Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/atarist/astkerdoc.txt

Text File | 2020-01-01 | 8KB | 189 lines

1. GEM ATARI/ST Kermit

Author:           Bernhard Nebel, Technische Universitaet Berlin
Contributions by: Bill Catchings, Bob Cattani, Chris Maio (Columbia Univ.),
                  who wrote the 'minimal' C-Kermit and
                  Glean Seaton, Robert A. Larson,
                  who modified from UNIX Kermit to OS9 Kermit
Language:         DRI C
Documentation:    Bernhard Nebel
Version:          1.02
Date:             June 1986

GEM Kermit capabilities at a glance:

  Local operation:                 Yes
  Remote operation:                No
  Transfer text files:             Yes
  Transfer binary files:           Yes
  Wildcard send:                   Yes
  ^X/^Y interruption:              Only simple abort
  Filename collision avoidance:    Yes
  Can time out:                    Yes
  8th-bit prefixing:               Yes
  Repeat count prefixing:          No
  Alternate block checks:          No
  Terminal emulation:              Provided by accessory
  Communication settings:          Yes (RS232 par. by accessory)
  Transmit BREAK:                  If accessory can
  Handshaking (for IBM):           Yes
  Transaction logging:             Yes
  Session logging:                 Yes
  Raw transmit:                    Yes
  Act as server:                   No
  Talk to server:                  Yes
  Advanced server functions:       No
  Advanced commands for server:    No
  Local file management:           Yes
  Handle attribute packets:        No
  Command/init files:              Yes (only for non-RS232 par.)
  Command macros:                  No

GEM Kermit is a program that implements the KERMIT file transfer protocol
for ATARI/ST micros running GEM. It is written in DRI C. The implementation
is based on OS9 Kermit, Version 1.5, a modified 'minimal' implementation
of Kermit in C. The main advantage of GEM Kermit compared with DRI's
Kermit is that it is able to talk with IBMs and that it uses the GEM user
interface.


2. Program operation

GEM Kermit can be evoked as any other GEM application just by clicking
on the icon twice. A resource file 'KERMIT.RSC' has to be present in the
same directory as Kermit resides for proper opertation. Otherwise the
program will abort with an error message. If a file 'KERMIT.INI' exists
it is used to setup the communication parameters (except for RS232
parameters).

After the program is started the familiar desktop and a menu bar should
appear on the screen. Now you can start to transfer everything
back and forth between your ATARI/ST and other machines. If it does
not work, you probably forgot to connect both with the appropriate
wires (use the RS232/modem plug!), or some communication parameters are
wrong, or you are really stupid (or there is a bug in the program).
In any case it might be helpful to study the next few chapters.

3. Commands

Kermit commands are evoked by selecting a drop down menu item. These
items will be discussed briefly in the following.

3.1 DESK menu

That is the familiar DESK menu. The first item (KERMIT-Info) tells you
something about the program itself and how I can be reached by e-mail.
The other items should give you the capabilty to configure the RS232
interface and to open a virtual terminal connection to the other
computer. You need both of these accessories because GEM-Kermit cannot
set the RS232 parameters by its own and it does not supply a virtual
terminal!

By the way, for users of IBMs I included an IBM terminal accessory
which works in line mode. The messages of this program are still in German,
therefore you either have to change and recompile it, or you have to learn
German.

3.2 FILE menu

This menu gives you the ability to DELETE, RENAME and TYPE files.
Files are selected by the standard file selection dialog box.
Be aware that wilcards in a delete command do not have the expected
effect, but they will select the first file matching the specification.
Additionally, you can get information about free space on a disk.
And of course, the QUIT command is also present in this menu.

3.3 TRANSFER menu

All transfer commands (SEND, RECEIVE, GET, PUT, LOGOUT server, QUIT server)
can be found in this menu. Files and directories for these commands are
again selected by the standard file selection dialog box. SEND and PUT
handle wildcards in the right way. RECEIVE and GET will use a file
specification as a name for the first file to receive, all other files
will be stored under names sent by the remote host. If you do not
input a file name also the first file transferred will be stored under
the name provided by the remote host. In any case the files are stored
in the selected directory.

3.4 OPTION menu

In this menu commands for changing switches (e.g. BINARY TRANSFER, IBM
MODE), starting and stopping logs (DEBUG and SESSION LOG), saving and
restoring parameters (SAVE and RESTORE STATE) as well as for evoking a
parameter changing dialog are found. The details of these commands are not
provided here, the interested user will find information about these
in other Kermit publications or will learn how to use them by trial and
error, hopefully. The only thing I will mention is that the RS232
communication parameters (e.g. baud rate, byte format) are not included.
They must be changed using the appropriate accessory.

4. How to install GEM Kermit

If you got the program and the resource file (for German or English)
as a binary excutable file, perhaps as a uudecoded file, everything
should work out fine. Otherwise all the files with the AST prefix
have to be compiled and linked (using ASTKER.INP). The resource
file must be renamed to KERMIT.RSC and you are ready.
Currently, the following files are necessary:

 ASTKER.C      main program
 ASTFIO.C      file I/O on the ATARI
 ASTGEM.C      GEM interface
 ASTGMO.C      GEM interface for changing options
 ASTGMT.C      GEM interface for transfer
 ASTGCM.C      QUIT/LOGOUT server
 ASTGET.C      GET from server
 ASTSEN.C      SEND protocol
 ASTREC.C      RECEIVE protocol
 ASTUTL.C      utility functions for Kermit protocol
 ASTINC.H      common include file for all Kermit modules
 ASTOBJ.H      object definitions for GEM Kermit
 ASTKER.INP    input file for link batch file
 ASTKER.BAT    link batch file
 ASTODE.UUE    (uuencoded) for RCS (if you want to change the resource)
               results in ASTOBJ.DEF
 ASTOBJ.UUE    (uuencoded) the German resource file or
               results in ASTOBJ.RSC
 ASTOBE.UUE    (uuencoded) the English resource file
               results in ASTOBE.RSC
               one of them must be renamed to KERMIT.RSC
 ASTKER.UUE    (uuencoded) binary executable
               results in KERMIT.PRG

The following files of the DRI C kit have to be modified:
 GEMSTART.S    enlarge stack to 2k bytes and assemble
 DEFINE.H      introduce the definition of NULL as 0L and change NIL to 0L

The above mentioned IBM terminal accessory consists of the following files:
 ASTTTY.C      source file
 ASTTTY.UUE    (uuencoded) binary
               results in IBMTTY.ACC

5. Problems

- When communicating with the TU Berlin IBM you better select 8-bit mode,
  because otherwise the '{' will be eaten. This is not an bug in Kermit
  or GEMDOS but the IBM sends '{' without setting the sign bit.

- If you move the mouse during a transfer, it can happen that key
  clicks appear. I don't know why.

6. Wish list

I spent a lot of time to adopt OS9 Kermit to GEM. As a matter of fact,
I wrote more code than I used from the original program. Finally, I
discovered that it would have been worth the effort to use the more
recent C-Kermit. However, it's done now. If there is anybody out there,
s/he is invited to adopt C-Kermit to GEM using my first hack.
Besides that, there are a lot of other wishful improvements I probably
will not work on:

- GEM Kermit seems to be rather slow on fast connections, i.e. 100-150
  bytes/secs on a 9600 baud connection.

- It would be nice to get the logs on a scroll window.

- The RS232 parameters should also be saved and restored by the STATE SAVE
  and RESTORE commands. However, I was  not able to figure out how this
  could be done.