Date: Thu 18 Dec 86 15:31:12-EST
From: Frank da Cruz <SY.FDC@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject: New Kermit Program for IBM 370 Mainframes with MVS/TSO
To: Info-Kermit@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU
Message-ID: <12263844741.299.SY.FDC@CU20B.COLUMBIA.EDU>

The new IBM 370-series mainframe MVS/TSO Kermit from the US National
Institutes of Health (NIH), announced in the previous Info-Kermit digest, is
now available in the Kermit distribution areas under the prefix TSN.  There
are 21 files, comprising a total of about 3 megabytes, including three
documentation files and a TSO help file.

The program is written in "ALP", which is a preprocessor for 370 assembly
language developed at NIH.  The ALP preprocessor, also supplied, is written
in PL/I.  For those who do not have PL/I or do not wish to bother with the
source programs, a hexidecimal-encoded object file is provided, along with
an assembler program to decode it into a binary object file; this can be
linked with a tailorable module (written in straight assembler) in which
site dependencies, such as the ASCII/EBCDIC translations, are specified.

Before deciding to transfer all 3 MB from Columbia over a network, first get
the file TSNKER.TXT, which explains which files are which, and then only get
the ones you really need.

Thanks to Roger Fajman at NIH (RAF@NIHCU.BITNET) for submitting this program
to us.  Roger participated in the design with Dale Wright, who then did the
programming.  The new program has many advanced features over previous TSO
Kermit versions, including server mode, binary file transfer, file
interruption, 8th-bit prefixing, run-length encoding, alternate block check
types, and support for both 3705-style line mode and Series/1-style full
screen emulation.  It is hoped that this new version will render the old
University of Chicago (linemode only, circa July 1984) and University of
Toronto versions (Series/1 only, March 85) obsolete.  Reactions from TSO
sites will be appreciated, in the interest of keeping redundant Kermit
versions at a minimum.  Reactions from users of the Pascal/VS version from
the University of Bern (linemode only, Sept 86) will also be appreciated.

For the present, the Chicago, Toronto, and Bern versions remain available in
the Kermit distribution under the prefixes TSO, TSO, and TS2, respectively.
For the future, there may still be another TSO Kermit program on the horizon, a
result of a cooperative effort among IBM mainframe Kermit sites to develop a
Kermit program that is portable among all IBM 370 mainframe operating systems
(no estimate as to when this will be ready, but IBM mainframe system
programmers who are interested in developments in this area may send mail
to IBM-KERMIT@CU20B or IBM-KERMIT@CUVMA).

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 05 Dec 86  23:33:18 EST
From: "Roger Fajman" <RAF@NIHCU>
Subject: New NIH TSO Kermit Version 1.0
Keywords: TSO Kermit, IBM Mainframe

I would like to announce the availability of the NIH TSO Kermit Version 1.0.
The following summarizes its capabilities:

NIH TSO Kermit Capabilities At a Glance:

       Local operation:  No
       Remote operation:  Yes
       Transfers text files:  Yes
       Transfers binary files:  Yes
       Wildcard send:  Yes
       XX/XY interruption:  Yes
       Filename collision avoidance:  No
       Timeouts:  Yes
       8th-bit prefixing:  Yes
       Repeat character compression:  Yes
       Alternate block check types:  Yes
       Communication settings:  No
       Transmit BREAK:  No
       IBM mainframe communication:  Yes
       Transaction logging:  No
       Session logging:  No
       Debug logging:  Yes
       Raw transmit:  No
       Login scripts: No
       Act as server:  Yes
       Talk to server: No
       Advanced commands for servers:  No
       Local file management:  Yes
       Command/init files:  Yes
       Handle file attributes:  No

I am sending a tape to Frank da Cruz at Columbia so that NIH TSO Kermit can
be included on the regular Columbia distribution tapes.  When the files are
available on KERMSRV, ask for TSNKER.TXT to see the installation
instructions.  There are 8 required files, plus 13 more if you want the
source.

NIH TSO Kermit may also be obtained directly from NIH by sending a letter of
request and a tape to the following address:

   Joseph D. Naughton
   Chief, Computer Center
   National Institutes of Health
   Building 12, Room 2244
   Bethesda, MD 20892

There is no charge.

The NIH version of TSO Kermit is an extensive modification and rewrite of
the University of Chicago TSO Kermit, which in turn was based on an early
CMS Kermit developed at Columbia University.  The external design was done
by Roger Fajman and Dale Wright.  The internal design and programming was
done by Dale Wright.

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