (250 msec). IF [ NOT ] EXIST <filename> Succeeds if the given file exists, fails otherwise. IF [ NOT ] INPATH <filename> Succeeds if the given file can be found by normal DOS search rules, i.e. if it is in the current disk/directory, or in the DOS PATH. INCREMENT <variable> [ <value> ] Adds the <value>, which must be a positive number (or a variable that evaluates to a positive number), to the value of the given variable. If the <value> is not specified, then 1 is added. If the <variable> is not defined or has a non numeric value, the command fails and the value of the variable is not altered. DECREMENT <variablename> [ <value> ] Subtracts the <value>, which must be a positive number (or a variable that evaluates to a positive number), from the value of the given variable. If the <value> is not specified, then 1 is subtracted. If the <variable> is not defined or has a non numeric value, the command fails and the value of the variable is not altered. STOP [ <number> [ <text> ] ] Stops execution of the current macro or TAKE file and returns immediately to top command level. The <number> and <text> operands are new. <number> is a return code that can be tested by IF SUCCESS. It is also assigned to \v(status). Text is an optional message to be printed. END [ <number> [ <text> ] ] Stops execution of the current macro or TAKE file and returns immediately to the level which invoked it, i.e. the next higher level. <number> and <text> are used as in the STOP command. POP is a synonym for END. \L in an OUTPUT string sends a Long (1.5 second) BREAK. On a network connection, it sends the same thing that \B (regular BREAK) would send, such as a TELNET BREAK command. New variables: \v(dosversion) - MS-DOS version, e.g. 500 for DOS 5.00. \v(line) - Current SET PORT value: COM1, COM2, TCP/IP, etc. \v(ntime) - Numeric representation of current clock time: hhmmss \v(port) - Same as \v(line) \v(session) - Current TCP/IP session number \v(terminal) - Current terminal emulation type Note: \v(ndate) and \v(ntime) are suitable for construction of filenames. UPDATE: TCP/IP NETWORKING See the networks sections in MSKERM.HLP (KERMIT.HLP) and MSKERM.BWR (KERMIT.BWR) for additional information. New networking features since "Using MS-DOS Kermit", second edition, was published include: . Support for ODI, SLIP, and Novell SLIP_PPP drivers. . Up to six simultaneous TCP/IP sessions. See below. . TCP/IP network connections thru Beame & Whiteside TCP/IP, via SET PORT BWTCP <ip-address>. IP host names are not supported. . Ability to specify a particular packet-driver interrupt: SET TCP/IP PACKET-DRIVER-INTERRUPT { <number>, ODI } Normally Kermit searches from 0x60 to 0x7e for a packet driver. This command allows you to (a) specify a particular interrupt, in case you have more than one packet driver loaded, or (b) tell Kermit to skip the packet-driver interrupt search and use the ODI interface. Note: the ODI interface is used by default for TCP/IP connections if a packet driver cannot be found. . The ability to select a particular TCP port when making a connection: SET PORT TCP/IP <ip-name-or-address> [ <tcp-port-number> ] The default TCP port number is 23, which is the TELNET protocol socket. You can specify any other port number except 25. . New TCP/IP server mode accepts incoming TCP/IP connections: SET PORT TCP/IP * [ <tcp-port-number> ] If you specify asterisk (*) instead of an IP host name or address, MS-DOS Kermit waits for an incoming connection on the specified TCP port (23 by default). This connection is useful only when MS-DOS Kermit is in SERVER mode or, for chatting, CONNECT mode. It does not give clients a DOS command processor. . RFC 1395 BOOTP compliance allows MS-DOS Kermit to receive its fully qualified domain name from a BOOTP server. Also, MS-DOS Kermit's SHOW COMMUNICATIONS command now displays the IP address of the BOOTP server from which its TCP/IP parameters were received. . New commands to govern TELNET protocol: SET TCP/IP TELNET-TERM-TYPE <text> Normally, MS-DOS Kermit sends its actual terminal-emulation type when the remote TELNET server asks for a terminal type report. But the remote host computer might not support your current terminal type, or might know it by a different name. This command lets you specify a terminal-type name for Kermit to send instead of the default name. SET TCP/IP NEWLINE-MODE {OFF, ON} During terminal emulation on a TCP/IP connection, MS-DOS Kermit follows the TELNET specification and transmits carriage and line feed (CRLF) whenever you type carriage return (the Enter key). If the remote TELNET server is confused by this (i.e. it does not follow the TELNET specification), use SET TCP/IP NEWLINE-MODE OFF to make Kermit omit the line feed. SET TCP/IP DEBUG-OPTIONS { ON, OFF } Whether to display TELNET options negotiation on the screen. Default is OFF, don't display them. When ON, you can view the negotiations on the screen, and you can capture them in screen dump or session log files, or print them, just like any other CONNECT-mode screen text. DEBUG-OPTIONS is useful for debugging misbehaving TELNET sessions. Refer to the TELNET RFCs, or a TCP/IP book, for an explanation of what they mean. . MS-DOS Kermit now replies to traceroute requests, handles ICMP redirects. . TELNET window (i.e. screen) size (NAWS) negotiation. UPDATE: MULTIPLE TCP/IP SESSIONS -- KERMIT'S TCP/IP SESSION MANAGER MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 supports up to six simultaneous TCP/IP sessions. Each session is identified by a digit, 1 to 6. The new commands (or new features of old commands) are: SET PORT TCP <ip-hostname-or-address> [ <tcp-port-number> ] Starts a new session and assigns it a session number, 1 to 6. \v(session) This new variable contains the current TCP/IP session number, 1 to 6. \KnextSession New keyboard verb to toggle instantaneously among active TCP/IP sessions, round-robin style. Alt-n This is the default key assignment for the \KnextSession verb. SHOW SESSIONS Displays current sessions. SET PORT TCP <digit> Switches to a specific session, 1 to 6. DEFINE SESSION1 <text> Defines a macro to be executed when switching to session 1. DEFINE SESSION2 <text> Defines a macro to be executed when switching to session 2. And so on, through SESSION6. The terminal-emulation mode line shows current session number and name. Most communication- and terminal-related settings are preserved for each session, including the last terminal screen, the key map, the terminal type, echoing, etc. Use the SESSIONn macros to take care of any items that are not preserved. The screen rollback buffer is common to all sessions. Suppose you normally access two TCP/IP hosts, a DEC VAX and a Data General AOS/VS system, and you would like to keep sessions to both alive at once. Alt-n switches between them instantaneously, and you can also define convenient macros for use at the command prompt or in script programs, such as the following, which make the initial connection to each host, and then redefine themselves to continue the same session thereafter: define vax - telnet vax 23 vt320,- if success assign vax telnet \v(session) define dg - telnet dg 23 d463,- if success assign dg telnet \v(session) Note: TELNET is a macro defined in the MS-DOS Kermit 3.13 MSCUSTOM.INI file. See MSKERM.HLP (KERMIT.HLP) for more information. Also note that when a connection is closed, the port number is lost. So if you had a TCP/IP session to a non-TELNET port (i.e. not 23), and you continue the session, it will connect to port 23 rather than to the session's previous port. ( End of MSKERM.UPD / KERMIT.UPD )