Kermit Software - What's Available and How to Get It
You may obtain Kermit software
via anonymous ftp from
kermit.columbia.edu,
or you use your Kermit Telnet client to download the files from
our Internet Kermit Server.
When obtaining Kermit software over the network, please be sure to also
order the appropriate MANUALS if you
don't have them already.
CLICK HERE for further information
about licensing, terms, and conditions.
Quick Access to Popular Items
CLICK HERE for a complete list of Kermit programs.
CLICK HERE for general FTP access.
CLICK HERE for hints about how to find
what you're looking for in the FTP archive.
Read the following sections if you need clarification or more
information.
Kermit 95
Kermit 95 is the recommended and supported Kermit software for
Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millenium Edition, Windows NT,
Windows XP, and Windows 2000, as well as for IBM OS/2. CLICK HERE to view its capabilities and features. It
is available in several ways:
MS-DOS Kermit
MS-DOS Kermit is for DOS and for Windows 3.11 or earlier. It is
NOT for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, XP, or 2000, nor for OS/2. Although it
might work under certain circumstances on certain PCs with these OSs for
certain purposes, in general it does not, and in any case is not supported or
recommended for those platforms; use it there at your own risk.
CLICK HERE for details.
MS-DOS Kermit is the recommended and supported Kermit software for true DOS
(not a DOS window of Windows or OS/2, but real honest-to-goodness DOS that
you have booted as the base and only operating system).
CLICK HERE to visit the MS-DOS Kermit web page
and to download MS-DOS Kermit.
MS-DOS Kermit is no longer being actively developed, but it is (like DOS
itself), stable and useful, and fully supported for the platforms where it is
supposed to work. Note, however, that even if you boot plain DOS on your PC,
MS-DOS Kermit still might not be able to use "modern" devices such as
Winmodems, Winprinters, PCMCIA devices, USB serial ports, and so on. Neither
can any other DOS application.
LICENSE: Although MS-DOS Kermit can be
downloaded for your own or your company's internal use without license,
it must be licensed for commercial redistribution
CLICK HERE for terms and conditions.
MANUAL:
Instructions for use are in the MS-DOS Kermit
manual. Please purchase it and read it. This will get you started
quickly and it provides you with a comprehensive reference to the more
advanced features that you will want to use, such as the scripting language.
It also contains sections on performance tuning and troubleshooting to make
you self-sufficient. Sales help to fund the Kermit Project and also keep its
costs (and therefore prices) down by lightening the load on our help desk.
G-Kermit
G-Kermit is only for UNIX. It is a very simple Kermit
file-transfer program. It does not make connections, it does not execute
scripts, it does not do anything except send and receive files, and then only
when it is on the far end of a connection. If you need a Kermit file-transfer
agent for UNIX that will be accessed only in this way, then G-Kermit is a good
choice. If you need anything beyond basic file transfer -- such as dialing
out, making Telnet connections, scripting and automation, character-set
conversion, client/server functions, etc -- then you'll need C-Kermit (next
section). CLICK HERE to visit the G-Kermit web
page.
C-Kermit
C-Kermit is the Kermit software for
UNIX, VMS, Stratus VOS, Data General AOS/VS, QNX, and Microware
OS-9. CLICK HERE to view its capabilities and
features, and to download it.
C-Kermit is an extemely sophisticated tool, as you can see from the Web page.
Instructions for use are in the C-Kermit manual.
Please purchase it and read it. This will get you started quickly and it
provides you with a comprehensive reference to the more advanced features that
you will want to use, such as the script language. It also contains sections
on performance tuning and troubleshooting to make you self-sufficient. Sales
help to fund the Kermit Project and also keep its costs (and therefore
prices) down by lightening the load on our help desk.
There is a huge amount of C-Kermit material on the FTP site. You might find
it more convenient to load C-Kermit from the
C-Kermit CDROM
LICENSE: Although C-Kermit can be
downloaded for your own or your company's internal use without license,
it must be licensed for commercial redistribution:
C-Kermit is the most portable communications software on earth, so you have
to find the version of it that is appropriate to your computer. Past or
present releases of C-Kermit cover ten different operating system families,
some of them represented by dozens or hundreds of distinct implementations.
The C-Kermit Web page should guide you through this
painlessly, but in case you are baffled by it, here are a few tips that might
be helpful:
- UNIX is an operating system family with literally hundreds of members, each with its own name. UNIX
versions are available for nearly every hardware platform from the smallest
desktop computer to the biggest mainframe or supercomputer. The most popular
UNIX variations today are (in no special order) Linux, IBM AIX, Sun Solaris,
Hewlett-Packard HP-UX, DEC (Compaq, HP) Tru64 UNIX, FreeBSD, SCO OpenServer,
SCO UnixWare, and Silicon Graphics IRIX, but there are also many others. Each
of these operating systems comes in a series of releases, and many of
them also are available for more than one hardware platform. To
illustrate: Solaris is available for both Sparc (RISC) and Intel (PC)
hardware, and has gone through versions 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 7,
8, and 9. As a general rule (there are exceptions), every combination of
operating system release and hardware platform has a separate C-Kermit
program. The most prominent exception is that a Kermit version for an
earlier OS release should work on a later release of the same OS on the
same hardware platform, but this can not be guaranteed (e.g. across libc/glibc
or curses/ncurses migrations). The other side of the coin is that a Kermit
binary built under a later release of an OS will almost certainly NOT run
under an earlier one.
We try to build a separate C-Kermit binary for every combination; these are
listed in a BIG TABLE in which you can click on
hundreds of download links. If you download a binary and it works, fine. If
it doesn't work, you can either try some other possibly appropriate binary, or
(better) download the source code and build
it yourself.
If you download a C-Kermit binary, don't forget that you should also pick
up the associated files: man page, various hints and tips files, and so on.
You can find them HERE.
- VMS (also called OpenVMS) is a proprietary operating system
from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for its VAX and Alpha lines of
computers. DEC no longer exists. VMS and its computers were bought by Compaq
Computer Corporation, which was later bought by Hewlett Packard Corporation,
which now also owns Tru64 UNIX. Like UNIX, VMS comes in many releases, and
each release is for two different hardware platforms: VAX and Alpha. As with
UNIX, a separate version of C-Kermit is required for each combination. To
complicate the situation, VMS does not include a standard TCP/IP stack.
So if you want to use Kermit to make Telnet connections, you must pick the
version that supports the add-on TCP/IP stack used on your VMS computer: TGV
MultiNet, Wollongong WINTCP or Pathway, DEC/Compaq/HP UCX, Process Software
TCPware, CMU/IP, etc, and not only that, but the exact release of the TCP
product. Again, as with UNIX, the general rule is that Kermit programs built
with earlier releases of the OS or TCP/IP stack should work under later
releases of the same OS and the same TCP/IP stack on the same hardware
platform.
Confused? Here's an example. Suppose you have a VAX with VMS 7.1 and
TGV MultiNet 4.2A. Look in the C-Kermit
binaries list for this combination and it should jump right out at you.
But if you can't find an exact match, then:
- Try a version for the same hardware platform (VAX or Alpha) and the same
TCP/IP product (e.g. MultiNet) but with lower version numbers.
- If you can't find a version for the TCP/IP product you have, try the UCX
version, since most 3rd-party VMS TCP/IP products include a "UCX emulation
mode".
- Stratus VOS, like UNIX and VMS, is available for multiple hardware
platforms, and comes in a series of releases, and each release might or might
not include TCP/IP and/or X.25. Each combination has a separate
Kermit binary; you must choose the appropriate one. See the
Stratus section of the C-Kermib
binaries table. Similarly for Data General AOS/VS and other operating
systems for which C-Kermit is available.
Other Kermit Programs
If you are looking for a very old Kermit program, e.g. prior to 1985, some
of these are kept in special directories on the Kermit FTP site:
- kermit/old
- Old versions of Kermit programs for which newer versions have been
released. These are not supported, but are archived for historical purposes.
- kermit/extra
- Kermit programs for platforms which are believed to no longer exist,
or redundant and/or obsolete Kermit programs that have been replaced by
better ones, and also some old utilities such as cross assemblers.
Some examples include Dartmouth DTSS Kermit, Honeywell MULTICS Kermit, Norsk
Data Kermit, DEC P/OS Kermit, and Kermit for various Perkin Elmer minicomputer
OS's.
If you have questions about other Kermit programs, first
LOOK HERE.
If that doesn't help, send e-mail to
[email protected].
Kermit Software - How to get it /
Columbia University /
[email protected] /
3 Dec 2002