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- From: "John F. Chandler" <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
- Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe VM/CMS Kermit-370 Version 4.2
- Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit, VM/CMS Kermit, CMS Kermit
- Xref: IBM Mainframe, Also see IBM 370
- Xref: VM/CMS Kermit, Also see VM/CMS Kermit, IBM 370
-
- This is to announce CMS Kermit 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 IKCKER.UPD plus a
- number of new ones. As with Release 4.1, all CMS-specific files begin
- with IKC, and generic Kermit-370 files begin with IK0 (I K Zero). The
- separate pieces are to be recombined into a single composite source (or
- made into a macro library) for installation. See the file IKCKER.INS
- for instructions. Release 4.2 is also being issued in the companion TSO
- and MUSIC variants (see the separate announcements for details). Anyone
- interested in helping to port Kermit-370 to still other operating
- systems should contact John Chandler <JCHBN@CUVMB.BITNET> or
- <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>.
-
- For a list of generic additions, see the generic Kermit-370 announcement
- IK0KER.ANN. The following is a list of CMS-specific updates added since
- Release 4.1.
-
- 1) New bimodal version for VM/XA in addition to the version for VM/SP.
-
- 2) Certain CP SET options which are not supported by VM/XA are now
- avoided by both CMS variants of Kermit when running under VM/XA.
-
- 3) GRAPHICS controllers are supported.
-
- 4) Extended PLIST for system commands, not just a tokenized PLIST.
-
- 5) Current HANDSHAKE character, if any, automatically appended to the
- string specified via SET PROMPT, unless the string is empty or
- already ends with the HANDSHAKE.
-
- 6) Alternate filespec syntax fn.ft.fm allowed in subcommands.
-
- 7) Prevent certain infinite waits on protocol-converter-type transfers.
-
- Many thanks to the beta testers who have helped work out the bugs in the
- new release.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- From: "John F. Chandler" <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
- Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe VM/CMS Kermit-370 Version 4.2.1
- Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit, VM/CMS Kermit
- Xref: CMS Kermit, See VM/CMS Kermit, IBM 370 Kermit
-
- This is to announce the release of Kermit-370 version 4.2.1 for CMS. As
- usual, the new version comes in VM/SP and VM/XA/SP flavors, but the
- changes are the same for both.
-
- Version 4.2.1 has several improvements over 4.2.0, the most important
- being:
-
- 1. Spurious flow-control "packets" from MS-Kermit are now ignored.
-
- 2. Overflow of the fullscreen buffer is now avoided when the receiving
- Kermit asks for 2K packets.
-
- 3. Kermit-370 now supports transfers in LATIN2 and LATIN3 and file
- storage in CP870, CP880, and CP905. In addition, L1, L2, and L3 are
- recognized as aliases for the three LATIN sets, and two-character
- abbreviations are accepted for the other transfer sets as well. The
- new sets add support for Afrikaans, Albanian, Catalan, Croatian,
- Czech, Esperanto, Galician, Hungarian, Maltese, Polish, Romanian,
- Slovak, Slovene, and Turkish.
-
- 4. Kermit-370 supports file transfers through the IBM 3174 AEA with B2
- microcode. The support is restricted to terminals with the ASCII
- Graphics capability in three ways:
-
- a) The terminal type must be defined in the 3174 to support graphics
- (only the built-in VT241 and Tektronix 4205 types plus suitable
- user-defined terminal types).
-
- b) The line must be defined without an associated Host Addressable
- Printer.
-
- c) If the 3174 is owned by VTAM, the connection must be made with a
- logmode that allows the Read Partition Query (such as M2SDLCQ).
-
- Kermit-370 automatically detects the B2 AEA and sets CONTROLLER
- accordingly (to AEA if graphics is allowed, to NONE if not, or to
- GRAPHICS if Query is denied). Since the 3174 supports full 8-bit
- communication, it may be useful to configure the ports for 8-bit
- data and to set both SEND and RECEIVE PARITY to NONE in Kermit-370.
-
- 5. Kermit-370 now uses the FILE COLLISION settings for all files in a
- group rather than just the first.
-
- 6. Kermit-370 has three new subcommands: REMOTE MAIL, REMOTE PRINT, and
- REMOTE SUBMIT. They transmit a file (or group of files via wild
- cards) tagged for mailing, printing, and submitting as job,
- respectively.
-
- The new release is in the form of updates to be applied to the 4.2.0
- source. The new files are IKCKER.UPD, IKCKER.BWR, IK0AAA.HLP, and
- IK0KER.UPD (the latter is only a catalog of all the updates, not the
- updates themselves). The new code has been tested on most known types
- of protocol converter (many thanks to the beta testers!) to make sure
- the 3174 support does not harm the existing support for Kermit file
- transfer, but problems may still turn up. Bug reports are welcome, as
- usual.
-
- A similar release 4.2.1 will soon be available for TSO and MUSIC.
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Monday, 1991 August 19 14:08 EDT
- From: "John F. Chandler" <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
- Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe VM/CMS Kermit-370 Version 4.2.2
- Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit, VM/CMS Kermit
- Xref: CMS Kermit, See VM/CMS Kermit, IBM 370 Kermit
-
- Kermit-370 version 4.2.2 is now available for CMS. As usual, the new
- version comes in VM/SP and VM/XA/SP flavors, but the changes are the
- same for both.
-
- Version 4.2.2 has numerous improvements over 4.2.1, but many of them are
- generic (shared among all the variants). See the accompanying generic
- Kermit-370 announcement for more details. The most important of the
- CMS-specific updates are:
-
- 1) New, more flexible on-line help facility with a separate file
- available for each subcommand. This can be used in connection with
- the CMS help menu system or with Kermit's internal help processor (or
- both). The old-style, single help file is also still available.
-
- 2) Improved recovery from a "stolen" screen, fullscreen I/O errors,
- the classical VTAM lockup at the start of a SEND (caused by having
- too long a SEND delay), or a 4994 buffer overrun.
-
- 3) Kermit-CMS now invokes CMS commands in a way that closely matches the
- behavior of commands entered directly to CMS.
-
- A more complete description of the changes can be found in IKCKER.BWR.
-
- The new release is in the form of updates to be applied to the 4.2.0
- source. The updates are cumulative, so they include those that were
- already released to make version 4.2.1. In addition, the help file has
- been revamped, and the User's Guide has been partly updated (but not
- actually brought up to date with 4.2.2). The new files are IKCKER.UPD,
- IKCKER.BWR, IKCKER.MSS, IKCKER.DOC, IKCKER.LPT, IKCKER.PS, IKCKER.HLP,
- IK0KER.MSS, IK0AAA.HLP, and IK0KER.UPD (the latter is only a catalog of
- all the updates, not the updates themselves). The new code has been
- tested pretty thoroughly (many thanks to the beta testers!), but
- problems may still turn up. Bug reports are welcome, as usual. In
- particular, reports of any kind are needed for the new facility for
- supporting 8-bit transfers in line mode -- this has barely been tested.
-
- A similar release 4.2.2 is also available for TSO and CICS -- see the
- corresponding announcements.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 1992 May 13 11:14 EDT
- From: "John F. Chandler" <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
- Subject: Announcing IBM Mainframe VM/CMS Kermit-370 Version 4.2.3
- Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit, VM/CMS Kermit
- Xref: CMS Kermit, See VM/CMS Kermit, IBM 370 Kermit
-
- This is to announce the release of Kermit-370 version 4.2.3 for CMS. As
- usual, the new version comes in VM/SP, VM/XA, and VM/ESA flavors. The
- CMS-related Kermit files that have been changed or added are as follows.
-
- IKCAUX CMD sample EXEC's (new)
- IKCKER ANN this message
- IKCKER BWR bugs, warnings, and restrictions
- IKCKER INS installation instructions
- IKCKER UPD post-4.2.0 updates
- IKCXA UPD updates for VM/XA and VM/ESA
- IK0AAA HLP Kermit-370 release notes
- IK0KAN ASM optional Kanji tables
- IK0KER ANN the accompanying message on Kermit-370
- IK0KER UPD the cumulative list of updates in all variants
- IK0423 HLP notes on the new features in 4.2.3
-
- Many thanks to the beta testers who have helped work out the bugs in the
- new release.
-
- There are several changes specific to CMS:
-
- - Now comes with a file of sample auxilliary EXEC's for use with Kermit
- (IKCAUX CMD). These include KERMAIL, KERMPRT, and PC. The latter is
- designed for "one-touch" mainframe-initiated file transfers to or from
- an appropriately configured micro Kermit. The syntax is PC PRINT name
- or PC + any valid Kermit command, such as GET, SEND, or REMOTE. Any
- reply is written to KER REPLY. The sample KERMAIL and KERMPRT are
- compatible both with version 4.2.3 and with earlier versions.
-
- - No longer considers it a file name collision if the new file being
- received is to have the same name as a file on a read-only extension
- of the destination disk.
-
- - Once more transparently supports the old form of non-library help file
- in addition to the new PDS form (version 4.2.3 did not).
-
- - Can now reject a file that is too large to fit in the destination SFS
- directory. Enabling SFS support in general is now done by selecting
- the appropriate CNTRL file when applying the updates. Available:
- KERMIT (CMS 1-5), KERMCMS6 (CMS 6), KERMXA (CMS 5.5), KERMXA21 (CMS
- 5.6), and KERMESA (CMS 7-8).
-
- - Now explicitly releases its SCBLOCK when it exits. (Before CMS 5,
- that is necessary.)
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- From: "John F. Chandler" <JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
- Date: Wed, 1992 Dec 2 12:18 EST
- Subject: Announcing Release 4.2.5 of Kermit-370 for CMS
- Keywords: IBM 370 Kermit, VM/CMS Kermit
- Xref: CMS Kermit, See VM/CMS Kermit, IBM 370 Kermit
-
- A new release of Kermit-370 for CMS is now available: 4.2.5. It includes
- a new CNTRL file for installing Kermit under VM/ESA (370 Feature) when
- HASM is not available. This CNTRL file is automatically used, as needed,
- by the (now revised) IKCINS EXEC included in IKCKER.INS. The other new
- features are mainly diagnostics. They include:
-
- 1) An extra line of greetings for send/receive/server, as introduced
- in release 4.2.4 of the TSO, ROSCOE, and CICS variants of Kermit-370,
- as well as the latest releases of MS-DOS Kermit and C Kermit.
- 2) A new option to dump Kermit's internal trace table to KER LOG.
- 3) Extra debug log info for TTY and FULLSCREEN modes, similar to that
- for SERIES1, GRAPHICS, and AEA modes.
- 4) The status code from a SEND or RECEIVE is now available to the
- accounting exit, if any.
-
- See the BWR file for further details.
-
-