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digital equipment corporation · maynard, massachusetts
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Kermit is a serial file transfer protocol which can be used to transfer files from or to a PDP-8 and another computer. The kermit package has programs to encode binary files into printable 8 bit characters for transfer.

This kermit is from original Columbia University Archive. See also the Kermit open source Project
PDP-8 kermit program info:
Binary encode program   Binary decode program
BOO format binary encode program   BOO format binary decode program
Inital program loader

Example using with CKermit

Operating instruction from k12mit.pal

KERMIT-12 FOR THE FAMILY OF 12-BIT DEC MACHINES.

COPYRIGHT (C) 1989, 1990 BY THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF
NEW YORK.
PERMISSION IS  GRANTED  TO  ANY  INDIVIDUAL OR INSTITUTION TO COPY OR USE THIS
DOCUMENT AND THE  PROGRAM(S) DESCRIBED IN IT, EXCEPT FOR EXPLICITLY COMMERCIAL
PURPOSES.

BRIEF USAGE DESCRIPTION.

KERMIT-12 IS AN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE KERMIT PROTOCOL FOR THE FAMILY OF 12-BIT
DEC (AND COMPATIBLE) MACHINES GENERALLY KNOWN AS PDP-8 OR DECMATE.

AS OF THE CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION, THE FOLLOWING COMMANDS ARE EFFECTIVE:

1.	CONNECT (TO REMOTE SYSTEM AS TERMINAL).

2.	SEND FILESPEC (TO REMOTE RECEIVER OR SERVER).

3.	RECEIVE FILESPEC (FROM REMOTE SENDER).

4.	GET FILESPEC (FROM REMOTE SERVER).

5.	FINISH (SERVING).

6.	SETUP (ON DECMATE II/III/III-PLUS ONLY). **** NOT IMPLEMENTED ****

7.	EXIT (TO OPERATING SYSTEM).

8.	HELP (DISPLAYS HELP MESSAGE).

FILESPEC  MAY  BE  ANY LOCAL (OS/8) FILE-STRUCTURED DEVICE:FILENAME.EXTENSION,
WHERE THE  FILENAME  AND  EXTENSION WILL BE TRUNCATED TO 6 ALPHANUMERICS AND 2
ALPHANUMERICS RESPECTIVELY, AS  NECESSARY (THIS IS REFERRED TO AS 6.2 FILENAME
FORMAT).  THE DEVICE:    FIELD  IS  OPTIONAL;   ALL COMMANDS USING THE DEVICE:
FIELD FOR LOCAL DEVICE SPECIFICATION  WILL  USE  THIS  DEVICE AS THE SOURCE OR
DESTINATION AS NECESSARY FOR THE LOCAL  FILES.    IF  THE  DEVICE:    FIELD IS
OMITTED, THE DEFAULT DEVICE DSK:  WILL BE USED.  THE ACTUAL DEVICE USED MAY BE
SELECTED BEFORE INVOKING KERMIT-12 BY USING THE OS/8 ASSIGN COMMAND:

.ASSIGN DEV DSK

WHERE DEV IS ANY AVAILABLE FILE-STRUCTURED DEVICE.

KERMIT-12 USES AN UNUSUAL SCHEME FOR ITS PROMPT:    THE  ACTUAL DEFAULT PROMPT
TEXT  IS  PARTIALLY  TAKEN  FROM  THE  ACTUAL MACHINE KERMIT-12  IS  CURRENTLY
EXECUTING  ON.    FOR  EXAMPLE, IF KERMIT-12 HAS DETERMINED THE  CPU  TYPE  AS
PDP-8/E, THE PROMPT WILL BE:

KERMIT-8/E>

THIS  ALLOWS KERMIT-12 USERS (WITH DIFFERENT CPU-TYPE MACHINES) TO DISTINGUISH
MESSAGES ORIGINATING  FROM  THE  RESPECTIVE  SYSTEMS.    FUTURE  VERSIONS WILL
SUPPORT USER PROMPT STRINGS TO ALLOW MORE DISTINCTIVE SYSTEM MESSAGES.

THE HELP OR CONNECT COMMANDS MAY BE USED TO DETERMINE THE CURRENT CONNECT MODE
ESCAPE CHARACTER.

COMMAND RESTRICTIONS.

THE  SEND  COMMAND  ALLOWS   DEVICE:FILENAME.EXTENSION  (6.2)  WITH  WILD-CARD
SUBSTITUTION.  A * MAY  BE  GIVEN  FOR  AN  ENTIRE  FIELD  (EITHER FILENAME OR
EXTENSION OR BOTH) ONLY.  A  ?    WILL  MATCH  ANY SINGLE CHARACTER WHICH MUST
EXIST IN THE ACTUAL FILENAME OR EXTENSION,  UNLESS  RIGHT-MOST  IN  THE FIELD.
ALL  MATCHING FILES WILL BE SENT.  NO  OUTBOUND  FILENAME  (AS-NAME)  FACILITY
EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

THE  RECEIVE  COMMAND  ALLOWS  OPTIONAL  DEVICE:   ONLY.   *THE  FILENAME  AND
EXTENSION  ARE  NOT  ALLOWED*.  NAMES OF RECEIVED FILES WILL  BE  MODIFIED  IF
NECESSARY  TO  CONFORM  TO  THE  6.2  FORMAT.   *IMPLEMENTATION RESTRICTION* :
CERTAIN REMOTE  FILENAMES  CONTAINING  NON-ALPHANUMERIC  CHARACTERS  MAY CAUSE
KERMIT-12 TO HASTILY ABORT THE TRANSMISSION AND RETURN TO COMMAND LEVEL.

THE GET COMMAND  ALLOWS  OPTIONAL  DEVICE:    TO  DETERMINE DESTINATION OF THE
INCOMING FILES.  THE  OUTBOUND  FILESPEC  MUST  CONFORM  TO  LOCAL CONVENTIONS
(FILENAME AND EXTENSION ARE NOT  LIMITED  TO  6.2  FORMAT;  THE DEVICE:  FIELD
WILL NOT BE SENT TO THE  REMOTE  KERMIT  UNLESS  IT  IS  ILLEGAL  WITHIN  OS/8
SPECIFICATIONS, SUCH AS TOO MANY DEVICE LETTERS.    IN  THIS CASE, THE DEFAULT
DEVICE DSK:  APPLIES, AND THE ENTIRE "DEVICE"  FIELD  IS  SENT  ALONG WITH ANY
FILENAME  AND EXTENSION).  CERTAIN REMOTE SYSTEMS ARE INCOMPATIBLE  WITH  THIS
IMPLEMENTATION,  AS  IMBEDDED  SPACES  OR  NON-ALPHANUMERIC CHARACTERS ARE NOT
ALLOWED, EVEN  THOUGH  THEY  MAY  BE REQUIRED ON THE REMOTE SYSTEM.  WILD-CARD
CHARACTERS ARE ALLOWED, BUT ONLY AS SPECIFIED IN THE SEND COMMAND ABOVE.

<^X>  OR  <^Z>  CAN BE USED TO ABORT KERMIT TRANSMISSIONS (EVENTUALLY) BUT  IS
NORMALLY  A  SLOW  PROCESS,  SINCE  THE CHECKING IS DONE BY A SOFTWARE TIMEOUT
SCHEME.   AT  THE  PRESENT  TIME,  THERE  IS  NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN THESE THO
CHARACTERS, SO IT  IS NOT POSSIBLE TO ABORT A SINGLE FILE; THE ENTIRE BATCH OF
FILES INVOLVED IN THE TRANSFER IS ABORTED.

DECMATE II/III/III-PLUS CONSIDERATIONS:

FUNCTION KEYS SEND   SEQUENCES SPECIFIED BY SLUSHWARE/FIRMWARE.  ALL SOFT
FUNCTION KEYS ARE THEREFORE INEFFECTIVE  (EXCEPT  FOR HOLD SCREEN WHICH ALWAYS
WORKS).

CONNECT MODE RUNS IN 8-BIT MODE.

THE COMPOSE KEY IS ENABLED FOR USE WITH A LOADED COMPOSE TABLE.

ANY VALID DECMATE II/III/III-PLUS CHARACTER SET  IS  ALLOWED  WHILE IN CONNECT
MODE  (MCS  TCS  LINE,  ETC.).    ALL     SEQUENCES  ARE  PASSED  TO  THE
SLUSHWARE/FIRMWARE UNMODIFIED.

KEYBOARD UPPER-CASE LOCK WILL ALWAYS BE AUTOMATICALLY APPLIED UPON RETURN FROM
CONNECT MODE.



Feel free to contact me, David Gesswein djg@pdp8online.com with any questions, comments on the web site, or if you have related equipment, documentation, software etc. you are willing to part with.  I am interested in anything PDP-8 related, computers, peripherals used with them, DEC or third party, or documentation. 

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