Kermit File Transfer
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University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Engineering |
Of the file transferring programs, Kermit is one of the oldest used to transfer files. It has an interactive menu and several help messages to help inexperienced users learn its use. In order to use this program, your terminal emulator must support Kermit. Another method of file transfer, called "Z-modem transfer" is the recommended method, because of its error checking facilities. This will be explained later in this document.
You start kermit by typing kermit at the regular prompt. Once
kermit has been started on Wiliki, you will see a prompt like this:
C-Kermit>You may enter file transferring commands at this prompt. If you type a question mark while entering commands, kermit will give a brief list of possible commands.
Command list
Kermit has an extensive list of commands. The list of commands given here are some of the commands which are available on Wiliki's version.
- cd
- Same as the cd command in Unix. Changes the current directory.
- directory
- Display current (local) directory.
- quit
- Exits out of kermit.
- receive [filename]
- Receives file from other computer. (If a filename is given, the first file received will be saved as the specified name instead of the name of the file being sent.)
- send filename
- Sends file to other computer.
- set
- Allows you to configure a wide variety of program options. Of these, the two main settings you should be aware of are set file type binary 8 and set file type text, which set the transfer type to binary (8 bits) and text mode, respectively.
- show
- Shows the values set by the set command, above.
Receiving Files from Your Computer
In order to receive a file from your home computer, start up kermit and make sure the file transfer type is properly set by your terminal program. This is a function of your terminal program, which may vary from the machines we have available to us.
Issue the receive command on Wiliki's kermit prompt. You will see this message:
Escape back to your local system and give a SEND command...What this means is that Wiliki is ready to start receiving a file from your terminal program. This is where you would use the "Send Kermit" option from your PC or Mac, specifying which file(s) on your home computer. After your file transfer is done, you can quit out of Wiliki's kermit. If the transfer has finished and it appears that your terminal is stuck, it may mean that kermit is still waiting for more commands from your home computer. Hit interrupt to kill it. (Usually control-C.)
Sending Files to Your Computer
In order to send a file to your home computer, start up kermit and make sure the file transfer type is properly set. By default, the file type is "text". You can change this to a binary type by typing set file type binary.
Once your file type has been properly set, the send command is used to send a file to your home computer. Type send followed by the file name. Kermit will give you the following prompt:
Escape back to your local system and give a RECEIVE command...When you see this, you would use your terminal program's "Receive Kermit" option to download a file. Once kermit is done, you can quit out of kermit by typing "quit".