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Acquiring KERMIT-MS for the DECmate II (plus Bootstrap Procedures)

        by:

        Charles Lasner
        Charles Lasner Associates
        72-55 Metropolitan Avenue
        Middle Village, New York
                       11379-2107

        Telephone: (718) 894-6499

        Net Mail: OC.LASNER@CU20B


Like the DEC Rainbow, there  are  problems acquiring and bootstrapping
KERMIT-MS for MS-DOS on the DECmate II.  This file describes all known
relevant  methods to first acquire KERMIT, and  then  update  it  when
future releases are available.

1)  Obtaining  the distribution file(s) MSVDM2.BOO (or MSVDM2.EXE)  by
    communications methods.

    The DECmate II does not provide any readily available  program  to
    capture remote  files  directly  other  than  the  DEC-distributed
    POLYGON Associates terminal  emulator  (POLY-COMM)  which  is both
    expensive and obsolescent in  light  of  KERMIT.  In any case, the
    few users who have access  to  the  POLYGON  product  and  can use
    POLY-XFR to transfer a file from  a  host  in conjunction with the
    other side of POLY-XFR (the expensive server  side  product  for a
    variety  of  large  systems)  should  use  this method  to  obtain
    MSVDM2.BOO,   the  4-3  encoded  binary  form  of  MSVDM2.EXE  and
    MSBDM2.BAS, the MBASIC de-booing program.

    It is also possible to use WPS-8 Document Exchange (DX) to acquire
    these  files as WPS documents (MSVDM2.BOO and MSBDM2.BAS are ASCII
    files).   The  problem is getting MSVDM2.BOO and MSBDM2.BAS to the
    other site with  DX  support  (CU20B  apparently does have DX-20);
    but this is the  same  problem  as  finding  a  host with POLY-XFR
    support and the files.  DECmate II MS-DOS CONVERT will convert the
    WPS  documents  into  MSVDM2.BOO  and  MSBDM2.BAS  (CONVERT  is  a
    standard  utility  of  DECmate  II MS-DOS).   DECmate  II  CP/M-80
    WPSCONV can also be used to convert the WPS documents into CP/M-80
    files  MSVDM2.BOO  and  MSBDM2.BAS;    MS-DOS  CONVERT  can create
    MSVDM2.BOO and  MSBDM2.BAS  in  either  CP/M-80 or MS-DOS formats.
    (See below for usage of the CP/M-80 file MSVDM2.BOO.)
\f



    The DECmate II  also  runs  OS/278  with  K12MIT (aka KERMIT-278).
    This system can be  used  to  obtain MSVDM2.BOO and MSBDM2.BAS and
    convert them to WPS documents  via  the  standard  OS/278  utility
    WPFLOP.SV.  The user is referred  to  documentation  elsewhere  on
    running  OS/278  and K12MIT.  Unlike DECmate  II  MS-DOS  CONVERT,
    OS/278  WPFLOP.SV  is  documented  only via the help  facility  of
    OS/278,  as  there is no actual manual for this  system.    It  is
    assumed  that  the  user is a long-term familiar of PDP-8/DECmates
    and  needs  only  the  minimal  release notes over and above older
    system documentation from  former  releases of OS/8 family systems
    to "figure it out."  The  command HELP WPFLOP will reveal all that
    is known about this utility.   (CONVERT is adequately described in
    the DEC MS-DOS user manual;   the  user is referred to that manual
    for documentation on CONVERT, which is virtually  self-documenting
    and menu-driven.) A typical usage of WPFLOP follows:

    }R WPFLOP                                  Invoke WPFLOP.
    *RX51:<RX50:MSVDM2.BO/O                    Convert MSVDM2.BOO to a
                                               WPS document.

    This causes the file MSVDM2.BOO to be replicated as a WPS document
    on the specified drive (in this case drive 1 or B) as the document
    of  highest  number (with no name field).  WPS-8 can  be  used  to
    assign a normal name to the document, thus allowing MS-DOS CONVERT
    to turn the document into MSVDM2.BOO.

    The DECmate II can also run CP/M-80.  Assuming the availability of
    KERMIT-80 for  the DECmate II, the files MSVDM2.BOO and MSBDM2.BAS
    can be acquired  as  CP/M files.  MS-DOS CONVERT allows conversion
    of CP/M files into  MS-DOS files;  MSVDM2.BOO or MSBDM2.BAS can be
    transformed into MS-DOS files as  necessary.    This  method  also
    works  with  binary files, allowing the  direct  transfer  of  the
    executable   files  MSVDM2.EXE,  and  MSBPCT.EXE,  the  high-speed
    de-booing  utility (also available in .boo format as  MSBPCT.BOO),
    or  any  other  binary  files.  This assumes the  availability  of
    MSVDM2.EXE and MSBPCT.EXE on the remote system, as well as  binary
    file transfer capability on the remote KERMIT.  If the actual file
    transfer was  accomplished  with  WPS  DX  (ASCII files only), the
    CP/M-80 utility WPSCONV  can  be  used  to  produce the CP/M files
    MSVDM2.BOO and MSBDM2.BAS from  the  corresponding  WPS documents.
    CP/M-80 runs a version of  MicroSoft  BASIC  known  as MBASIC (not
    compatible  with  MSBPCT.BAS)  which  is compatible  with  Rainbow
    CP/M-80/86 MBASIC and VT-180 Robin MBASIC.   The  files MSBDM2.BAS
    and  MSBRB1.BAS (the corresponding file for the Rainbow)  can  run
    under  CP/M-80  MBASIC  to  de-boo  MSVDM2.BOO into MSVDM2.EXE (or
    MSBPCT.BOO  into  MSBPCT.EXE)  before using MS-DOS CONVERT to move
    the file(s) to MS-DOS.
\f



2)  Obtaining the file(s) without communications methods.

    Unfortunately, it  is unlikely the user will be able to completely
    exercise any of  the  above  methods,  as they all have "Catch-22"
    drawbacks.  Some other  method  must  first  be used to obtain the
    file(s) directly.  The DECmate II user has several choices:

    a)  Obtain a DECmate II  MS-DOS  disk  from  the  author  (address
        above) for a nominal charge.

    b)  Obtain a disk from a  DECmate  III or III-plus site containing
        the files in either WPS format  or  CP/M-80  format  as  above
        (these systems run either identical WPS or  compatible CP/M-80
        systems).  DECmate III CP-M/80 can run MBASIC  and  MSBDM2.BAS
        (or  MSBRB1.BAS)  to  de-boo  MSVDM2.BOO  into  MSVDM2.EXE (or
        MSBPCT.BOO into MSBPCT.EXE).

    c)  Obtain a  disk  from  a  Rainbow  site containing the files in
        either Rainbow CP/M-86/80  or  Rainbow  MS-DOS  formats (these
        systems  are  compatible  with  their  respective  DECmate  II
        counterparts).    The  Rainbow  schemes  have  the  additional
        advantage of being able to de-boo the files before delivery to
        the DECmate II by several methods.   (The  Rainbow can run the
        de-booing  programs  MSBPCT.EXE (from C or ASM) under  Rainbow
        MS-DOS,  or MSBRB1.BAS or MSBDM2.BAS with MBASIC under Rainbow
        CP/M-86/80.)

    d)  Obtain a disk from a VT-180 Robin site containing the files in
        CP/M-80  format.  DECmate II or III (but not III-plus) CP/M-80
        supports Robin  disks  (as  read-only devices due to the lower
        density).  The  Robin  is  probably able to run the DECmate II
        de-booing  program  (MSBDM2.BAS)  or   the  Rainbow  de-booing
        program (MSBRB1.BAS) with MBASIC.

    e)  Obtain a single-sided 8 or  9  sector IBM PC format disk (160k
        or 180k) containing the files in  MS-DOS  format.   DECmate II
        MS-DOS  supports  single-sided PC disks (as read-only  devices
        due to the lower density).  This method  has  all of the other
        advantages  of  the  Rainbow  method  (PCs also run MSBPCT.BAS
        etc.)  but  might  require  multiple  disks  if moving several
        files.

    f)  Obtain a  disk from a PDP-8 site with an OS/8 family operating
        system using the  RX50-compatible  FLP8 with 5.25" drives from
        CESI containing the files  in  OS/278 RX50 format.  DECmate II
        (or  III or III-plus) OS/278  supports  this  format  for  all
        purposes except bootstrapping directly to the  floppy disk due
        to  incompatible  hardware-dependant  boot  block code.   This
        allows transfer of all .BOO format files or K12MIT (to allow a
        communications method as above).
\f



    g)  Assuming the user has the RX/78 8" floppy option:

        i)  Obtain  a  copy of the .BOO format files or K12MIT from an
            OS/8 (PDP-8) or  OS/78  (DECmate  I) or OS/278 (DECmate II
            with RX/78) site on  RX01  or  RX02,  and proceed as in f)
            above, or

        ii) Obtain  the  files  on  8"  CP/M-80 diskettes.  Decmate II
            CP/M-80 supports  standard  8"  format  in  single-density
            (RX01 format) only.    (Most of the 8" CP/M-80 systems are
            compatible with the standard  (3740 or RX01) format).  The
            files will have to be copied to 5.25" diskettes before use
            by some conversion utilities (MS-DOS does  not  support 8"
            disks, so CONVERT wouldn't work, etc.) but  you  generally
            proceed as above.

    h)  Obtain  the  generic  MSVGEN MS-DOS KERMIT or generic  CP/M-80
        KERMIT from any of the above to in turn  acquire the requisite
        files.  The generic KERMIT versions run very well under  their
        respective operating  systems  on  the  DECmate  II,  and will
        actually exceed the baud rate limits cited in their respective
        write-ups due to the  superior i/o speed of the DECmate's 6120
        (PDP-8) processor.


3)  Running MBASIC and MSBDM2.BAS.

    From the CP/M-80 prompt the user invokes:

    A>MBASIC MSBDM2

    The program will ask for the name of  the  file  to  be  de-booed.
    Respond  with  the appropriate file name (MSBPCT.BOO, etc.);   all
    normal  (DEC)  editing conventions apply including CTRL-C and DEL.
    The .EXE  file  will  be created automatically using the file name
    imbedded in the  specified boo-format file.  The program will exit
    to CP/M-80;  therefore,  the  user  must run it again to de-boo an
    additional file.


4)  De-booing recommendations.

    The only way to de-boo  the  file MSVDM2.BOO directly from DECmate
    II MS-DOS is to use the  program  MSBPCT.EXE (from either the C or
    ASM  versions).    This  is the recommended  method  for  updating
    KERMIT-MS to the next version, as all other  methods are extremely
    slow.

    Use CP/M-80 MBASIC with MSBDM2.BAS once to convert MSVDM2.BOO into
    MSVDM2.EXE, or to convert MSBPCT.BOO into  MSBPCT.EXE.  Use MS-DOS
    CONVERT to move these files to the  MS-DOS  disk.   MSBPCT.EXE and
    MSVDM2.EXE  will satisfy all future updating needs as  new  KERMIT
    versions  are distributed (MSVDM2.BOO).  If MSBPCT.BOO is de-booed
    by MSBPCT.EXE the resultant MSBPCT.EXE will be smaller (no CP/M-80
    conversion overhead); this applies to all .BOO format files.
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