Hi George,
Hi everybody,

About "Well, I'm back" of July 15:

...I'm back. I plan on getting back to work on Nexus soon. ...I'd
like some thoughts on features and such. What needs to be added?
Any other thoughts or suggestions are more than welcome. ...I think
that we all may be better off in the end...

This invitation sounds only too good to me! Well, if you ask me, i
am in favour of universality: which means i'd keep what i got and add a
a few things if i could - but that's me. Since you seem so eager to get feedback and you're an author (and a moderator...) i'm more than willing
to give you mine: some BBSers who visit ~TelNet~ BBSes complained about `ZMoDem' in the past (not that of `Nexus' in particular but in general).

I posted an offer in other echoes which remained totally ignored by
those i try to reach, perhaps you would see this as an opportunity? I'm offering my help to knowledgeable SysOps who want to add `MS-Kermit Lite
v3.15' as an external file transfer protocol to their BBS. I done tests
since the last year and i have preliminary results: you can offer users
an alternative to `ZMoDem' that's reliable and swift enough ( i obtained
over 3 Kcps over an analog 56 Kbps connection under DOS or `Windows'), i
seen up to 4K7 cps in some good days but it was long ago, unfortunately. `MSK315L.EXE' supports ~FOSSIL~ serial-ports and has been tested on some
BBSes already but the SysOps i contacted on this got too little time or,
euh... %-> Well, if you'd like to take over from there, we'll complete
the task! I intend to make findings public so that more BBS SysOps will
have use of a suitable `Kermit' setup if they wish to... Preconceptions
are strong in the SysOp community and most of them believe that `Kermit'
has been tried before and isn't worth it, not so! `WildCat! v5.x' has a cripled pre-1985 implementation which makes it useless, even `HTPE v6.3' doesn't do justice to the actual `Kermit' protocol; people who'll argue
that they tried it already, in the nineties, forget the ~FOSSIL~ serial-
port support was introduced in v3.14 at the begining of January 1995 and
that, even if they installed _that_ driver, the user probably didn't run
a terminal emulator with a suitable `Kermit' protocol anyway, so... I'm offering you and your users an alternative that can set the clock right. `MS-Kermit' is no AbandonWare, the assembly source-code is available and
the executable is free; v3.16 BETA 10 dates back to April 22, 2001 only
and added "Streaming" mode to the user's arsenal (the "Lite" version has
not been released yet so that means a SysOp may have to ask the author).

`MS-Kermit', as a terminal emulator, supports batch-mode transfers,
crash recovery, HardWare/~BIOS~/~FOSSIL~ serial-ports and direct packet-
driver interfaces (Class-1/~EtherNet~ and Novell ~ODI~), and executes on
a 8088 4,77 Mhz or above (it loads with `LSPPP v0.8' here). In short, a ~TelNet~ BBS can be opened to any PC user - this is called UNIVERSALITY.
I'll assist the BBS user in launching `MS-Kermit v3.16 BETA 10' over the `COM/IP' utility if i'm asked (i tested this already, it works as well).
Other features which some BBSers from foreign countries have recognized: support of ~UniCode~ fonts, character-set translation between platforms!
On the SysOp side, `MSK315L.EXE' supports the use of a FileName list, it
can have its transfer screen shut off, will set ErrorLevel on exit; the scripting/macro language is so rich it could be made a `CE-XYZ' clone so
that it behaves just like an other drop-in replacement (but i won't help
a guy try his teeth on this challenge unless `MS-Kermit' became a must)!

;-)

Coloured arguments over the past of `Kermit' or its noticed absence
in the BBS community are trivial discussions for which i don't have time
nor interrest (in case other readers wonder)... Cooperation is what i'm
here about: i know what i want, i want a clean correspondance where the installation of `MS-Kermit' on ~TelNettable~ BBSes will be the topic. I
seek SysOps WHO CAN MANAGE WITH THEIR SIDE while i do with `Kermit', i'm
not motivated by small-talk about the good old days but i won't trash my correspondance if some slips thru either, as long as we remain focussed!
The SysOp's acquaintance with his BBS SoftWare package is essential as i
don't want to have to repeat requests about DOS environment variables or
the like until exhaustion... I'm able to read batch-files or help about
them so that a mix of DialUp/~TelNet~ nodes can be considered seriously;
if i must, the use of .PIF files can be included in the discussion but i
got limited expertise. Also, if one runs `Win 2K' i'm curious as i were
told that `MS-Kermit' is useless under that OS... we shall verify that!

B^)

Now, if such parameters sound reasonable i'm ready! I might be out
of town in a few days but i'll still be reading `FidoNet' echomail. :^)

Salutations,

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


P.S.: I didn't find `Bbs_Carnival' on bbsnets.com but if a post springs
up out there that my .QWK packets can show i may consider moving.


... Borg BBSing: join motivated SysOps/users or prepare to be destoyed!
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