History
Kermit was developed at Columbia University in 1981 to allow students to transfer files between IBM or DEC DECSYSTEM-20 mainframe computers and removable media on microcomputers (initially Intertec Superbrains running CP/M). IBM mainframes used an EBCDIC character set and CP/M and DEC machines used ASCII, so conversion between the two character sets was one of the early functions built into Kermit.
Kermit can be used as a means to load boot software. For example CP/M machines used many different floppy disk formats, which meant that one machine could not normally read disks from another CP/M machine, and Kermit was used as part of a process to enable the transfer of applications and data between CP/M machines and other machines with different operating systems. PIP with a very low baud rate (because it had no built-in error correction) could be used to transfer a small simple version of Kermit from one machine to another over a null modem cable, or failing that, a very very simple version of the Kermit protocol could be hand coded in binary in less than 2K using DDT, the CP/M Dynamic Debugging Tool. Once that was done the simple version of Kermit could be used to download a fully functional version. That version could then be used to transfer any CP/M application or data.
The Kermit protocol evolved through the 1980s into a de facto data communications standard for transferring files between dissimilar computer systems. Kermit software has been used for tasks ranging from simple student assignments to solving compatibility problems aboard the International Space Station. It was ported to a wide variety of mainframe, minicomputer and microcomputer systems. Most versions had a user interface based on the original TOPS-20 Kermit. The MS-DOS version of Kermit was developed in 1983. Later versions of some Kermit implementations also support network as well as serial connections.
Implementations that are presently supported include C-Kermit (for Unix and OpenVMS) and Kermit 95 (for versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 95 onwards and OS/2), but other versions remain available as well.
Kermit was initially developed by and distributed for free by the Columbia University, until 1986 when Columbia founded the Kermit Project, which took over development and started charging fees for commercial use. The project is self-sufficient.. As of 1 July 2011, the Columbia University ceased to host this project and released it to open source. In June 2011, the Kermit Project released a beta version of C-Kermit v9.0 under an Open Source Revised 3-Clause BSD License
Read more about this topic: Kermit (protocol)
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