[comp.unix.microport] Silly kermit question -- HOW?

ballou@uselss.dec.com (Kenneth R. Ballou DTN 381-0243) (10/12/88)

(System: System  V/AT  2.2,  with  the  HoneyDanBer  UUCP from the Microport
bulletin board installed)

I have an RTFM-type question.  But I can't even FIND TFM!

I am  trying  to  figure  out how to use the kermit that was included in the
V/AT  2.2 distribution with cu. More specifically, I use cu to call a remote
system.  Then,  I  do  some  work  and decide I want to transfer a file with
kermit.  I  run  kermit on the remote node, and ask it to enter server mode.
Now,  I  would  like  to  escape  to my local system and use kermit to issue
commands to the remote kermit. QUESTION: What is the magic incantation to do
this?

Well, I  thought  maybe I should try a "~!" escape from cu to invoke kermit.
But that seems to have a problem in that the receiving process side of cu is
still  reading  the  communication  line.  I  RTFMed  to  see if there was a
different  escape  from  cu  (for some reason, "~&" comes to mind). No luck.
Anyway,  I  tried  throwing "set line /dev/tty0" at kermit, followed by "set
speed 2400". So far, so good. Then, just for yuks, I tried "connect," hoping
that  kermit  would  see  a  magic packet from the other side saying "I'm in
server mode."  Nope.  That didn't work.

Maybe trying to figure out kermit by using server mode on the remote machine
is  too  ambitious.  So,  I tried something simpler. I restart kermit on the
remote machine and ask it to send one short file.  Now, I try to escape from
cu (again with "~!") and try "kermit -l /dev/tty0 -s 2400 -r". Oops, now I'm
just  getting  dribbles  of  ASCII  characters,  with  lots  of '#' and '%'.
Meanwhile,  the  remote kermit decides nobody is home on the other end (he's
probably right!) and times out.

Now, I've  used  kermit PLENTY of times before under DOS, where of course it
is  sufficiently idiot-proof that I couldn't break it. However, this one has
me  stumped.  I'm sure I'm being an absolute dingbat; if anyone could please
be  so  kind  as to show me *how* I'm being a dingbat, please tell me. Email
would  probably  be best, if you can make sense of my .signature; if by some
small chance there is something of substance that might be useful to others,
I will post a follow-up.

Thanks in advance!

--
Kenneth Ballou		Digital Equipment Corp.
		(UUCP)	...!decwrl!pool.dec!ballou
		(ARPA)	ballou%pool.dec@decwrl.dec.com

hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) (10/12/88)

Kermit is designed for you to use it instead of cu, not under cu.  I
don't say that what you ask is impossible.  I'm sure some clever
person will come up with a way to do it.  But in my opinion you should
think of kermit as a replacement for cu.  I don't use the fancier
script and autodial facilities of kermit, so I can't be sure, but it
looks like kermit can do anything cu can.  So just make the connection
using kermit initially and then escape back to local kermit command
mode when you want to do a file transfer.

Your main problem seems to be that you're using the connect command
when you want to transfer files.  Connect says to make an interactive
connection, like cu.  To transfer a file, use "get" or "send"
(assuming you have already set up kermit on the remote host to be in
server mode).  When you're finished, use "fin".  That tells the other
end to exit from server mode.  You can now use "connect" to resume
your interactive session.