cmg@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Christine M Gianone) (01/09/90)
Archive-name: kermit/msdos-3.0-beta
Original-posting-by: Christine M Gianone <cmg@watsun.cc.columbia.edu>
Archive-site: watsun.cc.columbia.edu [128.59.39.2]
Archive-directory: kermit/test
Archive-files: mst*
Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
Keywords: MS-DOS Kermit 3.0, International Character Sets, Sliding Windows
Keywords: Tektronix Emulation, VT320/340 Emulation, Local Area Networks
Keywords: WordPerfect
This is to announce a very short public beta testing period for MS-DOS
Kermit 3.0 for the IBM PC, PS/2, and compatibles. Releases of 3.0 for some
of the non-IBM-compatible MS-DOS computers are in preparation, but not ready
yet, others need volunteer help. Please get the test version as quickly as
possible and report problems directly to the author of the program, Joe R.
Doupnik, JRD@USU.BITNET, jrd@cc.usu.edu, or jrd@watsun.cc.columbia.edu.
The files for this new release are available via anonymous FTP from
watsun.cc.columbia.edu on the Internet, and from KERMSRV@CUVMA on
BITNET/EARN. On watsun, login with FTP as user anonymous (any password), cd
kermit/test, and multiple get (mget) the files. On BITNET, send a message
(interactive or mail) to KERMSRV@CUVMA and request the desired files. The
manual is in preparation and will be announced shortly.
The file MSTIBM.BOO is the runnable .EXE file encoded in printable format.
To convert the BOO-file back to .EXE, use any of the MSBPCT.* programs,
which can be found in the "A" area of Kermit distribution on watsun
(cd kermit/a), or in KERMSRV (just refer to them by name). On watsun only,
the executable program, MSTIBM.EXE, is available for FTP in binary mode
(note, on watsun, the filenames are lowercase). Here is a brief list of the
files that are available during this testing period (many of these names
will change in the real release):
Internet BITNET/EARN
WATSUN CUVMA
kermit/test T: Description
mstibm.exe (none) Executable program, about 131K (watsun only)
mstibm.boo T:MSTIBM.BOO BOO-encoded version of MSTIBM.EXE, about 156K
mstibm.hlp T:MSTIBM.HLP A short help file
mstibm.bwr T:MSTIBM.BWR "Beware" file, known limitations and bugs
mstibm.upd T:MSTIBM.UPD Summary of features new to version 3.0
mstibm.ed T:MSTIBM.ED Detailed edit history
mstibm.vt T:MSTIBM.VT Summary of functions of VT320 emulator
mstibm.ini T:MSTIBM.INI Sample init file for version 3.0 (MSKERMIT.INI)
mstibm.hay T:MSTIBM.HAY Hayes modem dialing script (HAYES.TAK)
mstibm.wp T:MSTIBM.WP WordPerfect init file for version 3.0 (WP30.INI)
mstlk2.asm T:MSTLK2.ASM LK250 keyboard driver source (from Terry Kennedy)
mstlk2.com (none) Binary executable LK250 keyboard driver
mstlk2.boo T:MSTLK2.BOO BOO-encoded version of MSTLK2.COM
mstlk2.hlp T:MSTLK2.HLP Help file for LK250 driver
ms*.asm,.h T:MS*.ASM,.H Source files
The public beta-testing period will last only about a week, so please test
the new features and send in reports and/or fixes as quickly as possible!
The formal release will come several weeks later. Your cooperation in rapid
testing and reporting of bugs is much appreciated, and the short notice is
regretted.
As bugs are reported and fixed, the files MSTIBM.EXE, .BOO, and .BWR will
probably change from day to day, so when reporting a problem, be sure to
include the full version heading (as reported by the VERSION command).
These changes will be logged at the end of the file MSTIBM.ED.
NEW FEATURES OF MS-DOS KERMIT 3.0
1. Emulation of most features of the DEC VT320 terminal, plus many features
of the VT340.
2. International character sets in terminal emulation and file transfer.
3. Sliding window packet protocol.
4. Expanded support for local area networks.
5. Enhanced graphics commands in the Tektronix emulator, suitable for use
with mainframe WordPerfect versions 5 and 4.2.
6. Many other improvements.
The rest of this message describes these new features. See MSTIBM.UPD and
MSTIBM.ED for details.
1. VT320/VT340 EMULATION
MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 emulates the DEC VT320 terminal, international model, with
many features of the more advanced VT340/330 text/graphics terminals thrown
in. VT320 is the default terminal type for MS-DOS Kermit 3.0. Kermit
continues to offer emulations for the DEC VT52, Heath/Zenith-19, and DEC
VT100/102 terminals, as well as of Tektronix graphics terminals. Kermit's
VT320/340 emulation offers many capabilities beyond the VT102, including:
. A selection of character sets, with the ability to switch among them.
. Translation of the above sets to/from any of the five IBM PC code pages.
. User-defined soft function keys, downloadable by the host.
. Tektronix 4010/4014 graphics with many extensions, including color,
"sixel" graphics, rectangle fill with various patterns, and more.
. Support of the DEC LK250 keyboard, a DEC LK201 keyboard for IBM-PCs
(via a special driver, MSTLK2.*).
. A new mechanism for switching between 80 and 132 columns when your
display adapter supports this.
. Graphics screens may now be saved to disk files in uncompressed
Aldus/Microsoft TIFF 5.0 format (approximately 110K per EGA screen)
for importation into other applications that support TIFF files.
2. INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER SET SUPPORT
MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 supports translation between the PC's local character set
(Code Page) and ISO Latin Alphabet 1 (ISO 8859-1) during file transfer.
The relevant new commands are:
SET TRANSFER CHARACTER-SET { TRANSPARENT, LATIN1 }
SET FILE CHARACTER-SET { CP437, CP850, CP860, CP863, CP865 }
The default transfer character set is TRANSPARENT (that is, no translation
is done) for compatibility with previous releases of MS-DOS Kermit. The
default file character set is your PC's current code page, such as CP437,
which is detected automatically.
These new commands allow you to transfer files containing accented and other
special characters with Kermit programs on computers that represent these
same characters using different codes, such as VAX/VMS, UNIX, Macintosh, IBM
mainframes, etc, when the Kermit programs on these computers also support
international text file transfer; new versions of C-Kermit for UNIX and
VAX/VMS, Macintosh Kermit, IBM mainframe Kermit, and others which support
this feature are in preparation (watch Info-Kermit for announcements).
International file transfer is also useful between two PCs that use
different code pages.
Various host-based international character sets are also supported during
VT320 terminal emulation, including 8-bit ISO Latin Alphabet 1, the DEC
8-bit Multinational Character Set, 12 different 7-bit National Replacement
Character (NRC) Sets, and several others. Kermit automatically translates
incoming characters from the current terminal character set (SET TERMINAL
CHARACTER-SET) to the current PC code page, and it automatically translates
keystrokes from the current code page to terminal character set. The
default terminal character set is LATIN1 (Latin Alphabet 1). SET KEY
assignments take precedence on a per-key basis.
3. SLIDING WINDOW PACKET PROTOCOL
For increased efficiency during file transfer across long-distance,
long-delay communication links such as public data networks, MS-DOS Kermit
3.0 includes sliding window packet protocol. This means that Kermit does
not have to wait for an acknowledgement for the current packet before
sending the next packet. The number of packets that may be sent before
acknowledgements arrive is called the "window size", and this may range from
1 to 31. A sufficiently large window size allows transmission of packets to
be continuous, and makes maximum effective use of the transmission channel.
The command to select the window size is:
SET WINDOW n
where n is a number from 1 to 31. The default window size is 1 for Kermit's
normal stop-and-wait operation. Window sizes greater than 1 can be used
only with other Kermit programs that support this option, including PRIME
Kermit, C-Kermit 5A or later (still in preparation), certain commercial
programs, or another copy of MS-DOS Kermit 3.0.
Sliding windows may be used in conjunction with long packets. The product
of the packet size and the window size may not exceed 2000.
4. LOCAL AREA NETWORK SUPPORT
MS-DOS Kermit 3.0 for the IBM PC, PS/2, and compatibles supports the
following local area networks and protocols:
. Netbios via SET PORT NETBIOS for PC-to-PC file transfers. Requires a
Netbios-based PC network (like IBM PC Network or IBM Token Ring) and
accompanying hardware and drivers.
. Netbios via SET PORT NETBIOS for PC to AT&T Unix systems over StarGroup
(formerly StarLAN) and for PC-to-host file transfer across any NetBios
compatible system. Requires a Netbios driver for your network interface.
. Novell Terminal Emulation Service (TES) via SET PORT BIOSx.
Requires Novell TES BIOS-Level COMx driver (e.g. COM1, COM2) that
intercepts BIOS interrupt 14H and controls the network interface, and
a host VAX running NetWare/VMS.
. Novell NASI/NACS V2 and compatible asynchronous communication servers,
via SET PORT NOVELL. Requires Novell or compatible network.
. DECnet-DOS, both LAT and CTERM interfaces, via SET PORT DECNET.
Requires installation of DECnet-DOS or DECnet PCSA.
. Ungermann-Bass Net/One Int 6BH via SET PORT UB-NET1.
Requires an Ethernet board with U-B Net/One drivers or compatibles.
. Intel OpenNET via SET PORT OPENNET, a NetBios implementation.
. IBM asynchronous communication servers accessed through IBM EBIOS,
via SET PORT BIOSx. Requires EBIOS Int 14H interceptor (needs testing).
. 3COM Bridge Application Program Interace (BAPI) to asynchronous
communication servers via SET PORT BIOSx. Requires 3COM Int 14H
interceptor.
. TCP/IP Telnet via SET PORT BIOSx. Requires vendor's Int 14H interceptor
to execute Telnet protocol, for example FTP Software's PC/TCP v2.04
(TNGLASS), or Interlan's TCP/IP Gateway for Novell Networks. Use TNGLASS
dated 6 Dec 1989 or later.
5. TEKTRONIX GRAPHICS
The name Tektronix may no longer be adequate to describe the new features
drawn from DEC VT340/330 and HDS 2000/3000 graphics terminals. Principle
additions are:
. Rectangle (border only) and pattern filled rectangle drawing commands.
. More preprogrammed line patterns, many rectangle fill patterns, both
include several host-definable patterns. Fill patterns are tiling kinds
synchronized to the screen boundaries, for smooth joinery and easy
pattern overlaying operations.
. Host control of destructive space and backspace.
. User control of opaque or transparent character writing.
. Control of pixel basic operations such as write absolute, OR, XOR with
existing colors, including DEC VT340 ORing of color palette numbers.
. DEC Sixel graphics commands.
. Screen dumping in TIFF v 5.0 formats (class B for B/W, class P palette
for EGA and VGA screens), uncompressed. One file for each screen
capture.
. Support of most common cursor steering and line/screen erasure escape
sequences of ANSI text terminals, scaled to the text terminal's screen
shape, so that text, Tektronix, and Sixel graphics can be mingled.
. Automatic switching from text terminal to graphics terminal upon receipt
of a Sixel Device Control String.
. Presence, use, and reporting of the 16 color and b/w palettes of the DEC
VT340/330 terminals. DEC characteristic of black always writes
absolutely.
. Coloring commands acceptable in ANSI ESC [ 3x; 4x m format and in Device
Control Strings for both RBG and HLS (hue, lightness, saturation) systems.
. Reporting of the graphics screen size and number of colors upon host
request, an MS-DOS Kermit escape sequence in DEC private format.
. Support for mainframe WordPerfect 5.0 and 4.2 to view and edit figures
(pictures) and pages in graphics mode while preparing documents in text
mode. TIFF files from MS-DOS Kermit screens are directly readable into
WordPerfect (and several other packages).
. Terminal identification response of VT300 with Sixel and other attributes.
. Recognition of 8-bit control sequences, but truncation of other 8-bit
characters to 7-bit form. For this, parity must be NONE and DISPLAY 8-bits.
. Recognition of the ESC [ ? 34 h and l TerminalS and TerminalR MS-DOS
Kermit macro invokation sequences from the host.
6. OTHER IMPROVEMENTS
* Communications
. Support for advanced features of the PS/2's National Semiconductor 16550A
UART (serial communications) chip for improved performance.
. New SET DUPLEX { HALF, FULL } command includes support for RTS/CTS
handshake for use with half duplex modems, radio transmitters, etc.
RTS/CTS is used if DUPLEX is set to HALF and the DSR signal is present.
* Terminal Emulation (in addition to VT320/340 and Tektronix features
listed above):
. Expanded storage for rollback screens. If memory is available, Kermit
will allocate room for about 10 screens. More is available via the new
DOS environment variable, KERMIT: SET KERMIT=ROLLBACK 120, memory
permitting.
. Screen rollback is now instantaneous.
. New REPLAY command to replay a Kermit session log through the terminal
emulators.
. Transparent print now works properly in the presence of parity.
. New SET TERMINAL KEYPAD { APPLICATION, NUMERIC } command gives users
explicit control over VT terminal keypad mode. Formerly the keypad mode
could be changed only by escape sequences sent from the host.
. Visual bell for deaf users (SET TERMINAL BELL VISUAL) during terminal
emulation.
. Support for additional monitors and display adapters:
- Wyse-700 (graphics in several high resolution dimensions)
- ATT EGA VDC600 (automatic recognition of 80/132 column mode)
- STB VGA/EM, VGA/EM-15 boards (automatic recognition of 80/132 column mode)
- Other boards to or from 80/132 columns via COLS80.BAT and COLS132.BAT.
* Kermit Protocol (in addition to international character sets and sliding
windows, described above):
. Maximum file transfer packet size increased from 1000 to 2000 bytes.
. New server security features, including login/password, available via
DISABLE, ENABLE, and SET SERVER commands.
. Redirection of output of REMOTE commands to file or printer via
DOS redirection symbol (>), e.g. REMOTE DIRECTORY > PRN.
. Non-control versions of single-character file transfer interrupt commands
(X,Z,E,C) are now available.
. Many new options for SET ATTRIBUTES command, to control attributes
individually, for example SET ATTRIBUTES DATE OFF. Attributes now include
date and time, file size, file type, and transfer character set.
. MS-DOS Kermit server now recognizes REMOTE KERMIT SET commands.
. New REMOTE SET command, used to change settings on remote Kermit server, as
described in Info-Kermit V11 #1. Also supported by MS-DOS Kermit server.
This is a new Kermit protocol feature, as yet unsupported by other Kermit
programs, but will be in future releases of C-Kermit, etc.
* Miscellaneous Features and Commands:
. Space for macro names expanded from 500 to 1000 bytes. Space for macro
definitions was formerly 3000. Now it's dynamically allocated and will
use as much memory as can be found.
. SHOW commands added for many types of things (file, protocol, terminal,
memory, modem, statistics, etc).
. Keyboard verbs (like \Kexit) can now be embedded within keyboard definition
text strings and mixed with other keyboard verbs.
. New WRITE <logfile> <object> command to annotate log files. <logfile> may
be SESSION, PACKET, TRANSACTION, or SCREEN. <object> may be TIME, DATE,
PATH, TEXT, etc.
. New IF statements for arithmetic comparison: IF <, IF >, IF =, for example:
IF < %\1 3 echo Argument is less than 3.
. New numeric variables, can be used with IF <, etc, and WRITE:
- ARGC Number of words in a macro invocation
- COUNT Loop counter (set via SET COUNT)
- ERRORLEVEL Error level (set via SET ERRORLEVEL)
- VERSION Program version (built in, 3.0 = 300)
Note: ARGC allows construction of macros that can test for the presence
of arguments and supply defaults, without being confused by leftover
parameters from previous macro invocations.
. ASK command now operational, and allows backslash codes in prompt.
ASK <variable> <prompt> prints prompt, stores what user types in variable.
. New ASKQ command, like ASK but does not echo what the user types, useful
for passwords.
. Allow ECHO string and ASK prompt string to contain backslash codes for the
PC's 8-bit characters, so that fancy effects and international characters
can be displayed.
. New controls and options for TRANSMIT command (SET TRANSMIT ?).
. New command SET FILE WARNING { ON, OFF, NO-SUPERSEDE }. ON and OFF are
like previous SET WARNING command. NO-SUPERSEDE option can be used for
continuing interrupted wildcard file reception, skipping over files that
already exist.
. A patch mechanism for applying corrections to the binary executable
program image.
Thanks to Professor Joe R. Doupnik of Utah State University for a year of hard
work on this release, and to the many testers during the development phase,
and to the contributors who helped with many aspects of the new version.