Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!ctrsol!cica!iuvax!pur-ee!pur-phy!ray
From: ray@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (Ray Moody)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: Kermit + Batteries Included 80 column card
Keywords: kermit, 2400, xmodem
Message-ID: <2392@pur-phy>
Date: 30 Jul 89 01:49:36 GMT
References: <19113@vax5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU> <4513@merlin.usc.edu> <2387@pur-phy> <4542@merlin.usc.edu>
Sender: news@pur-phy
Reply-To: ray@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (Ray Moody)
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., W. Lafayette, IN
Lines: 41
In-reply-to: aliu@nunki.usc.edu (Terminal Entry)

In article <4542@merlin.usc.edu>, aliu@nunki (Terminal Entry) writes:
>So you are one (?) of the  programmers that came up with kermit! Congrats!

    Yes, I am.  The other Kermit programmer that maintains a presence
on the net is Frank Prindle.  The names of Antonino N. J. Mione, Dave
Dermott, Eric Lavitsky and Michael Marchiondo are also mentioned in
the source code, but I have never seen nor heard from these peope.

>If you plan to add 2400 baud to Kermit, would that be only 40 cols, or
>Kermit+BI80 card? Or will it be available with the simulated 80 cols screen
>now avilable? I'd think that that bit-mapped screen is a little slow for
>2400bps, especially when it comes to scrolling...

    It would work with all of the screen drivers, including the BI-80
and the bit-mapped screen.  You are correct that scrolling is going to
be painfully slow on the bit-mapped screen, but there isn't much that
can be done about that.  (I have some ideas, but I haven't written any
code yet, so I don't know how well they will work.)

>(onw way that couldbe solved is by adding some sort of flow control (^S/^Q)
>that would take care of buffer overflow, but that may not be so welcome when
>used with certan programs).

    Xon/Xoff flow control is already implemented.  I don't know of any
other flow control arrangement other than CTS/DTR, and CTS/DTR isn't
used by any Commodore compatable hardware that I know of.

>Now, my major complaint about Kermit is... KERMIT (protocol)... It is slow,
>old, and very unreliable. Will you be considering adding Xmodem or Ymodem
>to the new version? (CRC would be nice)...

    Xmodem or Ymodem probably won't be added due to memory
limitations, however, I do plan to extend the Kermit implementation by
adding long packets, maybe sliding windows (will be a pain), data
compression, CRC checksums, and anything else that will fit.

>And finally... any "date of release" set yet?

    Ahhh, the $10,000 question.  I really don't know.....

								Ray