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 shoud 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 bug in DFS 2.24 on the Master 128, which affects the  OSFIND  call  to

     close  all  files, is substantially circumvented, but the real solution to

     this must be to obtain DFS2.25 or remember to use the correct  release  of

     the CONVERT utility.

     

   - 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. 



Files on the Lancaster distribution machine

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


   Version 1.42 is available on the Lancaster distribution machine either by FTP

or by using Kermit. The files are:


   [.BBC]BBC*.ADE      The assembly-language source

   [.BBC]BBCROM.HEX    An Intel hex dump of the sideways ROM version

   [.BBC]BBCRAM.HEX    An Intel hex dump of the disc based version

   [.BBC]BBCDEHEX.BAS  A program in BASIC to convert Intel hex to binary

   [.BBC]BBCKERMIT.DOC The full User Guide

   [.BBC]BBCBUILD.HLP  An extract from the User Guide on how to build BBC Kermit

   [.BBC]BBCASM.HEX    An Intel hex dump of the Lancaster 65C02 assembler

   [.BBC]BBCASM.DOC    Documentation for the assembler


   [.BBC]BBCPATCH.BAS  A BASIC program to convert hex to binary, and also to

                       make changes to the default parameter tables in the code.

                       This program is by Dave Walker (WalkerDM@CF.MULTICS)