Date: Wed, 1990 May 16 15:49 EDT From: "John F. Chandler" Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe Kermit-370 Version 4.2.0 Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit Xref: IBM Mainframe, Also see IBM 370 This is to announce Kermit-370 Release 4.2. The sources have not been completely rewritten, nor have they been resequenced, but numerous fixes, extensions, and improvements have been inserted. The changes applied include all updates formerly available in the various system- specific update files plus many new ones. All the variants of Kermit-370 are being re-released simultaneously; see the accompanying system-specific announcements for further details: IKCKER.ANN (CMS), IKMKER.ANN (MUSIC), and IKTKER.ANN (TSO). Anyone interested in helping to port Kermit-370 to still other operating systems should contact John Chandler or . Below is a list of the generic changes in Version 4.2 of Kermit-370, including those appearing in intermediate releases: 1) New syntax for sending partial files by line numbers. 2) Implementation of the new level-1 international transfer syntax being developed at Columbia. See file ISOK5.TXT in the Kermit distribution for a somewhat outdated description of the syntax. Kermit-370 includes support for files stored using numerous IBM Country Extended Code Pages and transfers using character sets ASCII, GREEK, HEBREW, KATAKANA, and LATIN1. The facility currently supports text files in the following languages: Bulgarian, Byelorussian, Danish, Dutch, English, Faeroese, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese (Katakana), Latin, Macedonian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Welsh, and Yiddish. In extending support to other languages, the limiting factor has been the shortage of information about character set arrangements for file storage on 370-compatibles. Anyone with such information is urged to forward it to the Center for Computing Activities at Columbia University. 3) New syntax for specifying the response to filename collision, largely as specified in Kermit Digest V. 11 #1. SET WARNING and SET APPEND are still available but are not documented. 4) Kermit-370, when receiving a file, now attempts to honor the attributes specified by the sending Kermit, not including the Date attribute. 5) New option to ignore any attribute, both for sending and receiving. 6) Support for the MAIL, PRINT, and SUBMIT Disposition attributes via system-specific command invocations. Implementations are intended to be site-specific as well, but a few samples are available. 7) New provision for an accounting exit routine to be called after completion of each session of SEND or RECEIVE. 8) Freedom to redefine anything in the ATOE/ETOA tables, even CR or LF, as long as the TATOE/TETOA tables are either correct or irrelevant. 9) New, separate error message for receiving a "packet" containing no start-of-packet character. 10) Compatibility with the (aging) F-level assembler. 11) Assembly-time consistency check on the source components. 12) Edit number announced at start-up, in addition to release and date. 13) "In-core" files sent as TEXT, regardless of the current file TYPE. 14) Recover if an I-packet is denounced as an error or if the S-packet of a long reply is lost. 15) New SET SERVER-TIMEOUT subcommand. 16) SET BAUD changed to SET SPEED. Incidentally, the generic update program GUPI has been updated, but the old version will still work. You need not recreate it, but if you do, be sure to use all-new sources, or it will not assemble properly. Many thanks to the beta testers who have helped work out the bugs in the new release. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Monday, 1991 August 19 14:08 EDT From: "John F. Chandler" Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe Kermit-370 Version 4.2.2 Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit Xref: IBM Mainframe, Also see IBM 370 Kermit-370 version 4.2.2 is now available for CMS, TSO, and CICS. The changes are primarily generic, but there are also some system-specific updates in each variant. See the accompanying system-specific announcements for the details: IKCKER.ANN (CMS), IKXKER.ANN (CICS), and IKTKER.ANN (TSO). The most important of the generic updates are: 1) New "CC" option along with the line range for sending files. This option specifies that the file has carriage control in column 1 and that it should be converted to ASCII control characters. 2) More careful avoidance of built-in packet-size limits. 3) V-binary (or D-binary) file transfers work all the way up to records of 64K-1 bytes. 4) Leaving server mode if packet I/O errors recur. 5) More liberal recognition of STOP commands in protocol mode. 6) Extra explanatory error message, if available, now displayed upon completing a subcommand, along with basic status. Also, any reason for cancellation is included in the E-packet text and noted in the transaction log. 7) Time tags in transaction and packet logs. 8) New TRANSPARENT transfer character set, which applies a null translation to all incoming and outgoing files. 9) New SET TTABLE KP option which enables a full 8-bit translation table based on Hollerith codes. 10) Proper control-quoting on 8-bit analogs of ordinary control characters. 11) Suppression of echoing on LU1 3770-type front ends. 12) New VERSION subcommand, which displays the version number and date. 13) New "End-of-attributes" attribute. 14) 8th-bit quoting for the XECHO subcommand. The new release is in the form of updates to be applied to the 4.2 source. The updates are cumulative, so they include those that were already released to make version 4.2.1. In addition, the generic 370 part of the User's Guide has been updated to reflect version 4.2.1. Many thanks to the beta testers who have helped work out the bugs. --------------------------------- Date: Tuesday, 1991 August 20 19:40 EDT From: "John F. Chandler" Subject: List of supported front ends for Kermit-370 Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit Xref: IBM Mainframe, Also see IBM 370 There is a new version of IK0AAA.HLP to go with release 4.2.2 of several variants of Kermit-370, and this seems like a good time to summarize the changes in the list of supported "front ends". Here is the list of new entries added since the version of April 1990, complete with references to footnotes in the new list. The types shown are the abbreviation of the relevant controller types in Kermit-370. Those marked (3) are still questionable, i.e., the reports were not conclusive. Of the additions, only one (the IBM 3174 AEA) represents an enhancement of Kermit itself; the others are simply new reports or changes in the status of the "front end" software. In this time span, there have not been any new reports of UNsupported front ends, just a reconfirmation of the limitation of the IBM 3708 to linemode Kermit transfers. Name, model Type Manufacturer Notes -------------- ---- ------------------------- ----- Amdahl 4705 T Amdahl (2) Datalynx 3174 G Andrew Data Systems (3) Datalynx 3274 G " (3) IBM 3174 AEA A IBM (6) IBM 3745 T " (2) Jupiter 1000 T Intel (14) K200 T Fibronics (14) K310 T " (14) K2000 T " (14) Renex PCM G Renex Corp (8) Renex RPAD G " (8) SIM3278 TCP/IP S Simware (1,4) SIM3278/VM S Simware (1,4) STNxx T STRTC (13) tn3270 S Greg Minshall (1,2,11) For the complete list of supported configurations, and for the footnotes, see IK0AAA.HLP in the Kermit distribution. ---------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1992 May 13 11:14 EDT From: "John F. Chandler" Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe Kermit-370 Version 4.2.3 Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit Xref: IBM Mainframe, Also see IBM 370 Kermit-370 version 4.2.3 has now finished the testing stage and is available in the usual places (KERMSRV, watsun, LISTSERV@HEARN, etc.). The new release appears in the form of expanded update files for all the variants of Kermit-370 (CICS, CMS, MUSIC, TSO, and even ROSCOE) and, in addition, a new source component. Because of the latter (and only because of the latter), all the installation guides have been updated, but the new source component is, in fact, optional (see below). Numerous fixes, extensions, and improvements have been included in the new release, mostly generic, but some system-specific as well. See the accompanying system-specific announcements for further details: IKCKER.ANN (CMS), IKMKER.ANN (MUSIC), IKTKER.ANN (TSO), and IKXKER.ANN (CICS). Anyone interested in helping to port Kermit-370 to still other operating systems should contact John Chandler or . Many thanks to the beta testers who have helped work out the bugs in the new release; also to Joe Doupnik and Frank da Cruz, who have created the corresponding facilities in MS-Kermit and C-kermit; finally, to Hirofumi Fujii, who supplied most of the information for translation of Kanji characters. Below is a list of the generic changes in version 4.2.3. Kermit-370 ... - Has a new FULLSCREEN controller type. The new mode allows Kermit file transfers in a generic way on nearly all protocol converters, but it carries some special limitations -- packets cannot be longer than 77 bytes, and the other end must be MS-Kermit 3.12 or higher or C-Kermit 5A(179) or higher. Part of the implementation is a special checksum type called BLANK-FREE-2 intended to avoid the possibility of repeated blanks in Kermit packets. - Supports the new locking shift protocol (helps to compress certain files with many 8-bit bytes). This protocol is used only in talking to another Kermit that supports it, e.g., MS-Kermit 3.12 or C-Kermit 5A(179). - Now supports file transfers using Japanese Kanji with translation between IBM, Hitachi, or Fujitsu codes and the newly added transfer character set JAPAN-EUC. This support requires the new source component ik0kan.asm, which contains the necessary translation tables. Translation works automatically when Kermit-370 is talking to another Kermit that requests or supports the JAPAN-EUC character set. - Now recognizes CP1047 as a synonym for EBCDIC. (1047 is IBM's new code page that follows the de facto standard.) - Has a new-and-improved means of detecting the termanal controller type with less need for the old optional update SC89058 (now replaced by the more flexible SC9131X). - Now suggests parameter changes only upon the new HINTS subcommand, not at startup time. More parameter settings are now scrutinized. - Now avoids looping when a solid terminal I/O error sets in or upon any error at the very end of a transfer (no reply expected). - Has changed the calling sequence of the KERMAIL, KERMPRT, and KERMSUB commands used in support of local mail, print, and job submission. Instead of passing no filespec at all on the first invocation, Kermit passes a dummy filespec consisting of a single period. Implementers of such commands, take note! For best results, the revised commands should be able to handle both the old and the new syntax. - No longer requires hitting ENTER an extra time to get out of server mode after typing STOP. - Now uses the built-in default A-to-E translation table for reading Kermit commands in server mode when the transfer character set is TRANSPARENT. - No longer halts a transfer upon seeing a data packet with no data. - No longer gives a spurious reason for a cancellation issued by user intervention on the micro or the STOP command. - Now avoids certain lock-ups on the Hydra II at the start of protocol mode and others on the the IBM 3174 AEA at the end of a download. - Now allows the STOP command on PCI and certain other protocol converters that did not previously support it. - Now tolerates (at the source code level) alternate EBCDIC versions which do not have all the Roman letters at the standard code points. Also, the use of one-letter abbreviations of SET options for program logic flow has been generalized. This simplifies the task of translating the user interface into languages other than English. - Now has a SIMULATE subcommand, which plays back a file giving one or both sides of a file transfer to supply the packets (instead of the communication line). This is mainly for debugging.