Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/newsgroups/misc.19941221-19950208/[e-mail]_Tue Feb 7 16:10:09 1995.msg

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From: [e-mail] (Leslie Mikesell)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.misc
Subject: Re: Kermit TSR for background xfers?
Date: 7 Feb 1995 10:10:09 -0600
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In article <[e-mail]>,
Joe Doupnik <[e-mail]> wrote:

>> I'm running a DOS program called ACCESS PLUS that is intended to be used
>> with the attmail service that uses a 60K TSR to provide scheduled calls
>> in the background.  It is running on many machines without causing too
>> much trouble from being a TSR, so it is at least possible.  It appears
>> to run an xmodem-like protocol modified so that the total packet size
>> is 256 bytes, and has a minimal scripting language for dialing and
>> login. However, there are things I don't like about the rest of
>> this package.  I'd like to replace it with something that does MIME
>> attachments without losing the ability to do the background communication.
>
>    Appears to be just one piece of a larger system, and a piece
>which does not attract much attention by itself.

Yes, but it is the piece that, at the moment, can't be replaced.  Worse,
it ties us to a peculiar piece of software at the unix host side since
we are running our own hub instead of using the attmail service.  This
in turn ties us to a particular version of unix.

>>>    There are systems with time sharing capabilities designed into them.
>>>The best known are OS/2 and Unix, with OS/2 providing DOS services in a
>>>familiar and managable form.
>>
>> All of which require at least a 386 and a bunch of memory.  A 60K TSR
>> can find a cheaper home.
>
>    So, that's the norm these days, what with Windows and such.

Yes, that's what people buy now, but they don't discard the older machines,
they just get passed down to someone else who still needs email access.

>> I don't have enough sites to justify this myself, but I think there is
>> a market for a generic solution to this problem, especially in the
>
>    I disagree here. The market is for the big scale product, not
>a tailor-made component. There is no interest at this end in becoming
>a parts supplier for free.

I don't mean to imply that you have any obligation to provide such
a thing for free, but I still think there is a need for it and it
fits into the kermit model of making everything talk to everything
else on the cheap.  The other components needed to put a workable
system together are available in various free or low-cost shareware
forms that could be glued together to build a custom system.  For
example you could use uqwk on a unix host and any of several qwk/soup
readers, or set up something similar as a custom gateway for Pegasus.
The critical points to making it usable are that the end points
appear as users on the host machine rather than remote machines,
and that the communications must take care of itself with scheduled
calls in the background as an option.

But maybe it's too late for simple serial communications.

Les Mikesell
  [e-mail]