00README.TXT                                                  (14 Sept 1984)


                    COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY KERMIT DISTRIBUTION


The KERMIT distribution area includes all the versions of Kermit which are in
our possession.  The files have names of the form

	NAME.TYPE

where NAME is the name of file, and TYPE is its type (program source,
documentation, executable core image, etc).  No NAME is more than 9 characters
long (the maximum accepted by VAX/VMS), and every NAME is unique in the first 6
characters (the maximum under TOPS-10, RSTS/E, etc).  On TOPS-10 BACKUP
Interchange tapes, names longer than 6 will be truncated to 6.  No type is
longer than 3 characters.  NAME and TYPE are separated by a period.


* 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:

-- "mainframes" --

      Prefix    Machine(s)             Operating System      Language

        170     Cyber 170              NOS                   Fortran-77
	20	DECSYSTEM-20           TOPS-20               MACRO-20
        AOS     Data General           AOS                   Ratfor
	CMS	IBM 370 Series         VM/CMS                IBM Assembler
        HPM     Hewlett-Packard 1000   RTE                   Fortran
	K10	DECsystem-10           TOPS-10               MACRO-10
        K11     PDP-11                 RSX-11, RSTS/E, RT-11 MACRO-11
        MP      PDP-11                 MUMPS (M/11)          MUMPS
	MTS	IBM 370 Series         MTS                   Assember, Pascal
        MU      Honewyell              MULTICS               PL/I
        PRI     PRIME                  PRIMOS                PL/P (PL/I)
        RDOS    Data General Nova      RDOS                  Fortran
	RT	PDP-11                 RT-11                 OMSI Pascal
        ST      HP3000, Univac, etc    Software Tools        Ratfor
        TSO     IBM 370-series         MVS/TSO               Assembler
        UN      Sperry/Univac-1100     EXEC                  Assembler
	UX	VAX, SUN, PDP-11, etc  UNIX                  C
        VF      VAX                    VMS                   Pascal and Fortran
        VMS     VAX                    VMS                   Bliss-32

-- "micros" --

        800     Luxor ABC-800          ABCDOS                BASIC-II
        86      Rainbow-100, NEC APC   CP/M-86               ASM86
        APC     NEC APC binaries       CP/M-86               ASM86
        APO     Apollo                 Aegis                 Fortran
        APP     Apple II 6502          Apple DOS             DEC-10 CROSS
        ATA     Atari Home Computer    DOS                   Action!
	CPM	8080, 8085, or Z80     CP/M-80               ASM
        HP1     HP-150                 MS DOS                HP-150
        HP9     HP-98xx                UCSD p-System         HP Pascal
        MC1     Apple Macintosh                              C (SUMACC)
        MDS     Intel Development System ISIS                PL/M
        MS      Various                MS-DOS or PC-DOS      MASM
        PRO     DEC Professional-350   P/OS                  Bliss
        RBK     Rainbow binaries       CP/M-86               ASM86 
        RBL     "LCTERM" for Rainbow   MS DOS                C
       	PC	IBM PC or Zenith Z100  PC DOS, MS DOS        MASM
        SIR     Sirius-1               MS DOS                MASM
        SEE     Seequa Chameleon       MS DOS, CP/M-86       MASM
        TA2     Tandy 2000             MS DOS                MASM
        TRS     TRS-80 I and III       MS DOS                Z80 Assembler
        UCT     Terak 8510a            UCSD p-System II.0    Pascal, Macro-11
        UCI     IBM PC                 UCSD p-System IV.x    Pascal
        VIC     Sirius 1/Victor 9000   CP/M-86               ASM86

(The VAX/VMS Bliss version is also provided in MACRO-32 (.MAR) source form for
those sites that do not have a Bliss compiler.  YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE BLISS IN
ORDER TO RUN THIS VERSION.)

(The VAX/VMS C version is based on an old version of UNIX Kermit; the VMS
support has yet to be merged with the current UNIX Kermit.)

(The K11 files include support for RSX, RSTS, and RT11 -- See K11INS.DOC for
details.)

(The Victor, Seequa, Tandy, and some other MS DOS versions are based on older
versions of IBM PC Kermit; these have yet to be merged with the current
MS/PC-DOS version.) 

In some cases, binaries (.REL, .EXE, .COM, 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.  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 for CMS KERMIT on
the IBM VM/CMS tape.  In any event, all necessary files for building each
version of Kermit from program source (assuming you have the appropriate
compilers) are included on all tapes.

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, on the
DEC-20 you would copy 20KERMIT.MAC to KERMIT.MAC, then assemble it, and store
the result as KERMIT.EXE in SYS:.  The VAX/VMS, TOPS-10, PRO-350, TRS-80 and
some other versions are exceptions; in these cases you would replace the "VMS",
"K10", "PRO", etc, prefixes with "KER".

Before doing anything with any particular version, look for an associated file
with the suffix ".HLP" (help) or ".BWR" (beware).  These files will often tell
you special things you should know before starting to put together a working
program from the distribution.

The following .BOO files (and also .EXE if your tape format and size allows)
are provided for current MS-DOS implementions:
 
 MSAPC.BOO        NEC APC
 MSGENER.BOO      Generic MS-DOS
 MSHP150.BOO      Hewlett-Packard 150
 MSIBMPC.BOO      IBM PC, XT
 MSRB100.BOO      DEC Rainbow 100
 MSWANG.BOO       Wang PC

 MS*.ASM          Sources
 MSKERMIT.DOC     Manual chapter

The following .HEX files for specific CP/M-80 implementations are included:

 CPMBASE.M80      The current, working source file for CP/M KERMIT.
 CPMKERMIT.DOC    User documentation (chapter from the manual).

 CPMAPPLE.HEX     Apple II with Z80 Softcard & DC Hayes Micromodem
 CPMBRAIN.HEX     Intertec SuperBrain
 CPMDMII.HEX      DECmate II with CP/M
 CPMGENERI.HEX    "Generic" CP/M Kermit.
 CPMHEATH.HEX     Heath/Zenith 89
 CPMKAYPRO.HEX    Kaypro-II
 CPMMDI.HEX	  Morrow Decision I
 CPMMIKKO.HEX	  Nokia MikroMikko
 CPMOSBORN.HEX    Osborne 1
 CPMOSI.HEX       Ohio Scientific
 CPMPLUS.HEX      For any system running CP/M-Plus (3.0)
 CPMROBIN.HEX     DEC VT180 "Robin"
 CPMTELCON.HEX    Telcon Zorba
 CPMTRLB.HEX      TRS-80 II with Lifeboat CP/M 2.25
 CPMTRPT.HEX      TRS-80 II with Pickles & Trout CP/M
 CPMVECTOR.HEX    Vector Graphics
 CPMZ100.HEX      Heath/Zenith Z100 with CP/M-85

"Generic Kermit" can be used on CP/M-80 micros not specifically supported, if
the CP/M IOBYTE facility is implemented, and the fields of the IOBYTE point to
the right devices.  The CP/M-Plus version should be able to run "generically"
on any CP/M 3.0 system.  See the User Guide and CPMGENERI.DOC for details.

The Kermit User Guide contains instructions for installing or bootstrapping
the various versions of Kermit.

* Manuals:

There are two Kermit manuals: KUSER and KPROTO, a user's guide and a protocol
manual, respectively.  Four versions of each 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.
	.FOR    Like .LPT, but with Fortran-style carriage control.

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, Imagen Imprint-10, or other
multifont laser printers or photocomposers.  As of this writing, Scribe is not
entirely bug-free; you may 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 and .FOR files.

The user's guide is intended for users of Kermit (including those who want to
install it), 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).

IMPORTANT: The Users Guide is always out of date.  New implementations of
KERMIT, and new versions of old ones, arrive in a steady stream.  It's
impossible to keep the manual totally current.  The general description of
KERMIT operation remains valid, but detailed descriptions of the various
versions are better obtained from the accompanying help (.HLP), beware (.BWR),
documentation (.DOC), memo (.MEM), or manual (.MAN) files.  Look to these files
for information missing from the user manual.

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.

BYTE.MSS is the manuscript of the KERMIT article that was published in
BYTE Magazine in June and July, 1984.  BYTE.DOC is suitable for reading at
the terminal, BYTE.MSS may be run through Scribe to produce output for
various printing devices.

* Other Files:

00README.TXT is this file, which should appear at the top of any alphabetical
directory listing, and is the first file on the tape.

FLYER.DOC is a short KERMIT "brochure", explaining the distribution policy.

MAIL.* is the archive of the CCNET/BITNET/ARPANET KERMIT discussion group.
MAIL.TXT is the current, active mail file.  MAIL.yyx (e.g. MAIL.83A) files
contain older messages.

CURRENT.DOC is a list of the current versions of KERMIT in reverse
chronological order, to help you see what has changed since the last time
you looked.

VERSIONS.DOC is a list of all known versions of KERMIT, even those that aren't
being distributed yet, showing their status, who's working on them, etc.

COMMER.DOC is a policy statement concerning commercial use of KERMIT.

KERBOO.FOR is a short receive-only version of Kermit written in Fortran,
to be used for bootstrapping Kermit onto systems that don't have a real
Kermit from a system that does.

* Tools:

The following tools are specific to DECsystem-10 and DECSYSTEM-20 computers,
and might not appear on distribution tapes for other kinds of systems.

The files MAC80.*, M80UNV, etc, are an 8080/8085/Z80 cross assembler that runs
on the DEC-10 or DEC-20; MAC80.DOC is a brief description.  TORTUR.M80 is
an 8080 instruction set "torture test" for MAC80, which illustrates its
features.  ZORTUR.M80 is a Z80 instruction set torture test.  MAC80 is used to
assemble CP/M KERMIT, and is mostly compatible with the standard CP/M 8080
assembler.

HEXIFY.* is a program for converting a CP/M .COM file resident on the DEC-10
or DEC-20 to a CP/M .HEX file.  This is handy when binary file transfers are
failing to work for some reason.  The .HEX file can be LOADed on the CP/M
system in the normal way to reconstruct the original .COM file.  HEXCOM.* is
the inverse of HEXIFY, and provides .HEX-to-.COM file conversion.

The files CROSS.* are a general purpose cross assembler that runs on the DEC-10
and -20; CROSS.DOC is the manual.  CROSS is used to assemble Apple DOS KERMIT.

WRITEL is a program to write ANSI labeled ASCII tapes on the DEC-20.

TTLINK is a terminal linking program for the DEC-20, allowing you to log in
to another system over a TTY line (e.g. using 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.  STRIP is a program for stripping away
the 8th bit.

* 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

or via network mail notify

	CC.FDC@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA
	SY.FDC@CU20B.BITNET (or .CCNET) (or .ARPA)

We'll return your tape to you with the latest Kermit distribution (if you send
a full-size reel).

[End of 00README.TXT]