This is to announce version  1.45  of  Acorn BBC Kermit from Alan Phillips
(SYSKERMIT%vax1.central.lancaster.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK)     of     Lancaster
University,  which  replaces version 1.30 of April 1986.  The program runs
on Acorn  models  B, B+,  B+128, Master 128 and Master Compact, with Acorn
DFS, 1770 DFS, ADFS, Econet, or any other Acorn-compatible filing system.

Version  1.45  comes  with  numerous   big  fixes  and  improvements,  new
documentation (including a 124-page manual), and a new version (1.50) of
Alan's free 65c02 assembler (which can be  used to assemble the program by
those who don't have the ADE assembler).

The new version is in  KER:BBC*.*  (really  K3:, or Tape C), for anonymous
FTP from CU20B, and as BBC* * on  BITNET/EARN  from KERMSRV at CUVMA.  The
file  BBC145.ANN lists in detail the changes to BBC Kermit  since  version
1.30. The  source is in BBCKER.ASM, which is actually the concatenation of
many smaller files (explained in comments at the top).

Version 2.0 of BBC Kermit  (which  will  appear  in  "many  months")  will
support sliding windows. Thanks to Alan for producing this new version and
sending it to us over BITNET.

This distribution from JGH-PD is version 1.46, a bug-fix of 1.45, and
contains the following files:

	A/AssemA	6502 Assembler
	A/Manual	Manual for 6502 Assembler
	A/ReadMe	Notes on 6502 Assembler

	DeHex		Creates binary files from Intel Hex
	MakeHex		Creates Intel Hex files from binary

	Kermit/Asm	Assembly listing for Kermit
	Ram146		Ram version of Kermit
	Rom146		Rom version of Kermit

	SetParam	Program to set default parameters
	T/Kermit0..9	Kermit manual
	T/ReadMe	Notes on Kermit

There is also Scroll and support file disp which can be used to read the
text files.

				BBC KERMIT 1.46
				===============

BBC Kermit 1.46 is a minor bug-fix of 1.45 in setting filename lengths, by
J.G.Harston. Instead of allowing ten-character filenames on non-DFS file
systems, it was erroneously forcing 7-character filenames on non-ADFS file
systems.

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				BBC KERMIT 1.45
				===============

BBC Kermit 1.45 is now available. This corrects a serious bug that
appeared in 1.44, which prevented it talking to Kermit servers if
8th-bit-prefixing was not in use. Any server command would immediately
fail with a message "Too many retries", with only the I packet interchange
being done.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

				BBC KERMIT 1.44
				===============

BBC Kermit 1.44 is a minor bug-fix release that contains no new user
facilities The changes from version 1.43 are as follows:

 - Quoting and 8th-bit-prefixing are done correctly in G packets (i.e.
   those containing the command strings generated by the REMOTE command.)
   In previous versions, for example, any REMOTE command such as REMOTE
   DIR ABCDEF, which  generated a 6-character sub-field, would fail to
   pass the field length byte correctly.

 - REM CWD now sends the password correctly.

 - Bit 7 (the parity bit) is now stripped from all bytes received from the 
   remote system in terminal mode, before they are output to the screen.

 - Wildcard file send will now not attempt to send any files that are in
   fact sub-directories (on ADFS for example). Sub-directories can still
   be sent as files if they are named explicitely.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          BBC KERMIT VERSION 1.43
                          =======================

This is a minor bug fix release. Version 1.42 and earlier all suffered
from a bug in handling the receive-quote character (with B7 set) sent from
the remote side if 8th- bit prefixing was not in use. The symptoms were
that the character would be stored in the file with B6 inverted.

As the default mode of operation of BBC Kermit is to select space parity
and hence always try to negotiate the use of 8th-bit prefixing, it took a
long time for this bug to come to light.

Thanks to Arjen Raateland of Helsinki, Finland for pointing the bug out.

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                               BBC KERMIT 1.42
                               ===============

   BBC Kermit version 1.42 for models B, B+, B+128 and Master 128  is now
available. The features and changes in the new release are as follows:

 - The Master 128 is now fully supported, the minor incompatibilities 
   which existed in version 1.33 being cleared.

 - ADFS is now fully supported. BBC Kermit will generate local file names
   of length appropriate to the selected filing system.

 - The character used when modifying non-unique names has been changed to
   be a "+" as "&" is not legal under ADFS or some Econet file server
   systems.

 - The disc based version will utilise the shadow screen on the B+, B+128
   and Master 128 and will provide a VT52 terminal emulation.

 - The SET VT52 and SET VDU-WIDTH commands are removed, and a new command
   SET TERMINAL introduced. This takes a parameter describing the
   emulation needed, which can be one of TT40 or TT80 for teletype
   emulations, or VT52. For future use, additional types of VT100, TEK, A
   and B are also selectable but will not, of course, be usable (see
   below).

 - The default terminal type will be set automatically from the machine
   type. The ROM version will default to VT52 always; the RAM version will
   default to VT52 on the B+, B+128 and Master 128, and to TT40 on the B.

 - Files are no longer closed on entry, so that the system can be started
   from auto-boot with set up commands in the !BOOT file. A new command
   CLOSE alllows all open files to be closed if this is necessary. Since
   there are now two commands beginning with "C", a new command "C" has
   been provided as a synonym for CONNECT, so that the commonly-used
   abbreviation will still work.

 - The RAM version now sets OSHWM to lie above the program image, so that
   commands such as *COPY will not destroy the program. The mode to be
   selected on reset is changed to 7 to avoid corruption when BREAK is
   pressed. Note that the change to OSHWM is not undone if, for example, a
   *BASIC command is issued to leave KERMIT: the EXIT command should
   always be used.

 - CONTROL-BREAK now exits the RAM version.

 - The code for sending break levels on the comms line has been changed
   and should reduce or eliminate the garbling that occurred in earlier
   releases.

 - A new command SET FILE NAME controls how file names sent by a remote
   Kermit are handled. NORMAL, the default, treats them as "name.type" as
   before; UNTRANSLATED uses the name exactly as sent, so it must be a
   legal BBC file name.

 - User vectors have been removed (no-one responded to a newsletter
   question on whether this feature was used). The JSR command had been
   removed on the pre-release 1.40n versions, but has been re-instated.

 - A file being received from a remote Kermit is now correctly deleted if
   the remote sends an EOF(D) packet.

 - An ACK(X) or an ACK(Z) in response to a data packet sent by BBC Kermit
   is now handled correctly.

 - The system no longer forces selection of the parallel printer, so debug
   or file transfer to network printer should now work. It's up to the 
   user to make sure he doesn't have the serial printer selected!

 - OSBYTE calls with A=70 (decimal) are now used by BBC Kermit, so there
   may be interactions if run in a machine with another ROM that responds
   to this call.

 - The problems that occur when using the OSFIND call to close all files
   has been avoided by correctly closing files explicitly.

 - The source is now compatible with both the ADE assembler and the free
   65C02 assembler distributed with it. A question is output at the start
   of an assembly to determine which is being used.

 - A new command, TRANSFER, allows raw uploading of files with full flow
   control to systems without Kermit.

 - The Master 128 keypad is used in VT52 mode to emulate a real VT52 pad.

   Version 1.42 also contains code to make use of terminal emulation in
other ROMs. The main program (both ROM and RAM versions) will make a
service call with OSBYTE 70 if the currently-selected terminal type is not
one they support: the Terminal Extension ROM may take the call and provide
terminal emulation if it wishes. 

  From this version on, the source can be assembled with the Lancaster
65C02 Sideways-RAM/ROM based assembler, supplied free with BBC Kermit. The
commercially available ADE assembler can still be used, but the Lancaster 
Assembler is the preferred tool to use.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

				BBC KERMIT 1.33
				===============

BBC Kermit 1.33 is now online. This is a bug fix release with no new
facilities over the previous release 1.30. Problems cured are:

 - Reverse screen scrolling in VT52 mode now works correctly. This was a
   bug in OS1.20 which has been circumvented. I am not particularly happy
   with the appearance of the result, and as time permits I shall try to
   improve the way this and similar operations are handled.

 - Function keys are reset to their correct power-on defaults on EXIT or
   OS command. This cures a problem whereby WordWise users found that 
   SHIFT-Cursor did not work after using Kermit

 - A lost ACK to an S packet sent by BBC Kermit is now handled correctly.

 - BBC Kermit will now talk to systems that send pad characters between
   the block-check and the end-of-packet marker.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

				BBC KERMIT 1.30
				===============

   Version 1.30 of BBC KERMIT continues the development of the
implementation produced by the Communications Group of the Computing
Department at Lancaster University. Several new facilities have been
added, known bugs in version 1.02 have been cleared, and the code has been
extensively tidied and rationalised. The User Guide has also been
extensively rewritten, giving greater emphasis to the use of BBC KERMIT by
inexperienced users.

   The changes and new facilities in this release are as follows:

 - The version now exists in both sideways ROM and disc based forms,
   selected by compilation switches. The disc based version offers all the
   file transfer facilities of the sideways ROM version, but supports only
   a 40 character terminal emulation. Future releases for the BBC B+ will
   provide VT52 emulation in the disc based version.

 - The REMOTE command has been implemented, allowing advanced functions to
   be invoked on remote servers. Options provided are DELETE, COPY,
   RENAME, DIRECTORY, CWD, SPACE, WHO, HOST, TYPE, STATUS and HELP.

 - Init-info (I) packets are now sent to servers before the dialogue
   commences.

 - BBC KERMIT can now work with IBM mainframe systems that require a
   handshake byte. A new command SET HANDSHAKE controls this option.

 - The command mode screen can now be switched into 80 character MODE 3
   operation with the new WIDTH command, allowing better display of the
   output from *TYPE or from the REMOTE commands.

 - A status line is now displayed on the screen in terminal emulation
   mode. This provides help on the use of control keys, and indicates what
   options are currently in operation.

 - A "pause" facility is now provided in terminal mode, allowing output to
   be suspended cleanly without possible interaction with the underlying
   flow control mechanisms.

 - VT52 keypad key emulation has been extensively reworked to remove some
   serious bugs and anomalies. The user guide now describes use of the
   VT52 keypad keys in detail, and covers use of the VAX/VMS EDT screen
   editor.

 - The VT52 graphics character set is now supported.

 - Cursor keys in 40 character or 80 character teletype now act as local
   edit keys. In VT52 mode the cursor keys by default produce VT52 ESCAPE
   sequences, but can be switched into local edit mode.

 - Function key strings can be generated in both command and terminal
   modes.

 - Bugs in timeout code have been cleared.

 - A new command SET RETRIES allows the maximum number of retries
   permitted for a packet to be changed.

 - A new command, SET DESTINATION PRINTER, allows files to be transferred
   using the full KERMIT file transfer mechanisms from the remote system
   directly to a parallel printer.

 - The user guide has been altered to use Wordwise's underline and bold
   print control sequences. These can be configured to suit the user's own
   printer.

 - Message texts have been tokenised and changed to be more friendly to
   inexperienced users.

 - BBC filenames given explicitely as parameters to the RECEIVE or GET
   command are no longer translated into upper case, but are taken as
   supplied.

 - Wildcard name matching in the SEND command allows lower case characters
   to be matched, and is no longer case sensitive. A new wildcard
   character "#" is provided, matching to exactly one character.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
