From swalton@huey.csun.edu Thu Dec 10 13:55:49 1992 Received: from huey.csun.edu by toadflax.cs.ucdavis.edu (4.1/UCD.CS.2.0) id AA18001; Thu, 10 Dec 92 13:55:46 PST Message-Id: <9212102155.AA18001@toadflax.cs.ucdavis.edu> Received: by huey.csun.edu (16.8/16.2) id AA06923; Thu, 10 Dec 92 13:53:09 -0800 Date: Thu, 10 Dec 92 13:53:09 -0800 From: stephen walton To: announce@cs.ucdavis.edu Cc: swalton@huey.csun.edu Subject: C-Kermit 5A for the Amiga Status: RO TITLE C-Kermit for the Amiga VERSION 5A(188) COMPANY Freely distributable, copyright held by Columbia University. AUTHOR Frank da Cruz, Columbia University, fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu Original Amiga port by Jack Rouse, formerly of Software Distillery Current Amiga maintenance by Stephen Walton, swalton@huey.csun.edu DESCRIPTION C-Kermit is a very portable implementation of the Kermit file transfer protocol, written in C (obviously). The Kermit protocol is available on hundreds of different machines, including machines with non-ASCII character sets and ones with only 7-bit-wide connections. C-Kermit is a very sophisticated implementation of Kermit, including a full programmable script language. C-Kermit for the Amiga combines file transfers with simple ANSI terminal emulation through an Amiga RAW: console window on the Workbench screen. All features available on the Unix version of C-Kermit are also on the Amiga with the exception of the DIAL and SCRIPT commands (this last is a UUCP-style scripting facility, not to be confused with the programmable language mentioned above). NEW FEATURES C-Kermit 5A was 3-1/2 years in the development. The new features are too numerous to mention; here are the highlights: o Fully programmable script language o Full duplex file transfers using the "sliding windows" extension to the original Kermit protocol o Attribute packets, which allow the receiving system to preserve the creation date, record length, access codes, and other system-dependent information. o International character set support with translation. When transferring a file from a German to an American machine, for example, C-Kermit can automatically transliterate u-umlaut into ue. o On the Amiga, support for serial.device emulators which use other communication ports or network boards. HOST NAME All versions of Kermit are available for anonymous FTP from watsun.cc.columbia.edu (128.39.59.2). DIRECTORY All versions of Kermit are in the subdirectories of the directory /kermit on watsun. C-Kermit is in /kermit/b. Pre-compiled binaries for some systems, including the Amiga, are in /kermit/bin. FILE NAMES The minimum file you need to run Amiga C-Kermit is the executable, available from watsun as /kermit/bin/ckiker.exe, which should be transferred in FTP binary mode. All other files are ASCII text files in /kermit/b. The general C Kermit files have names beginning with cka, C-Kermit sources begin with ckc, Unix files with cku, and the Amiga files with cki (I for Intuition). I recommend getting the following files from /kermit/b: ckaaaa.hlp, ckiaaa.hlp, ckiker.doc, and ckuker.doc (ASCII docs) or ckuker.ps (PostScript docs), in addition to the executable. C Kermit is also available for the Mac (files beginning with ckm), OS/2 (files beginning with cko), and VMS (files beginning with ckv). PRICE All versions of Kermit are free. (In fact, I'm told Kermit is the Celtic word for "free".) DISTRIBUTABILITY Kermit is freely distributable, and is copyright by Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA. OTHER A few personal words here about the direction C Kermit will be taking. On other personal-computer class machines, C Kermit combines file transfer with sophisticated terminal emulation, often including VT100 and Tektronix graphics. Of course, the Amiga is blessed with multitasking, some wonderful terminal emulators, and the XPR External Protocol specification. Thus, the terminal emulation in Amiga C Kermit is unlikely to improve. Rather, I plan to implement version 5A as an Amiga external protocol, which will replace the current version of XPR Kermit. Don't look for this before summer 1993, though. In the meantime, use C Kermit if you have need for high efficiency Kermit file transfers, attribute packets, or the ability to do sophisticated, programmable, unattended uploads and downloads. At the moment, I have read-only access to the USENET, so while I will monitor comp.sys.amiga.datacomm for comments and feedback, I will only respond by electronic mail. Also, the electronic mail address you should use for me is now "swalton@huey.csun.edu" rather than the alias "srw@csun.edu" which some of you may have used in the past.