Kermit FAQ - How to Tell Kermit to Ignore Dialtone?

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34 How to Tell Kermit to Ignore Dialtone?

Sometimes the telephone being used to place a modem call does not present a dialtone that the modem recognizes. This usually happens with PBXs, ISDN phones, etc. But Kermit programs generally tell the modem to wait for dialtone before dialing.

To find out how to get around this feature, you'll need to look at your modem manual. If it's a Hayes compatible (i.e. uses the AT command set), then it's probably a matter of changing the "X" value in the init string. Most Kermit init strings use X4, in order to get the widest possible selection of result codes. In many modems, X3 is used to select "blind dialing" (i.e. without waiting for dialtone), but this also sacrifices the ability to get a BUSY response, and therefore to redial automatically if the line is busy. Hopefully your modem has finer-grained selections.

In C-Kermit or Kermit 95, a good way to change the X value in the init string is, after you set your modem type:

  set modem type xxxx
  set modem command init \freplace(\v(m_init),X4,X3)
This assumes your modem type is "xxxx", and its init string contains X4.

In MS-DOS Kermit, just edit the dialing script.


Kermit FAQ / Columbia University / kermit@columbia.edu