C-KERMIT FOR OS-9/68K

Version: 5A(188)
Date:    November 23, 1992

Adapted to OS-9 by Christian Hemsing, RWTH, Aachen, Germany
E-Mail: CHRIS@LFM.RWTH-AACHEN.DE

OS-9/68K C-Kermit Capabilities at a Glance:

  Local operation:                   Yes
  Remote operation:                  Yes
  Transfer text files:               Yes
  Transfer binary files:             Yes
  International text:                Yes
  Wildcard send:                     Yes
  File transfer interruption:        Yes
  Filename collision actions:        Yes
  Can time out:                      Yes
  8th-bit prefixing:                 Yes
  Repeat count prefixing:            Yes
  Alternate block checks:            Yes
  Automatic parity detection:        Yes
  Dynamic packet length:             Yes
  CONNECT mode:                      Yes
  Terminal emulation:                No (uses console driver)
  Communication settings:            Yes
  Transmit BREAK:                    Yes
  Support for dialout modems:        Yes
  TCP/IP support:                    No
  X.25 support:                      No
  IBM mainframe communication:       Yes
  Transaction logging:               Yes
  Session logging:                   Yes
  Debug logging:                     Yes
  Packet logging:                    Yes
  Act as server:                     Yes
  Talk to server:                    Yes
  Advanced server functions:         Yes
  Security for server:               Yes
  Local file management:             Yes
  Command/Init files:                Yes (Init file: .kermrc)
  Long packets:                      Yes
  Sliding Windows:                   Yes
  File attributes packets:           Yes
  Command macros:                    Yes
  Script programming language:       Yes
  Raw file transmit and capture:     Yes


OS-9/68K BACKGROUND

OS-9/68k is a multiuser, multitasking operating system designed to run on
all Motorola 680x0 family processors from Microware Systems Corporation, 1900
N.W. 114th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50332 (Trademarks: Microware, OS-9,
OS-9/68000, OS-9000).

Due to its modular design, most of the code is completely hardware
independent, so it can be easily be ported to a different hardware by writing
new device drivers.

The original (1980) OS-9/6809 was designed for the Motorola 6809 processor.
Later (1983) they switched to the 680x0 family and released OS-9/68000.  For
speed and compactness reasons most of the OS-9/68000 kernel is written in
680x0 assembler language.  Now there is a so-called OS-9000 by Microware.  Its
kernel is written in C and thus it is portable.  It is presently available for
680x0 and Intel's 80386/486, and Microware plans to add further support for
RISC and CISC processors.  (C-Kermit has not yet been tested under OS-9000.)

The 100% ROM-able, fast, compact code in conjunction with real-time
capabilities make OS-9/68k ideal for ROM-based systems used in measuring,
controlling, etc.  It has found a wide acceptance within the scientific and
industrial world.

Yet, a full disk based OS-9/68k offers a program development environment
similar to UNIX. This includes (of course, limited) UNIX sofware compatibility
at C source code level, source code level debugging, UNIX I/O model, UNIX task 
model, UNIX-like shell and networking.

A number of UNIX utilities like lex, yacc, lint, etc, have been ported to
OS-9/68k.

The basic commands of OS-9 are:

  DEL     delete a file
  DELDIR  delete a directory
  MAKDIR  create a directory
  DIR     directory listing
  PROCS   show currently running processes
  LIST    type contents of a text file
  CWD     change working directory
  PD      print working directory

All commands can be given a "-?" as a switch, which will display a brief
(usually sufficient) help message.

All command references (like all references to names on OS-9/68k) are NOT
case sensitive (switches, though, may be case sensitive since they are
interpreted by the running program).

On OS-9 systems you can redirect stdin, stdout, stderr just like in UNIX,
and you can run programs (including Kermit) in the background.
Pipelines work just like in UNIX.

OS-9 doesn't know anything about character sets; all messages are in English
using ascii.

OS-9 does not generally have windows etc. (windows has been ported by someone,
though). You can't really say anything about the terminal emulation.
Many systems don't even have a console, but only RS232 lines, with no
action by th driver whatsoever. So it depends on the terminal conncted to
that line.
In case a display is already part of the machine, then it depends on the
vendor (which usually also does the portation), which emulation the console
will have. E.g. I have ported OS-9 to Atari, which includes a VT52 emulation
on the console.
OS-9 is really meant to be ported, so no restrictions are given.



OS-9/68K DEVICES

All devices (terminal lines, networks, disks) can have arbitrary names but
the usual convention is:

 Terminal lines:
   term  the console terminal
   t1    terminal line #1
   :
   tn    terminal line #n

 Harddisks:
   h0    hard disk #0
   h1    hard disk #1
   :
   hn    harddisk #n

 Floppy disks (diskettes):
   d0    floppy disk drive #0
   d1    floppy disk drive #1
   :
   d0    floppy disk drive #n

A path name starting with a slash ("/") must always include a device name
as the first field.  For example, the C-Kermit command SET LINE /T3 would
select the terminal line /t3.

The console terminal is either a real terminal, or the screen and keyboard of
a workstation such as a Macintosh, Amiga, or Atari ST that is running OS-9.
Terminal emulation is not done by OS-9 C-Kermit, but rather by the real
terminal or the workstation console driver.  This includes the capability to
display national and international characters.


THE OS-9/68K FILE SYSTEM

The file system is tree-structured just like the UNIX file system.

  /h0/chris

means the directory  or file "chris" on hard disk #0.

  chris/rubbish

means the subdirectory or file "rubbish" in the subdirectory "chris" of the
current directory.

The command "chd" without any parameters will always take you to your home
directory.

Wildcard expansion is performed by the shell with two metacharacters:

  * stands for an arbitrary string of arbitrary length
  ? denotes a single character

C-Kermit/OS-9 also expands wildcards itself, using the same notation, for
example:

  C-Kermit>send ck*.\?

(Note: the question mark must be prefixed by "\" to override its normal
function of giving a help message.)

OS-9/68k files are sequential streams of 8-bit bytes, just like in UNIX,
except that carriage return (CR, ASCII 13) is the line terminator, rather than
linefeed (LF, ASCII 10).  Binary files are simply streams of arbitrary 8-bit
bytes.  The OS-9 operating system and utilities are "8-bit clean", so text
files can use any ASCII-based character set that is compatible with your
display and data entry devices, for example ISO 8859-1 Latin Alphabet 1.

Unlike UNIX, OS-9/68k has a built-in method to gain exclusive access to
devices, so no lock files are needed.  The user will be told if the device is
already in use.


TO BUILD C-KERMIT FOR OS-9:

Collect all the C-Kermit source files into a directory:

  ckc*.c, ckc*.h, cku*.c, cku*.h, ckwart.c, ckcpro.w, ck9*.*

There are two makefiles: ck9ker.mak and ck9ker.gcc.  If you have a running
version of the GNU C compiler, use ck9ker.gcc (it produces smaller, more
efficient code); otherwise use ck9ker.mak which uses the standard OS-9/68k C
compiler.  Read the appropropriate makefile, edit the necessary changes
mentioned there, create the subdirectories, and make the new Kermit by typing:

  make -f=ck9ker.mak

or:

  make -f=ck9ker.gcc

Read the "beware file" ck9ker.bwr for hints relating to the OS-9 terminal
driver.


USING OS-9 C-KERMIT

The commands and operation of OS-9 C-Kermit should be identical to those of
UNIX C-Kermit, with the exceptions noted above and in the "beware file".  The
user documentation for C-Kermit is:

  Frank da Cruz and Christine M. Gianone, "Using C-Kermit", Digital Press,
  Burlington, MA, 1993, approx. 500 pages.  

    Order Number: EY-J896E-DP
    Digital Press ISBN: 1-55558-108-0
    Prentice Hall ISBN: 0-13-037490-3

  US single-copy price: $34.95; quantity discounts available.  Available in
  computer bookstores or directly from Digital Press.  In the USA, call
  Digital Press toll-free 1-800-344-4825 to order; major credit cards
  accepted.  Overseas, order through your bookstore or your local Digital
  Equipment Corporation branch.  Can also be ordered from:

    Kermit Development and Distribution
    Columbia University Center for Computing Activities
    612 West 115th Street
    New York, NY  10025  USA
    Telephone: (USA) 212 854-3703


(END OF CK9KER.DOC)
