cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA (11/08/83)
From: Frank da Cruz <cc.fdc@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA> A few months ago, I announced the file transfer protocol KERMIT to the Info-CPM and Info-Micro lists. I never got very much feedback about it, though I have seen it mentioned now and then on both lists. For those of you who missed the announcement, the KERMIT distribution area is on host COLUMBIA-20, in the area KER:, accessible with anonymous FTP. It's a big area (but nothing to rival the size of the CPM archives, of course), so if you're interested, you should look first at the file KER:00README.TXT, which lists what versions are available and describes the naming conventions. KERMIT is available for a wide variety of micros and mainframes. KERMIT for CP/M provides terminal emulation and file transfer. Versions for about 15 different systems are built from a common source file, written in standard DR ASM for the 8080, using conditional compilation, either on the micro itself or on a DEC-10 or -20 using the cross assembler MAC80 (which is itself available in the KERMIT area). A few weeks ago, a new version of CP/M-80 KERMIT, v3.5, was announced to the Info-Kermit list, with a plea that users of the various systems supported by KERMIT-80 (as it's called) report back as to whether the new version worked on their systems. I had hoped to get the bugs ironed out before announcing it to the world at large. Unfortunately, I got very few reports. Since we lack examples of most of these systems at Columbia to try the new KERMIT-80 out on, I'm announcing it now anyway. If you have any of the systems listed below, please try to get KERMIT for your machine, try it out, and: (a) let me know if it works; (b) if it doesn't, describe the symptoms; (c) if you can provide a fix, please do so (you'll be given full credit). Here are the systems: System: Filename: Status: DEC VT-180 KER:CPMROBIN.HEX Tested, works up to 4800 baud DEC Rainbow-100 KER:CPMRAINBO.HEX Tested, works up to 1800 baud DEC DECmate II KER:CPMDMII.HEX Tested, works up to 9600 baud Heath/Zenith 89 KER:CPMHEATH.HEX Not tested Heath/Zenith 100 KER:CPMZ100.HEX Not tested Apple II* KER:CPMAPPLE.HEX Not tested TRS-80 II** KER:CPMTRS80.HEX Not tested Osborne 1*** KER:CPMOSBORN.HEX Tested, doesn't seem to work at all Intertec Superbrain KER:CPMBRAIN.HEX Not tested Kaypro II KER:CPMKAYPRO.HEX Tested, mostly works OK. Telcon Zorba KER:CPMTELCON.HEX Not tested Vector Graphics KER:CPMVECTOR.HEX Not tested Ohio Scientific KER:CPMOSI.HEX Not tested Generic CP/M 2.x KER:CPMGENERI.HEX Tested OK on Rainbow, DECmate, VT180 Generic CP/M 3.0 KER:CPMPLUS.HEX Not tested *With Z80 soft card, Hayes micromodem II **With CP/M 2.25 ***Can you fix it? You can download the .HEX file with MODEM, or your old version of KERMIT, or any other technique that works, and then load it using the CP/M LOAD command, to produce a runnable .COM file. The generic versions are supposed to run on any CP/M-80 system, since they don't use only CP/M calls for device manipulation. The 2.x generic version depends on the system having fully implemented the "option" IOBYTE business, and the user setting the values of the IOBYTE correctly and re-building. The 3.0 generic version should run as-is on any CP/M 3.0 system; it has been reported to work (in an earlier version of KERMIT-80) on the Osborne Executive and the Micro Mate. The source for all these versions is in KER:CPMBASE.M80. There's also a file KER:CPMKERMIT.DOC which explains the situation in greater detail. - Frank da Cruz, Columbia University -------