How To Use Kermit To Transfer Files (Using VMD as an Example) How To Sign On to VMD Put your DOS disk in Drive A. Turn on the Machine. When DOS is ready for your commands, it will prompt you like this: A> CTRL-] means to press the Control and Right Bracket keys simultaneously. This is Kermit's escape key, which allows you to issue some commands from the terminal screen (what you get after you type CONNECT). Other commands are issued from the command line, the Kermit-MS> prompt. The commands you issue after the escape sequence are single capital letters. You can see a list of them at any time from the terminal screen by pressing CTRL-] followed by a question mark ?. Now you should replace the DOS disk with the Kermit disk. Kermit is started by typing KERMIT at the DOS prompt. A>KERMIT Start Kermit from DOS. IBM-PC Kermit-MS V2.29b 19 Feb 87 Type ? for help Kermit-MS>DO VM Sets keys and other VM specifics. Kermit-MS>DO 96 Type this only if you are using a LocalNet PC. If you are using communications port 2, or changing other settings, you can do that at this point as well. The command to set the port to com2 is SET PORT COM2. Kermit-MS>CONNECT Issue the CONNECT command. Modem Instructions: If you have a modem, now issue LocalNet Instructions: the command ATDT333-4008. [Press CTRL-] SHIFT-B and press the You must use capital letters. ENTER key until a pound sign (#) If you don't seem to be getting appears] a response from your modem, try the reset command ATZ. If you are using a PC in CommWest, EE or MEB, you should type CALL 4400. You will get the prompt "enter Otherwise, type CALL 4500. class or help". The class is Dial VMD Full-Screen Mode. #CALL 4400 Enter the public # enter class or help:DVMDFS #CALL 4500 Enter the private # ENTER TERMINAL TYPE: VT100 Enter "VT100" and press ENTER. If you have a color monitor, you might experiment with the KRMCLR terminal definition. [VMD Banner screen appears, press ENTER or CTRL-HOME to clear it from the screen.] LOGON DINGLER Logon to the VM system. xxxxxxxxxxx Password. PROFILE Initialize your CMS account. KERMIT Run Kermit on CMS. Kermit-CMS> Kermit prompt on CMS. SENDING FILES FROM THE MAINFRAME TO THE PC Whether sending or receiving, the filename changes are always appended to the SEND command. Commands must always be issued to the CMS side before the PC side of a file transfer. The format for a PC file name is given as: d:file.ext, where d: is the drive name, file is the 8 letter file name, and ext is the 3 letter extension. The format for a CMS filename is fn ft fm; filename filetype filemode (filemode refers to the disk, which defaults to a). Kermit-CMS>SEND fn ft fm d:file.ext Send a file to the PC, specifying which disk and filename it will have on the PC. or SEND fn ft fm Send a file to the PC. It will have the filename fn.ft and reside on the same disk and directory as Kermit. CTRL-] SHIFT-C Use the escape sequence to return to your PC. Kermit-MS> PC Kermit prompt. You can use the CWD command (from the Kermit-MS> command line) to change the directory files will be looked for on, and will be written to (e.g. CWD C:\DATA to change to a subdirectory on the C drive.). Kermit-MS>RECeive RECEIVE the file sent from the mainframe. The first three letters are all you need to type, but you may type the whole command if you like. As packets arrive from the mainframe, the filename and packet number will be displayed on the screen. You are notified of successful or unsuccessful file transfers. When the transfer is complete, you must CONNECT back to the mainframe Kermit and issue the EXIT command (if you are finished sending files) to exit from Kermit. You then logoff the mainframe and issue the escape sequence (CTRL-] SHIFT-C) to get back to Kermit on the PC. Kermit-MS>CONNECT Connects you to Kermit on the mainframe. Kermit-CMS>EXIT Exits from Kermit on CMS. LOG Log off of the mainframe. CTRL-] SHIFT-C Execute the escape sequence to return to PC. Kermit-MS>HAngup PC's Kermit will hangup the phone. If it doesn't hang up your Hayes compatible modem, you may need to issue the hangup command for the modem: +++ATHí (The three pluses tell the modem to pay attention to what comes next instead of treating it as data, AT is the command preface, and Hí is the command.) If you don't have a Hayes compatible modem, this command may not work. Kermit-MS>EXIT Exit from PC's KERMIT. The files you transferred should now be on your PC disk. SENDING FILES FROM THE PC TO THE MAINFRAME You will issue the RECEIVE command on the mainframe before you issue the SEND command on the PC. (Always initiate transfer from the remote host.) Kermit-CMS>RECeive Issue the RECEIVE command on CMS CTRL-] SHIFT-C Escape to the PC. Kermit-MS> PC's Kermit prompt. You can use the CWD command (from the Kermit-MS> command line) to change the directory on which files will be looked for and written to (e.g. CWD C:\DATA to change to a subdirectory on the C drive.). Kermit-CMS>SEND d:file.ext fn ft fm Send a file to the mainframe, specifying which disk and filename it will have there. or SEND d:file.ext Send a file to the mainframe. It will have the filename file ext a. As packets are sent from the PC, the file name and packet number will be displayed on the screen. You are notified of successful or unsuccessful file transfers. When the transfer is complete, you must issue the CONNECT command to return to Kermit on CMS. Issue the EXIT command to exit from CMS Kermit. You may now do whatever you planned for the file(s). Logoff the mainframe and return to the PC using the escape sequence. You can issue the EXIT command to exit from PC's Kermit. Kermit-CMS>EXIT EXIT from CMS Kermit. CTRL-] SHIFT-C Use the escape sequence, return to the PC. Kermit-MS>EXIT Exit from Kermit on the PC. YOUR MSKERMIT.INI FILE This file is read before you receive the Kermit-MS> prompt and consists of instructions which set up your Kermit for normal communications with the campus mainframes. This includes macros, such as "do ibm", (collections of commands which could have been typed at the Kermit-MS> prompt), configuration (setting screen color, setting up for communications port 2, etc.), and key definitions (which you can use if you want a rudimentary dialing directory - set up +letter keystrokes for each ATDTxxx-xxxx). See the article "Redefining Keys with Kermit", by Mark Zinzow (SETKEYS.DOC on your distribution disk) for a more in-depth treatment of this subject. A LITTLE TROUBLE-SHOOTING INFORMATION ù You enter Kermit from DOS (and Kermit reads the initialization file). The message Warning Unrecognized Baud Rate is displayed. This nearly always means that the incorrect communications port has been specified. If your computer has the modem or connection attached to communications port 2, you need to type SET PORT COM2. If the reverse is true (i.e. STATUS shows that Kermit is using Communications Port 2) you need to type SET PORT COM1. ù You are uploading (sending) a file. Kermit displays the file transfer screen, but does not display the file name. The number of retries increases until Kermit aborts the transfer. There are two possible reasons for this. The easiest (and most common) is that you did not specify the drive in which the disk containing the file is located: i.e. SEND B:FILENAME.EXT. By default Kermit will look on the Kermit disk - it doesn't assume that your data will be stored on drive B unless you tell it so. Another cause is wrong parity. If you are not set at the same parity as the computer you are trying to reach, it is possible that you will be able to function as a terminal without any symptoms, but will be unable to perform a file transfer. For CSO's mainframes, check the document Microcomputer to Mainframe Communications (PHONE.DOC on your distribution disk). For other systems, check with the system adminstrator to determine the correct settings.