Communication between UNIX and IBM System 38?

[Dennis Bednar]

> 
> From my understanding, we'd like to have:
> 	1. a "cu" equivalent for someone on UNIX to call out and
> 	   get interactive access to the System 38;
> 	2. a "cu" equivalent for someone on the System 38 to
> 	   get interactive access to the UNIX system;
> 	3. some file transfer capability, including sending
> 	   plain ASCII files from UNIX to the S/38 and sending
> 	   Displaywrite-coded word processing files from the S/38
> 	   to UNIX.
> 
> Has anyone worked on this problem before?


If C-kermit is available for your System 38, then I would recommend
you look further into it.  By the way, kermit is in the public
domain, and therefore the source code is FREE.  For more info,
contact

	Frank da Cruz
	Columbia University Center for Computing Activities
	New York, New York 10027


Here is a list of kermit documentation that I am aware of
(perhaps those in net.dcom can add to this list?  - send
replies to dennis at rlgvax.UUCP, and I will post a later
summary to net.dcom)


         Kermit Protocol Manual, 5th Edition, April 5, 1985, by Frank Cruz.

              A manual for people who must implement the kermit protocol,
              not intended for the casual reader.


         "Kermit", PC Tech Journal, January 1985, by Augie Hansen.

              A nice, easy to read, discussion of the Kermit protocol.
              Kermit is compared to the 7-layer OSI Reference Model. Im-
              plementations and user experience are also briefly mentioned.

         UNIX Kermit, DRAFT, March 1985, Frank da Cruz, et al.

              A must, but somewhat painful, reading. It is a user's manual
              for C-kermit, a version of kermit written in the C program-
              ming language for UNIX systems.  The command line options are
              discussed in detail, and would only be useful for knowing how
              to invoke remote kermits, assuming that it is the UNIX C-
              kermit version.  Also, the interactive commands are discussed
              in detail. The interactive commands section is a must read-
              ing, since it can be very useful for defining additional
              characteristics of the physical interface, but  which are not
              settable from OFFICEPOWER.


         "Kermit: A File-Transfer Protocol For Universities, Part 1: Design
         Considerations and Specifications", Byte, June 1984, by Frank da
         Cruz and Bill Catchings.

              An excellent article that discusses the motivation for the
              development of the protocol: the need for cheap but reliable
              file transfers between mainframes and micros at a university
              campus.  An excellent case study of what kinds of things can
              go wrong when you try to design a general purpose point-to-
              point data link protocol that must work between a multitude
              of different computers, each with their own incompatible nu-
              ances.


         "Kermit: A File-Transfer Protocol For Universities, Part 2: States
         and Transitions, Heuristic Rules, and Examples", Byte, July 1984,
         by Frank da Cruz and Bill Catchings.

              The internals of packet formats, and the state transitions
              used for reliable file transfers.


         Kermit User Guide, 5th edition, March 2 1984, Frank da Cruz,
         editor.

              Sections 1-4 serve as an excellent tutorial on how to use
              kermit, independent of the version. Section 9 is UNIX-
              specific, but is currently out of date, since the options
              flags are passed differently.
-- 
Dennis Bednar	Computer Consoles Inc.	Reston VA	703-648-3300
{decvax,ihnp4,harpo,allegra}!seismo!rlgvax!dennis
dennis at rlgvax.UUCP