Kermit 95 2.1
This page last updated:
Wed May 18 14:07:32 2022
(HTML5, corrections)
A way
to make Kermit 95 work with modern SSH servers
- April 2022
With K95 locked out from most SSH connections (item just below) a new
workaround is available for those who use K95 on a home network if they also
have either (a)
a Unix (e.g. Linux, Mac OS) computer on the same network; or (b)
Linux
Subsystem for Windows on their PC.
CLICK HERE to see how to do it.
SSH
connections blocked - January 2017
New OpenSSH release
7.4 breaks K95's SSH client by replacing all the ciphers that K95 uses
with new ones that K95 doesn't know about. It took about five years for
the new SSH server to be installed everywhere, and then it was impossible
to use K95's SSH client.
Some
progress on a new
Open-Source version of K95 - 2013
Signicant progress was made in 2013 on a new Open Source K95 release but it
wasn't quite finished. CLICK HERE for a
report. Volunteer Windows programmers needed to finish the job.
The Kermit Project at Columbia University was cancelled effective 1 July 2011
There will not be a new release of Kermit 95 from the Columbia Kermit
Project and technical support will not be available after June 30th, 2011.
See the announcement HERE. Single copies of
Kermit 95 will continue be available from retail sources such as
Amazon.com while supplies last (see button above). Bulk licenses can be
ordered (without technical support)
from Columbia University
Technology Ventures. The source code
has been released with the Open
Source Simplified BSD License, except for
any modules containing code that is proprietary to other companies.
Kermit 95: Internet and serial
communications for Microsoft Windows® 95,
Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT (4.0 and
later), Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003,
Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 10, and IBM
OS/2 from the Kermit Project, offers you
text-based terminal connections to Unix, VMS, and many other kinds of hosts,
allowing you to interact directly with their shells and applications, to
transfer files, and, if desired, to automate interactions and file transfers
with its built-in platform- and transport-independent scripting language.
HIGHLIGHTS
- VERSION 2.x RUNS IN A GUI WINDOW
- Internet Virtual Terminal Connections: SSH, Telnet, Rlogin, SSL/TLS.
- Internet Security: SSH v1/v2, Kerberos 4/5, X.509 Certificates / PKI, and SRP
- Built-in secure, scriptable command-line FTP and HTTP Internet clients.
- Lockdown features for creating captive sessions.
- Active and Passive FTP modes.
- HTTP Proxy and SOCKS4 firewall traversal.
- SSH port forwarding (tunneling).
- X Windows session forwarding.
- Persistent connections through NATs.
- Modem and serial port connections.
- Built-in terminal emulator supports more than 40 different terminal emulations.
- Kermit, FTP, XYZMODEM, and "ASCII" file-transfer protocols.
- An Internet-accessible service for remote access.
- International character-set translation including Unicode.
- Numeric and alphanumeric paging.
- Full scripting and automation of all the above.
- Easy graphical one-time setup of all your connections.
What sets Kermit 95 apart from other Windows communications packages?
Its unique combination of security options, connection methods, protocols,
character-sets, customizability, and scriptability, plus the sheer number and
accuracy of its terminal emulations. And we don't only "do Windows" -- we
also provide compatible software for Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, AIX,
HP-UX, VMS, and lots of other platforms. Learn
the Kermit command and scripting language once, use it on many kinds of
connections and on many kinds of computers and operating systems:
past, present, and future.
Kermit 95 is used all over the world in the academic, government,
corporate, and nonprofit sectors.
In the private sector, K95 is a favorite of consultants, system
integrators, and makers of high-tech equipment, who bundle it with their
products or services. In the health-care industry, it's widely used for
insurance claim submission as well as in hospital information systems,
laboratories, and medical devices; in the retail market, it's used for
inventory, POS, and EDI applications; in libraries for catalog access and
back-office work; in any large organization, it's a handy network monitoring
and management tool. It's popular internationally for its comprehensive
character-set support. In every sector, its security features make it ideal
for remote maintenance of secure websites and for any critical or sensitive
text-based applications -— as well as for such simple tasks as reading your e-mail without catching a virus.
FEATURES
(Click for detail)
Kermit 95 is Year-2000 ready
and Euro compatible. It has two major components:
THE DIALER
The
graphical Dialer configures and launches
all your connections (dialed or network, secure or clear-text, terminal or
FTP) by means of menus, buttons, and dialog boxes so you don't have to deal
with complicated initialization files, macro definitions, commands, or
"syntax" of any kind. The Dialer can configure as many different connections
as you want, and can manage multiple simultaneous active connections. For
added convenience, the Dialer can create desktop or Start-menu shortcuts for
your most frequently used connections.
THE CONNECTION ENGINE
| The actual work -— communications, file transfer, scripting, etc -— is
done by the K95.EXE program, similar to its cousins on UNIX, VMS, and MS-DOS, which is normally (but need not be)
launched from the Dialer pushbutton-style to make each of your connections
automatically with all the appropriate settings and desired customizations.
The graphical Dialer removes the need to interact directly with the command
prompt in most cases. Yet all the commands are there in case you need them
. . . or if you want to script them. Thus the Dialer configures, organizes,
launches, and manages your connections, and K95 does all the real work.
|
Beginning with Version 2.0, the connection engine comes in two forms:
Graphical User Interface (GUI), K95G.EXE (Windows only, not
OS/2), and Console, K95.EXE. Previous releases were available
only in a Console version. For a detailed description of the new GUI version,
CLICK HERE.
- CONNECTIONS
-
Note: Most of these are obsolete or at least hard-to-find as of 2021-22.
In particular, new SSH servers reject connections from old SSH clients
like K95. Telnet, FTP, and RLOGIN servers have been virtually banned from
the Internet. Proprietary networks such as DECNET, LAT, and TES are also
probably extinct.
Internet: SSH v1/v2 (Windows only)
Internet: TELNET (incoming too)
Internet: FTP
Internet: RLOGIN
Internet: HTTP
Internet: Internet Kermit Service
Modem dial-out and dial-in:
- Built-in modem database and dialing
- Microsoft Telephony (TAPI)
- RFC2217
Telnet modem server dialing
Direct serial-port-to-serial-part connections
DECnet and LAT:
- In Windows 95/98/ME/NT/XP/2000,
PATHWORKS-32 7.0 or later is required.
- In OS/2, DEC PATHWORKS 2.0 or later (which is
no longer a product) is required.
TES32 (Windows only): (InterConnections Inc
TES32 required, which is no longer a product)
NETBIOS (OS/2 only)
IBM OS/2 Named Pipes (OS/2 only)
IBM OS/2 Warp Server Redirected Communication
Ports (OS/2 only)
- SECURITY
- SSH v1 and v2 connections (next item) as well as Secure Telnet and FTP connections using
Kerberos IV, Kerberos V, SRP, SSL/TLS, or public/private key-pair protocols
for authentication and encryption when the host is equipped with compatible
servers. (Export to certain countries restricted; SSH and Kerberos not
available for OS/2.) (CLICK HERE for a
survey of secure Telnet and FTP servers.) K95 2.1 is compatible with the
standard OpenSSH, OpenSSL, Kerberos, and SRP libraries and interfaces, and
supports Telnet Forwarding of Authorized X Windows System session data over
secure connections.
- LOCKDOWN FEATURES
- Version 2.1.3 adds the new ability to set up "captive" sessions for users
by hiding the Tool bar, Menu bar, and/or Status bar, disabling scrollback, and
blocking access to the command window, the Dialer, and other external
applications. Sessions can now be preconfigured as Minimized, Maximized (full
screen), or Normal Window.
- THE SSH CLIENT
- Based on OpenSSH 3.0.2p1, K95's built-in SSH client (for Windows only,
not OS/2) supports SSH versions 1.3, 1.5, and 2.0 and with a full range of
authentication methods including password, public/private key pairs, Kerberos
4, Kerberos 5 GSSAPI, and SRP, as well as with external SSH agents. Like all
K95's other connection methods, it is fully scriptable. It supports all the
same terminal emulations and features as K95's Telnet, Rlogin, and modem
clients: character sets, key mapping, scrollback, mouse actions, etc, and is
fully integrated into the K95 Dialer as well as K95 itself. CLICK HERE to read about Kermit 95's new SSH client.
As of version 2.1.3, SSH Agent Forwarding is also supported.
- THE FTP AND HTTP CLIENTS
-
A highly functional FTP client
implementation including:
- Secure Kerberos 4/5, SSL, TLS, or SRP connections as well as
traditional non-secured ones.
- Automatic per-file text/binary mode switching.
- Recursive directory-tree uploads.
- Atomic file movement.
- Character-set conversion including to/from
Unicode.
- Flexible file selection (name, name list, name pattern, date, type, size,
exception list).
- Update and recovery modes.
- Timestamp preservation when downloading.
- File collision options for downloading.
- New FTP protocol features: FEAT, MLSD, MDTM, SIZE
The HTTP 1.1 implementation includes:
- Secure HTTPS connections as well as non-secured HTTP ones.
- Support for both one-shot and persistent connections.
- Ability to establish proxies for firewall traversal.
- Access to header information such as timestamps.
Both HTTP and FTP are fully scriptable, allowing (for example) automated
secure updating of (or from) remote Web or file archive sites.
- MODEM DIALING
- An intelligent phone-list that understands the difference between
international, long-distance, local, toll-free, and internal PBX calls,
and adjusts itself according to your location; that allows multiple phone
numbers for a single service; and that can be told how many times and how
frequently to redial if the connection is not made. North American
10-digit dialing is supported. Numeric and alphanumeric
paging too.
- REMOTE ACCESS
- Kermit 95 allows remote text-mode or client/server access to your PC
in several different ways:
What's a Terminal???
Click here to find out.
- TERMINAL EMULATION
- Emulation of 40 different types of terminals including
ADM-3A;
Ann Arbor Ambassador (partial);
ANSI-BBS;
Avatar/0+;
AT386;
BeBox ANSI;
Data General DASHER D200, D210;
Data General DASHER D217 in native and Unix modes;
DEC VT52;
DEC VT100, VT102, VT220, VT320 with color extensions;
Hazeltine 1500;
Heath/Zenith 19;
Hewlett Packard 2621A;
HPTERM;
IBM HFT and AIXTERM;
IBM 3151;
Linux console;
Microsoft VTNT;
QNX ANSI and QNX Console;
SCOANSI;
Siemens Nixdorf BA80 and 97801-5xx;
Sun Console;
Televideo TVI910+, TVI925, TVI950;
Volker Craig VC404;
Wyse 30, 50, 60, 160, and 370.
Tektronix, Sixel, ReGIS, and other graphics emulations are not presently
included.
CLICK HERE for a gallery of K95 terminal screens.
Terminal emulation features include:
- URL hot spots, automatically highlighted, ready for "Ctrl-Clicking"
- VTxxx 80/132 column switching
- User-selectable screen dimensions by command, dialog, or dragging
- Fast screen updates even on encrypted connections
- Compatibility with speech and Braille devices
- Full color in ANSI, VT, and similar emulations
- User-customized colors
- Virtually unlimited scrollback with scrollbar or scrolling keys
- Fullscreen/windowed mode switching (maximize/restore in GUI)
- Copy/paste, print, searching, and bookmarks in the scrollback buffer
- Host-directed and local printing
- Fully customizable key maps per terminal type
- PCTERM, EMACS, Word Perfect, Russian, and Hebrew keyboard modes
- User- and host-configurable function keys
- Import/export MS-DOS Kermit key mapping files
- DEC LKxxx keyboard support
- Integrated mouse functions: copy/paste/transmit, cursor steering, URL
activation
- Character-set conversion in both directions
- Unicode-based terminal sessions for
many languages at once, even in Win9x/ME.
- Compose Key for Latin-1 and Latin-2 characters
- Unicode Compose Key
- Ctrl/CapsLock and Esc/Grave swapper included (Windows 95/98/ME only)
- Versatile printer control, including bidirectional printers and built-in
Text/PostScript conversion
- Pop-up context-sensitive help, debugging, much more
- A perfect VTTEST score.
- FILE TRANSFER
- In addition to its new built-in FTP and HTTP clients, Kermit 95 includes
the following file-transfer protocols and features for use within terminal
sessions over any of its connection methods -— serial or network, secure
or clear-text:
- The fastest and most
advanced implementation of the Kermit protocol
available anywhere:
Sliding windows, long packets, control-character unprefixing,
locking shifts, character-set translation, an update feature, recovery of
failed transfers from the point of failure,
automatic per-file text/binary mode switching,
recursive directory-tree transfer, timestamp preservation,
Kermit Streaming Protocol, and much more.
- Internet Kermit Server and Client
- Integrated X/Y/ZMODEM licensed from
Online Solutions Oy,
Jyvaskyla, Finland
- Auto-download for both Kermit and Zmodem
- Autoupload for Kermit transfers
- Batch uploads and downloads including an update feature
- "ASCII" (non-protocol) file capture and upload
- Background as well as foreground file transfers
- Long filenames
- FILE MANAGEMENT
- Kermit 95's command screen is similar to a Windows Command Window,
allowing you to obtain directory listings; copy, rename, and delete files;
create and remove directories; search for text in files; display files on
the screen, and so forth, but with more commands and options than Windows,
a friendlier interface (file and keyword lists on demand, file and keyword
completion, built-in help) and full scriptability. The same file management
features are also available for managing remote files over a Kermit (or,
to some extent, an FTP) client/server connection, and many of them are tied
into the file transfer process itself; for example, providing the ability to
atomically "move" a file from one computer to another.
- INTERNET KERMIT SERVICE
- Internet Kermit Service (IKS) is an Internet file-transfer and management
client/server protocol similar to FTP but with more features, security, and
automatability. It is described in Internet RFCs
2839 and
2840. Kermit 95 can act
as both an IKS client and (in Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista only) an IKS
server, allowing controlled and manageable remote access to your PC from the
Internet. For further information see the
Windows IKS User
Guide, the
Windows IKS Administrator
Guide, and the
Unix IKS User Guide,
Unix IKS Administrator
Guide.
- AUTOMATION
- K95's command and script language allows not only for the automation of
routine or complicated tasks, but also an unparalleled degree of
customizability so you can tailor it to fit into any setting. The same
intuitive and portable language is in
widespread use on hundreds of other platforms: Automatic programmed
interactions with other computers, services, or devices: wait for strings or
patterns (one or more simultaneously), respond with other strings; make
decisions based on the success or failure of any command, host input, or other
criteria. Macros, block structure, built-in and scoped user-defined variables
and arrays, associative arrays, string manipulation and arithmetic functions,
date-time arithmetic, user-defined functions, file manipulation and access,
IF-ELSE, FOR, WHILE, SWITCH, GOTO, and much more. You can even have Kermit
write scripts for you by watching and recording your interactions with the
host. CLICK HERE
for an introduction.
- CHARACTER SETS
- Character-set conversion during both terminal emulation and (a
unique feature of the Kermit protocol) file transfer: All major West
European, East European, Greek, Cyrillic, and Hebrew character sets are
supported, plus Unicode UCS-2 and UTF-8. And, for file transfer only,
also various Japanese Katakana and Kanji character sets (JIS, Shift-JIS, EUC).
CLICK HERE for a list and
HERE for some screen shots.
- DOCUMENTATION AND SUPPORT
- A user-friendly online manual manual plus (with shrinkwrapped retail
copies only) a comprehensive technical reference manual, also available
separately. Technical support
via e-mail (through June 20, 2011, only).
HOW TO GET IT
(Section obsolete; there's no way to get it any more. The free open-source
version needs to be finished;
CLIC HERE
for futher information.
FEATURES NOT INCLUDED
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The features listed below are not included in the current Kermit 95
release:
- SCP, SFTP
- Drag-and-drop or other graphical forms of file transfer
- IPv6, IPsec, and other new Internet standards
- Tektronix, Sixel, ReGIS, or other graphics terminal emulations
- VT3xx and/or Wyse soft character sets
- Handling of Unicode combining sequences
- Handling of Unicode Planes 1 and higher
- Integration of Unicode into the command language
- Duospaced CJK terminal emulation
- IBM Mainframe 3270 terminal emulation
- IBM AS/400 5250 terminal emulation
- Windows CE / Pocket PC support
- Windows-specific APIs for exchanging data objects with other applications
Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. OS/2,
Warp, and Merlin are registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation. Kerberos is a trademark of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. SRP is a trademark of Stanford University.
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