Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/hp3000/hp3000.ann

Text File | 2020-01-01 | 7KB | 209 lines

13 July 1994

FROM:  Tony Appelget
       12715 27 Place
       Plymouth  MN  55441-2727

TO:    Kermit Development & Distribution
       Columbia University Academic Information Systems
       612 West 115 Street
       New York  NY  10025

Christine Gianone, Frank da Cruz, et al

Enclosed are copies of SPL and C HP3000 Kermit.  Not much has
changed    in them except for the change in default start-of-packet
character.  Our in-house standard has been 02 to accomodate some
IBM box that could not handle 01.  Regretably, I left the 02 in
the versions that got distributed and it has caused grief to new
users from border to border and beyond.

With these fresh copies, I will undoubtedly be ending my support
of HP3000 Kermit.  After 26 years, I will be leaving General Mills
in a month.  I may even retire!  I wish I had the opportunity to
get PC version 3.13 up and also to get HP3000 Kermit up to attri-
butes, 9k packets, lurching windows, and all the other new goodies.

It has been fun working on Kermit for the last 9 years and watching
it grow from a pokey academic product into a mature, speedy,
industrial product.  I'm going to miss my frog.

Yours truly


Tony Appelget
Sr Technical Specialist

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16 Oct 1991

FROM: Tony Appelget
      General Mills, Inc
      PO Box 1113
      Minneapolis, MN 55440-1113
      612-540-7703

TO:   Kermit Distribution
      Columbia Center for Computing Studies
      612 West 115 Street
      New York, NY 10025

SUBJ: HP3000 Kermit

Apparently my contribution of HP3000 Kermit has hit the
streets.  I am getting phone calls, mostly because sites
do not have current SPL compilers.

Since I first sent you my updated version of HP3000 Kermit,
we have obtained HP Spectrum machines.  Although Kermit
did not fall flat on its face, problems arose and I fixed
them.  It is time for me to send you an update.

Enclosed on this disk are the following:

    This letter.
    My HP3000 Kermit source.
    My HP3000 Kermit object.

The object file is straight classic HP3000 code, ready to
run.  It has not been BOOed or otherwise been made eye-
readable.  I assume that you have the facilities to readily
do that conversion if you choose.  I have run the classic
HP3000 code through HP's OCTCOMP processor and the resulting
code file seems to be well-behaved on a Spectrum machine.

(Signed)
Tony Appelget

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15 June 1990

Tony Appelget
General Mills, Inc
P.O. Box 1113
Minneapolis, MN 55441-1113

Christine M. Gianone, Manager
Kermit Development and Distribution
Columbia University Center for Computing Activities
612 West 115 Street
New York, NY  10025

The HP3000 SPL Kermit seems to be badly neglected.  The listing    in "Kermit
News number 4" shows your most recent version to be v1.1 dated 85/06/24.  I am
enclosing what I am assuming to be a much more modern version.  It is the
product of a lot of hours put into the v1.0 version over the past five or six
years and works very well here.

All my changes    are listed in comments at the beginning of the program.  A few
of the big changes are:

    Added a HELP function

    Implementated a very versatile command name abbreviation scheme

    Implemented 3-byte checksums in addition to the old standard one-byte
    checksums

    Implemented long packets with a maximum of 2000 bytes.  Decreasing packet
    size in response to packet errors is not implemented

    This Kermit sets a JCW, KRMJCWnn, where nn is the comm ldev, to indicate
    what he is doing or how an xfer was completed.  Usefull in a batch or IPC
    environment

    Cleaned up a plethora of small bugs

    At the insistance of our security types, a file validation scheme was
    built into the program.  No one uses it.  Leaving it in place will cause
    no harm.  It should be removable without too much trouble

The version number, 2.7, that I have stuck on the program is totally arbitrary
as far as I am concerned.  If my enclosed Kermit meets your standards for
distibution, it would be a feather in my cap for you to do so.

(signed)
Tony Appelget
K0DCF/AFA3AO/AFF3MN

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Date: Tue, 4 Jun 85 08:29:49 edt
From: Steve Archer  <[e-mail]>
To: sy.fdc@cu20b
Subject: New HP-3000 SPL Kermit

Here is a new version of HP-3000 Kermit in SPL, version 1.1, to replace version
1.0 originally from Ed Eldridge, Polaris Inc. (POLARIS@USC-ISI).  It adds the
capability to show parameters, changes the "serve" command to "server".  Help
messages have been added, and some short-form commands (for example "C" for
"CONNECT").  Also added parity, a FINISH command, and a very primitive connect
mode.

steve archer [phone]

Date: 16 Oct 1984 12:24-EDT
Subject: KERMIT for HP 3000
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]

This is to announce a new KERMIT version for the HP 3000.  It is written
in SPL specifically for an HP 3000 running MPE.  Features include:

     o Binary and text transmission/reception
     o Server mode
     o 8th-bit prefixing
     o Repeat count prefixing
     o Numerous commands for control of MPE file system parameters

Some Questions and answers:

  What is SPL ?

SPL stands for Systems Programming Language.  It's the moral equivalent
of assembly language on the HP 3000 (there is no assembler).  Since SPL
is not included when you purchase a 3000, ALL sites don't have it (extra
cost option from HP).  On the other hand, SPL is practically a requirement
for serious development on the 3000.  It may be the most commonly available
language (other than COBOL) in the HP 3000 community.

  Why not modify the Software Toolworks version ?

When I started work on this version (6 - 8 months ago), the Software
Toolworks version was not available.  You may recall some conversations
with Mike Seyfrit about it (I don't know who Mike talked to or what
was said and he's no longer with the company).  When we got a copy of
the ST version, I stopped work on this one.  Why re-invent the wheel?  I
didn't have a PC to test it with anyway.  The ST version is a fine product
and the only real limitation was the inability to handle binary files.
This was due to the bizarre way that MPE (the HP 3000 operating system)
stores files, its (MPE) inability to transfer 8 bit characters, and the
fact that MS DOS KERMIT did not support 8 bit quoting.  Since then, things
have changed: MS DOS KERMIT does 8 bit quoting, I have a PC to test with
and we still need binary file transfer.  I found myself with a RATFOR
KERMIT that worked and an SPL KERMIT that almost worked.  I am not too
familiar with RATFOR but I am very familiar with SPL.  RATFOR (Software
Toolworks flavor) is somewhat rare on the 3000.  SPL is quite common.
The choice was obvious.

 Other considerations:

Another distribution option is the INTEREX (HP international users
group) Contributed Software Library.  I would like to make KERMIT and
the associated manuals/documentation available to them.  Please let me
know if this is OK with you.

Finally, thanks to Columbia University for providing KERMIT to us in the
first place.  It's a useful tool and I've had a lot of fun working with
it.

       - Ed Eldridge
         Polaris, Inc.
         1400 Wilson Blvd.  suite 1100
         Arlington, Virginia  22209
         [phone]

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