Date: Wed, 22 Jul 87 08:41:18 CDT From: "Wayne J. Hauber" Subject: Comments about Apple Kermit 3.75 Keywords: Apple Kermit I am writing to give you some feedback about Apple Kermit 3.75. I am a Programming Consultant for the ISU Computation Center. Jeff Balvanz, our local Kermit expert suggested I write you with my experience. Equipment: enhanced Apple //e, Applied Engineering Serial Pro (A Super Serial Card look-alike), US Robotics Sportster 1200 modem (Hayes look-alike) Problem: The Super Serial Card driver for Kermit 3.75 does not work with my Serial Pro. I set Kermit to the appropriate communication settings and enter C at the Kermit-65 prompt. At this point I should be able to enter the AT codes for my modem. Instead, nothing happens when I enter the AT command. Keystrokes are being accepted, I can see them if I enable local echo. However, they never leave the Apple. If I install the Versitec driver, I can enter the AT codes, however, I usually lose 2 characters at the beginning of every line that I display once I actually login to the host computer. The Super Serial Card driver works well on an Apple //e with a real Super Serial Card that Jeff has in the ISU Micro Products Center. I am speculating that either the Serial Pro is doing something non-standard or that Kermit's Super Serial Driver is. However, I don't have enough information to diagnose how either product works. The Question: Have you met anyone else who is using an Applied Engineering Serial Pro? If so, is there a cure for my complaint? A Guess: I have been guessing that the problem has something to do with interrupts and some routines that come from Pascal. Comments in the main Kermit source refers to routines which come from Pascal. Documentation for my serial card gives Pascal 1.0 and 1.1 entries for the firmware. A note for one of the Pascal 1.1 entry points mentions that this particular byte is set to indicate that the firmware does not support Pascal 1.1 interrupts. I don't know if this byte is set to be faithful to the Super Serial Card rom or if it is set because the Serial Pro only partially emulates a Super Serial Card. It's is a very wild guess on my part and I don't know enough about Kermit's internals to go further from this starting point. About AE: Applied Engineering is a probably the biggest supplier of peripheral cards for Apple IIs. I expect that their card will sell well because of their reputation. It may be worth the effort to fix Kermit to work with their card. What do you think? Wayne Hauber Programming Consultant ga.wjh@isumvs ------------------------------