00READMEFIRST.TXT (4 February 1983) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY KERMIT DISTRIBUTION TAPE This tape includes all the versions of Kermit which were in our possession as of the time this distribution tape was made, plus some miscellanous files. All files have been named to be unique in the first 6 characters, and contain only letters and digits in their names, so they should mesh with most file systems. If you have received an IBM or TOPS-10 tape, some of the trailing characters of some of the filenames will have been truncated, but the filenames should still all be unique. Most filetypes (extensions) are all 3 characters or less, so no known operating system will truncate them. * Prefixed Files: The file names for files associated with each implementation of KERMIT are prefixed by a few characters denoting the implementation. The following are presently used: 20 DEC-20, running TOPS-20, written in Macro 10 DEC-10, TOPS-10, Macro CPM 8080 or Z80, CPM, Asm PC IBM PC, PC DOS, Assembler UNIX Berkeley Unix, C (Columbia Version) CORN Berkeley Unix, C (Cornell Version) CMS IBM 370 series, VM/CMS, Assembler RT PDP-11, RT-11, OMSI Pascal with Software Tools. In some cases, binaries (.REL, .EXE, .COM, .HEX, etc) are not supplied. For instance, no binaries come with the UNIX sources, since these can be compiled to run on many different machines, under different versions of UNIX. The Z80 version can be assembled for many different micros, so too much confusion would result from trying to maintain up-to-date hex files for each. Binaries are provided when it makes sense, however: DEC-10 and DEC-20 .EXE files are provided on DEC-10 and -20 distribution tapes, MODULE files on the IBM VM/CMS tape. All necessary files are included for building each version of Kermit from program source. When working with one of these implementations, you would normally copy them to a separate area and strip the prefix from the file names, and install the programs on the appropriate systems without the prefix. For instance, you would copy 20KERMIT.MAC to KERMIT.MAC, then assemble it, and store the result as KERMIT.EXE in SYS:. The Kermit Users Guide contains instructions for installing or bootstrapping the various versions of Kermit. * Manuals: There are two Kermit manuals: USER and PROTO, a user's guide and a protocol manual, respectively. Three versions of these files are provided: .MSS Scribe (UNILOGIC Ltd text formatter) source. .LPT Line Printer format (overstriking, underscore, etc). .DOC No special effects, suitable for reading on line. If you have Scribe and the appropriate Scribe device drivers, you can run the .MSS files through it to produce output suitable for printing on any device supported at your site, including the Xerox-9700 or other multifont laser printers or photocomposers. As of this writing, Scribe is not entirely bug-free; you will notice some problems with the footnotes in the .DOC and .LPT files. Note that some parts of the user manual rely on underlining to clarify examples; the underlines are missing from the .DOC files, but will be found in the .LPT files. The user's guide is intended for users of Kermit (including those who want to install it on a new system), the protocol manual is for those who would like to write a new implementation (i.e. a Kermit program for a new machine or operating system). ASCII.MSS is the ASCII/EBCDIC character table, which is included as an appendix in both manuals. MANUAL.HYP is a hyphenation dictionary for building the manual with Scribe. OLD*.MSS is the (obsolete) 2nd edition of the Kermit manual. * Other Files: 00READMEFIRST.TXT is this file, which should appear at the top of any directory listing. The files SYMBOL.* comprise a cross assembler for the 8080 written in SAIL for the DEC-20 (and possibly with minor modifications) on the DEC-10. TTLINK.* is a terminal linking program for the DEC-20, allowing you to log in to another system over a TTY line (e.g. over an autodialer). KERMIT-20 runs TTLINK to execute the CONNECT command. EZFIX.* is a utility for converting EasyWriter files sent to the DEC-20 from the IBM PC into ordinary text form. * Finally... If you make any modifications to Kermit, fix any bugs, or write any new implementations or documentation, please send them back to us on magnetic tape so we can distribute them to other Kermit users: KERMIT Distribution Columbia University Center for Computing Activities 612 West 115th Street 7th Floor New York NY 10025 We'll return your tape to you with the latest Kermit distribution.