PC Installation of Kermit for DOS, Win31 and Win95 This file contains information on internet connection of a PC through the math dept ANNEX. Discussed here in are software, modem issues and setup. This file last edited 18 December 1995. ===============================Kermit================================= Kermit and slip8250.com are available at site kermit.columbia.edu via anonymous ftp. Free. Get it from kermit/archives/msvibm.zip (apr 95). The WWW access is from URL http://www.cc.columbia.edu/kermit/ From the WWW site, After clicking on kermit, look for MS-DOS kermit, ftp access. It will be downloaded to disk automatically (768k). A usual command to get the files efficiently is lynx ftp://ftp.cc.columbia.edu/kermit/archives/ Look for the file msvibm.zip in the list. This distribution includes slip8250.com. A minimal working set for PC kermit is kermit.exe, kermit.ini, kermit.bat, slip8250.com, kermit.hlp. The rest can be trashed from the hard disk. Keep the ZIP file on a backup disk. ====================================================================== Subject: Normal setup for kermit with annex.math.utah.edu All setup should be in kermit.ini, which is read by kermit on startup. Critical issues, which can be entered by hand before trying to edit the kermit.ini file: SET PORT 2 Use com2: for the modem port SET SPEED 57600 Use auto baud (see notes below) SET FLOW RTS/CTS Use hardware flow control kermit CONNECT ATDT5818105 WAIT for "CONNECT 57600" or similar message WAIT FOR THE ANNEX PROMPT. THEN username password rlogin solitude To get OFF annex.math.utah.edu, hang up your phone, cycle the modem power, or exit from solitude and enter hangup at the annex prompt. To get out of MS-kermit, use the key ALT-X and then enter EXIT at the kermit prompt. ====================================================================== Subject: Infotel modems 28800 baud A bit of modem info: Infotel 14400 and 28800 modems work well with the present server, but the 28800 model needs a special setup: at+ms=11,1,14400,28800 This is particularly important for increasing the modem throughput, especially with a SLIP connection, where speed degradation shows dramatically. Many people report better throughput running kermit at 19200 baud. Kermit documentation suggests that you set the KERMIT speed to 57600 and rely on the speed matching functions of the modems. Infotel modems report internal baud rates, not line baud rates. It is possible to have it report 57600 baud yet the line connection is 14400 or 28800. Setting the modem program baud rate to 57600 will allow the best throughput, even though the modem server at the other end supports only 14400 baud! ====================================================================== Subject: kermit setup, transfer speed and uppercase file names I discovered that kermit likes to uppercase file names in the new release. The default setup will strip directory names and map filenames to uppercase. I noticed that ~/.kermrc source leaves the paths intact. The Columbia documentation for HP, located in /home/usr-hpux/share/lib/kermit suggests the following lines to be added: set file names literal set rec pathnames off set send pathnames off COMMENT UNIX: set file names literal COMMENT IBM PC: set file names converted These days I don't have a network card working so I must use kermit and the modem to do any and all file transfers, just like the late 70's. Generally I don't transfer directory trees, only ZIP or TARZ files, to the connected directory (usually /tmp); this is the reason for stripping the pathnames (collision resolution enabled). Another interesting bit of info: there is a kermit command to do proper speed matching of auto-compresssion modems. The symptom of bad matching is **poor transfer times** (or lockup)! This was explained in the beware file ".bwr" for ckermit, in the aforementioned directory on solitude. set speed 57600 ; Or 38400, the highest supported by both Kermit & the modem set dial speed-matching off ; Use speed buffering (unix kermit only) set flow rts/cts ; Use hardware flow control. I saw the lockup symptoms with the new kermit and a new 28800 internal modem card: didn't work out of the box with kermit, but it was OK with Linux (minicom, kermit) and Win31 (Steve's Internet Kit, ftp cc.utah.edu). The logic of the setup is that modern modems communicate with the port at one speed, internally at another and at yet another speed with an application program (eg, kermit). The report "CONNECT 57600" issued by a modern modem may correspond to a remote connection at 9600 or 14400, with correspondingly poor transfer times. However, refresh rates in applications like netscape will be **much** better with the 57600 rate. ===================================================================