MSAAAA.HLP                                             24 October 1985

This file explains the organization and naming conventions used for
the MS-DOS Kermit files.  As of 23 Oct 85, MS-DOS Kermit file names
are all in the following form:

    MScxxx.typ

The file name is no longer than six characters, the file type is 3 or less.
Note that some file names have been changed in order to make them fit
the scheme described below.  Therefore, documentation (manuals, help files,
etc) may show a longer, or slightly different, name for a particular file.
Also, files that refer to other files by name might be affected by the
change (e.g. .BAT files for assembling and linking the program).

MS is the common prefix for all the file names.

"c" is a single-letter code that categorizes the file:

  A - General information, "read me" files, etc. (like this file)
  B - Files related to Bootstrapping
  I - Initialization or command files to be read by Kermit
  K - General program documentation (Kermit User Guide chapter, etc)
  R - Release notes
  S - System-independent Source code
  V - Binaries, .BOO files, documentation for a particular Version
  X - System-dependent source code & related documentation
  Y - System-dependent terminal emulation code
  Z - System-and-modem-dependent modem control code

"xxx" is a 3 letter code to designate which system an MSV, MSX, MSY, or MSZ
file applies to:

  AP3 - NEC APC-3
  APC - NEC APC
  APR - ACT Apricot
  DM2 - DECmate II or III with MS-DOS Option
  GEN - "Generic" MS-DOS (DOS calls only)
  HP1 - HP-150
  HPX - HP-110 and HP Portable Plus
  IBM - IBM PC, XT, AT, and PCjr (note, only works on RS-232 port of PCjr)
  MBC - Sanyo MBC-550
  RB1 - DEC Rainbow-100 series
  TIP - Texas Instruments Professional
  WNG - Wang PC
  Z10 - Heath/Zenith 100

"typ" is the file type, e.g.

  ASM - Assembler source (for Microsoft or IBM Assembler)
  H   - An assembler header file (included at assembly time)
  C   - A C language source file (e.g. Lattice C)
  BAS - A Basic language source (e.g. Microsoft Basic)
  BOO - An .EXE file encoded into printable characters for bootstrapping 
  BWR - A "beware" file - list of known bugs or limitations
  HLP - A help file
  DOC - A longer documentation file
  MSS - Scribe text formatter source for a HLP or DOC file
  INI - An initialization or command file to be read by Kermit
  BAT - An MS-DOS Batch file (e.g. for building from source)
  UPD - A program update history file

Bootstrapping:

Getting MS-DOS Kermit onto an MS-DOS system initially when you don't have
a diskette to read it from, but you do have it on line on another computer...
is called "bootstrapping."  The method used with MS-DOS Kermit is to
download (somehow) a version of the appropriate .EXE (executable binary)
file that has been encoded in all printable characters by the MSBMKB.C program.
The result is then decoded on the PC using a short Basic program.

 MSBMKB.C     The "BOO File Maker" (runs on MS-DOS Systems with Lattice C)
 MSBOOT.FOR   The mainframe side of a BOO-file downloader (in Fortran)
 MSBPCB.BAS   The PC side of the BOO-file downloader (in Microsoft Basic)
 MSBPCT.BAS   Like MSBPCB.BAS, but assumes the BOO file is already downloaded
 MSBRB1.BAS   Like MSBPCB.BAS, but runs under Rainbow CP/M-86 Basic
 MSV*.BOO     The BOO files for each version of MS-DOS Kermit, e.g. MSVIBM.BOO.

The bootstrapping procedure is described in detail in the MS-DOS chapter of
the Kermit User Guide.

Sources: the source file names all start with MSS --

 MSSCMD.ASM  Command parser
 MSSCOM.ASM  Communications (system-independent)
 MSSDEF.H    Symbol definitions for all modules
 MSSDMB.ASM  Dummy module to specify segment order
 MSSFIL.ASM  File i/o
 MSSFIN.ASM  Dummy module to specify end of data segment
 MSSKER.ASM  Main program
 MSSRCV.ASM  Receive module
 MSSSEN.ASM  Send module
 MSSSER.ASM  Server module
 MSSSET.ASM  Set command module
 MSSTER.ASM  Terminal emulation (system-independent)

The program also needs an MSX module for the desired system, plus an MSY module
for the same system (if there is one), and an MSZ module to support any
particular modem (so far, no MSZ modules have been written).  Assembling and
linking procedures are described in MSSAAA.HLP.  The MSX and MSY file
may come with associated .HLP or .BWR files.

User Documentation:

MSKERM.DOC     MS-DOS Kermit chapter from the Kermit User Guide
MSKERM.MSS     Scribe text formatter source for MSKERM.DOC
MSKERM.HLP     Help file -- how to use MS-DOS KERMIT
MSKERH.MSS     Scribe text formatter source for MSKERM.HLP
MSKERM.MSG     Announcement of current version of MS-DOS KERMIT
MSKERM.BWR     Bug list for current version of MS-DOS KERMIT

Initialization or Command Files:

MS-DOS Kermit always reads the file MSKERMIT.INI upon startup and executes
the Kermit commands that are in it.  There is also a TAKE command that allows
the user to explicitly direct Kermit to execute commands from a specified
file.  Several sample files are provided:

MSIIBM.H19 - Sets up Heath-19 alternate keypad mode on IBM PC.
MSIIBM.MET - Turns the IBM PC's ALT key into a "meta" key.
MSIRB1.INI - Puts some of the DEC Rainbow's keys in more normal positions.
MSIRBM.INI - Puts common EMACS commands on Rainbow function keys.
MSIS32.INI - Sets up IBM PC for use with Sim3270.
MSIVT1.INI - Sets up IBM PC numeric keypad & function keys like VT-100.
MSIVT1.EDT - VAX/VMS EDT init file to go with MSIVT1.INI on the PC.

[End of MSAAAA.HLP]