Text 145, 78 rader
Skriven 2004-09-28 09:00:00 av MICHEL SAMSON (1:10/345)
     Kommentar till en text av ANDY ALT
Ärende: BBBS UpLoad
===================
Hi Andy,

     About "BBBS UpLoad" of September 28:

AA> ...I'm well aware of your feelings about zmodem...
MK> ...never could get zmodem working...  Have you tried kermit?
AA> Kermit runs too slow.  I still use the Wildcat! BBS...
MK> No it doesn't.  
AA> It was painfully and significantly slower.  I can use zmodem...
MS> ...allow me to insert a side-note before we go any further...
AA> Of course I didn't mean to mislead anyone.  It sounds like BBS'es
AA> using kermit are not exactly "true" kermit.

     Quite a few things about `Kermit' call for some explanation.  If we
take `WC-Kermit', for example, its limitations make it suitable only for
maginal use such as the transfer of tiny binaries with a Hewlett-Packard
`HP-48' scientific calculator connected at 9K6 bps via a serial cable...

                                  %-b,

     Many changes took place since 1985...  You'd be correct to refer to
`BBBS-Kermit', `WC-Kermit' (`Hyper-Terminal's, etc.) as "true" `Kermit',
euh...  if we could travel this far in time, that is!  :)  But who wants
to deny two decades of academic work done collectively, really?!...  The
perspective i have of `Kermit' is only partial but it seems like our BBS
community got a major issue with Columbia's CopyRight and especially the
authors on who we rely for all our SoftWare.  :>  You see, when Columbia
made their source-code public (early in the eighties, i can't say if the
permission was given from the begining), euh...  the BBSers could modify
it but only for their own *PRIVATE* use;  because Columbia's source-code
can't be modified without their written consent, an individual can't get
his work & executable(s) distributed...  To me this means the authors of
the time must have been forced to write THEIR OWN GENUINE CODE, which is
one probable explanation as to why `Kermit' appears to be frozen in time
in so many BBS packages:  i suppose the authors didn't add the post-1985
features simply because the additional work was too much asking of them.

                                  8-(

     Just think about the experimentation required when a project starts
from the ground up, even if `Kermit' gained universal support and it was
made significantly customizable one can understand why many applications
never got its up-to-date features included.  In addition to that, if one
considers `ZMoDem' became widespread and stable in the nineties...  most
authors couldn't care less that its parameters weren't accessible to the
SysOps/BBSers!  Put shortly, it must have meant too much trouble to keep
up with the latest `Kermit' news:  it suffered because it didn't stop to
evolve, euh...  but it's just some theory i've built over time.  Anyway.

                                   :)

     The BBS at holodeck.myip.us is another system where decent `Kermit'
support is found but the cooperation with Mike Roberts didn't last until
"completion".  I regret this because i would have been able to publish a
"Ready-Make" kit so that all `SynchroNet/W32' SysOps who'd get a request
for `Kermit' would be able to add this feature easily.  At the moment, i
must point out there's an issue with Wayne Warthen's `Kermit'.  Too bad!

                                  %-o

     `HoloDeck' is using Columbia's OFFICIAL external driver, we get the
same assurance about `COMMPort' (one is DOS, the other `W32'/`OS2').  It
might be OKay with `C-Kermit' on `HoloDeck' but testing wasn't complete.

AA> Thanks for all the detailed info about kermit in your post.

     It was pleasant to share a few thoughts.  My turn to say thank you!
                                                                    ^^^
                                     Salutations,  :)

                                     Michel Samson
                                     a/s Bicephale
                                     http://public.sogetel.net/bicephale


... DOS+TCP/IP+TelNet+Kermit+.QWK technologies will run on XTs or better
--- MultiMail/MS-DOS v0.45 - Lets try TelNettable BBSes with OLMR doors!
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