Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1988 17:08:33 EDT From: Christine M Gianone Subject: Announcing EASYK, a Menu-Driven Shell for MS-DOS Kermit Keywords: MS-DOS Kermit 2.31, EASYK This is to announce a "shell" for MS-Kermit 2.31, for use on the IBM PC and compatibles in the IBM mainframe 3270 emulation environment, developed by Prof. Richard A. Elnicki of the University of Florida College of Business, $$$HUSG@NERVM.BITNET. The shell is constructed from a collection of Kermit command and script files, and provides menu-driven access to IBM CMS and TSO systems via VTAM. The package, called EasyK, was designed to provide users with easy, full-screen access to CMS and TSO services in their homes in a mode that looks similar to the access they have in their offices on micros with coaxial cable boards. Since there are numerous files, some of them containing 8-bit characters (e.g. for special effects in the documentation), they have been archived using the PKARC utility, and the resulting EASYK.ARC file was converted to .BOO format for distribution over networks, on tape, etc, as MSIEAS.BOO (available on CUNIXC as ~kermit/a/msieas.boo). To use these files, make a separate directory on the PC for the MSIEAS.BOO file, CD to it, then run any of the MSBPCT programs to "unboo" it (the result will be called EASYK.ARC). Because of the way BOO files are encoded, there may be one or two extraneous null characters on the end of EASYK.ARC after you do this. Now run PKXARC to de-archive EASYK.ARC into its constituent files. Because of the extra nulls, you might get an error message, which you can ignore. To see "easyk" in action, just type "easyk". Note, the EasyK package is normally distributed with a copy of KERMIT.EXE which has been renamed to EASYK.EXE. Since MS-DOS Kermit is available separately in the same directory as the EasyK files, the EASYK.EXE file has been replaced by EASYK.BAT, which simply contains the line "kermit". This means that KERMIT.EXE must be on your current disk:directory or in your DOS PATH. Thanks to Prof. Elnicki for contributing his work. Although some of it is specific to the University of Florida mainframe environment, it should be easily customizable for other institutions with similar equipment. An overview follows... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Dec 1988 15:22:51 LCL From: $$$HUSG@NERVM.BITNET (Dick Elnicki) EasyK(ermit): Kermit Made Easy Professor Richard A. Elnicki, D.B.A Department of Decision and Information Sciences College of Business Administration University of Florida $$$HUSG@NERVM.BITNET Students, faculty and staff at the University of Florida (UF) have access to the broad range of computing facilities available at most large universities. A number of dial-up software packages giving access to our IBM 3090/400 services were in use when I was first introduced to Kermit. Having previously written a dozen or so user manuals on the use of our IBM systems (TSO, CMS, DISOSS, etc.), I worked on a user manual for a locally written dial-up software package (YT) and found it quite limited in function. Kermit 2.30 appeared to be a package that could be used to build an easy to use -- EasyK(ermit) -- set of files my colleagues in the College of Business could take home and put on their micros. These files permitted them to use their micros at home in about the same way they used their office micros. Their office micros have various types of coax boards and software emulating IBM 3270 terminals. Kermit 2.30 did work as expected. EasyK 1.00 was distributed to some of my Business School and computer center staff colleagues. The script capability in Kermit 2.31 sent me back to the drawing board. The result was quite successful. UF faculty, students, and staff are now using Version 1.10 to access VTAM services at the Northeast Regional Data Center (NERDC) from their offices, homes and labs. (Others are using a variation to access various VAX systems on the UF campus.) The design objective of EasyK is to minimize the number of keystrokes a user must (1) remember and (2) enter to access a mainframe service while making available an easy-to-use set of help screens in a relatively "friendly environment." The friendly environment was created by a colleague at the NERDC, Scott Crumpton. (He makes a living making sure NERDC's many gigabytes of DASD space work efficiently as designed for large user applications on the IBM 3090/400.) Scott wrote a set of VT102 keystroke definition files for Kermit to emulate an IBM 3270 terminal through an IBM 7171 Protocol Converter. The friendly part is that his keyboard definition files disable all keystroke combinations that can cause problems (i.e., due to heavy fingers or typing mistakes) and THEN defines the keys that exist on an IBM 3270 terminal. Following the KISS principle, I designed a set of help screens for a hybrid cross of (1) a college student interested in the minimum necessary to pass and (2) a college department secretary interested only in doing the job. Most of the EasyK start screen (without neat graphics) follows. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Your entry from DOS, A>easyk ------- : gives the EasyK prompt: EasyK>_ (All options may --------- be entered at any Your options are as follows. : EasyK prompt.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- : : : : : : : quit status map ??? xmit howend kbmap ----- ------- --- --- ---- ------ ----- To To To To To To To exit display see access see how to see how see the to session NERDC NERDC transfer to hangup EasyK the commun- service service files to & the phone PC-3270 EasyK ication access named ??? from NERDC & modem. keyboard Menu. settings. map. (See map) & UFFSC CMS. mapping. Enter "start" from any EasyK prompt to return to this display. EasyK>_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The option "map" invokes a Kermit macro that gives a picture of the 11 VTAM services included in EasyK. And, the macro name used to have Kermit dial into each service is listed. Included in the EasyK files is "USING.DOC" that shows exactly how users must customize various files including the specific numbered lines in the files. Accessing a typical VTAM service requires three entries given proper customization for the user's ID: start EasyK from DOS, enter a service macro name, e.g., nervm, and enter the service password in the service access level, e.g., CP READ for VM/CMS. EasyK tells the user what is next happening at teach step in the dial-up and log-in process so one can see where it "broke" if the process is not successful. It redials twice if the line is busy -- this number can be set as desired. EasyK was made to run through the IBM 7171 Protocol Converter at the NERDC. A variation runs successfully at the local school board's center running VM/CMS on an IBM 4381. The NERDC's 7171 uses the standard VT100 specifications with engineering change (EC) A31860. The TAB keys are 3270 Tab Field functions keys; they are defined in the 7171.INI file as follows. ; Define Tab field and Backtab field: ( -->: and :<-- ) ; set key \9 {\{9}} ; Tab Tab Field set key \783 {\{27}\{9}} ; Shift-Tab Backtab Field : : : : : Kermit Cmd PC/PS Value Sent to 7171 PC/PS Key IBM 3270 Function These may be set to Column Tab keys with other EC's. In addition, specific installations may have made other changes to the vanilla IBM 7171 microcode. INFO-KERMIT Digest V8 #10 included a compliment from Joe Doupnik on the work (Thanks, Joe!). Christine Gianone added a note indicating EasyK is in an archived file put in kermit/a/msieas.boo. ------------------------------ To: Frank da Cruz & Joe Doupnik From: Dick Elnicki Date: November 27, 1988 Subject: EasyK with a Freeware CHOICE.EXE The enclosed files contain EasyK(ermit) with a CHOICE.EXE that I absolutely guarantee can be freely distributed. I asked an employee of our Computing Lab to write a ASK.EXE equivalent; he did one in "C" in a couple of hours. It includes a line indicating it was written for EasyK. He promised me a "more compact" version when he has time to write it in Assembler. The other general use utilities included are definitely in the public domain. BLANK, QUICKEYS, and COLOR were originally printed in micro news- journals. CED, the DOS command stacker, is shareware. J.C. Dunford wrote this version of CED (1.0) in 1985. I got it at a "shareware fair" held at during meetings of an academic organization at Georgia Tech two years ago. The group was "The International Business School Microcomputer User Group"; it is still holding meetings but I have not attended any since then. The enclosed EasyK manual contains the files one should read to use EasyK. Most of the manual is the file USING.DOC, but with a large number of editorial changes and no substantive content changes. I will make a "final" version of this effort during the upcoming year-end holidays. Until you get that version, do make this EasyK with its freeware CHOICE.EXE available for interested users if you wish to do so. I now have 70 to 80 people running it here at the UF. Best regards, Dicke $$$HUSG@NERVM.BITNET ------------------------------