File MSVGRI.HLP
2 March 1991
System-dependent source for MS-DOS Kermit Grid Compass support in
MSUGRI.ASM, MSGGRI.ASM, and MSXGRI.ASM. MSVGRI.LNK will link the
modules. Output is MSVGRI.EXE.
Features of Kermit 3.10 for the GRiD Compass
Tektronix emulation is now supported. As with the IBM version, the Tek
emulator is automatically entered with ESC ^L or ESC [?38h. Automatic
exit is with ESC [?38l or ^X. "SET TERM DISABLETEK" will disable
automatic
entry/exit. Tektronix emulation is functionally very similar to that
done for IBM. The principal difference is that characters from the
bottom of the screen are rolled around to the top for the GRiD whereas
for the IBM version, the user is required to press a key in response
to a "More" message when the bottom of the screen is reached.
The arrow keys are used to move the graphics cursor. CODE-arrow is for
faster cursor movement.
CODE-MINUS will toggle between Tektronix and built-in ansi terminal
emulation in connect mode. Graphics and alpha screens are saved.
CODE-= clears the screen in connect mode. The arrow keys return ESC-A
through ESC-D and CODE-x exits connect mode. Any of these keys can be
remapped if desired.
Character are now written to the screen through the BIOS rather than
through MSDOS. The keyboard is read once each eight reads of the
serial port. These changes have approximately doubled the speed in
connect mode to an effective baud rate of about 4800.
Xoff/Xon flow control now works. No characters are lost at 19200 baud.
(Flow control is probably not needed when using the modem.)
By specifying "SET TERM 112x" or "SET TERM 113x", the user tells
kermit the size of his screen. This is essential for Tektronix
emulation. (112x is the default.)
The hangup and send break commands now work.
To run kermit, you will need to load the serial and/or the modem
drivers that come with MS-DOS for the Compass. Simply place
the lines
device=modem.sys
device=serial.sys
in the config.sys file. If you never use one of the ports with
kermit, it is not necessary to load both device drivers. (I think
it is a good idea to also load screen.sys, but on my 1131, at least,
Kermit seems to run fine without this driver.)
You can tell Kermit which port you want and the speed with the
set command. For instance, to use the internal modem at 1200 baud,
type the following two lines at the MS-KERMIT> prompt or place
them in the file MSKERMIT.INI.
set port modem
set baud 1200
To use the serial port at 9600 baud, the appropriate set commands are:
set port serial
set baud 9600
Note that kermit assumes the serial port at startup. If you choose
not to load the serial driver, be sure to "set port modem" in the
MSKERMIT.INI file or when the MS-KERMIT> prompt first appears.
(The GRiD Compass may lock up if Kermit tries to access a non-existent
driver.) The default baud rate used by kermit is whatever the
port (serial or modem) is set to when the program is loaded.
At powerup, both the serial port and modem are at 300 baud. I
recommend using the set baud command to be sure about the port speed.
The internal modem supports a subset of the Hayes AT commands. For
instance,
to dial a number, I enter connect mode and dial ATDT1234567 (or whatever
the number is). A comma in the number string results in a 2 second delay,
which is helpful when waiting for a dial tone on a long distance number,
eg ATDT1,3171234567. Try not to make a mistake when entering a number.
It appears that the dialer does not understand backspace or ^C and the
computer needs to be rebooted if something goes wrong. (Please correct
me if you find a way around these problems.)
If the interal modem is select, Kermit sends the initialization
string ATE1V1Q0S=25. This puts the modem in verbose mode and
the timeout on awaiting an answer is 25 seconds.
In case you need to reset the Compass, press the following four keys at
the same time: CODE, SHIFT, CTRL (on the left side) and - (minus). If
the above doesn't work, it may be necessary to cycle the power.
The COMPASS keyboard does not have all of the ascii character set, but
you can get the characters that are not on the keyboard by pressing CODE
and another key at the same time. Some of these are:
CODE ; gives ~
CODE < gives [
CODE , also gives [
CODE > gives ]
CODE , also gives ]
SHIFT CODE gives |
CODE ' gives `
SHIFT CODE ' gives \
SHIFT ESC toggles CAPS LOCK
Note: The default escape character ^[ maps into CTRL= (control and =
pressed simultaneously) on the GRiD keyboard.
Kermit on the GRiD Compass and UNIX.
Tell stty your screen dimensions with
stty rows 26
stty columns 80
The termcap below works well.
sx|ansi|ansi termcap modified for GRid Compass II:\
:co#80:li#26:cl=50\E[;H\E[2J:bs:am:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:\
:do=^J:nd=\E[C:up=\E[A:ce=\E[K:ho=\E[H:pt:\
:al=\E[1L:dl=\E[1M:\
:ku=\EA:kd=\EB:kl=\ED:kr=\EC:kh=\Eh:\
:so=\E[7m:se=\E[0m:
John Nyenhuis
Purdue University School of Electrical Engineering
West Lafayette IN 47907
(317)494-3524
nyenhuis@ecn.purdue.edu