Subj : almost 4got 1
To   : MANLEY HUBBELL
From : MICHEL SAMSON
Date : Sat Aug 31 2002 04:29 am

Hi Manley,

    About "almost 4got 1" of August 30:

MH> ...IBM [5150]...  ...360 5.25 floppy disks...  ...DOS and a BBS to
MH> answer incoming calls...  ...com program...  ...LYNX connection...
MS> ...one doesn't need to rely on other external ressources like a
MS> FreeNet...  ...a two decades old 8088 4,77 Mhz 512 Kb ~RAM~ PC can
MS> connect with a ~PPP~ DialUp ~ISP~ and allow for ~TelNet~/~FTP~...
MS> ...the user-side of the equation would require that little if only
MS> the `Kermit' file transfer protocol were more popular...
...
MH> I use a COM program...  ...it does have Kermit...  ...seldom
MH> {probably never} use[ed] Kermit, this does not mean i dislike it.

    This is one genuine example why `Kermit' never became popular.  :-7

    What BBSers get from their BBS SysOp is most likely to be a pre-'85
archaic sub-standard implementation of the current `Kermit' protocol (it
is often what they'll get from their respective BBS authors themselves).
Even if BBSers had the latest official `MS-Kermit' release at hand, they
would learn that the `Kermit' protocol is backward-compatible all right;
only, being made that crippled simply renders the protocol unfit and i'm
afraid you get just that on the average ~TelNettable~ BBSes.  You should
know that `Kermit' is blasphemy to most SysOps:  when i offered help for
those of the `Win 95' echo (so that we discuss how to install it for use
over `COM/IP') not one single person took advantage of that opportunity,
i was welcomed with `Kermit'-bashing and soon became a target myself.  I
was supposed to go away after some tried to impress me with decades long
experience (i was told about `Kermit' run on 8-Bit computers (Z80, 6809,
etc.), euh...  but the old days are gone, i argued that ~FOSSIL~ support
wasn't added before 1995 - meaning more flawed 3rd-party implementations
had to be used prior to that date if the serial-port wasn't ~FOSSIL~ but
nobody listened, the outcome was already set.  Don't dare ask a SysOp if
he would be of any help about `Kermit':  if one needs to evaluate it, my
suggestion is look outside of the BBS world (bias is too bad otherwise)!

    In any case, `Telix' thru a FreeNet (or equivalent), or a `BBBS' or
`WildCat! v5.5x' ~TelNet~ BBS are more examples why it's no surprize you
never ever felt a need for `Kermit' before.  I prefer the real thing!...

                                            Salutations,

                                            Michel Samson
                                            www3.sympatico.ca/bicephale
                                            a/s Bicephale


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