From: swalton@huey.csun.edu (stephen walton)
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Subject: [comp.sys.amiga.announce] C-Kermit 5A for the Amiga
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Date: 16 Dec 1992 09:28:12 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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Reply-To: swalton@huey.csun.edu (stephen walton)
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Archive-name: auto/comp.sys.amiga.announce/C-Kermit-5A-for-the-Amiga

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.

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