Macintosh Kermit

The software described here is for the original Mac OS 1984-2012, through Mac OS 9. Since then, new Macintoshes have a Unix-based operating called Mac OS X, OS X, or (most recently) macOS. The Kermit software for Mac OS X and its later incarnations is C-Kermit 8.0 (or later).

Macintosh Kermit 0.993(192), based on C-Kermit 6.0.192, circa 1996, is the last release of "Macintosh Kermit", but it is not a real release. It has numerous rough edges, and might not work at all on modern Macintoshes (it should work on Macintosh System 7.1 or earlier). If it runs at all on your Mac, it is usable for most serial communications tasks. It includes a VT320 emulator, a normal Macintosh graphical user interface as well as the more powerful C-Kermit command interface, and C-Kermit's Kermit protocol engine. Various features and commands still need to be filled in, the menus need reworking and filling out, and many bugs need fixing.

There has been no work on Macintosh Kermit since 1996 due to a lack of qualified and willing Macintosh programmers.

Macintosh Kermit can be downloaded via anonymous ftp in text mode:

ckmaaa.hlp

Overview of Mac Kermit files.

mackermit.hqx

The Mac Kermit m680x0 executable in BinHex 4.0 format. There is no PowerPC executable.

mackermithqx.txt

The Mac Kermit m680x0 executable in BinHex 4.0 format with a .txt extension in case your browser is confused by .hqx.

ckmbwr.txt

Release and update notes, hints and tips, bug list, wish list.

ckmkerdoc.txt

User manual for version 0.9(40), 1988, plain text, originally called mackermit.doc but nowadays "doc" means Microsoft Word.

ckmker.pdf

User manual for version 0.9(40), 1988, PDF.

Using C-Kermit

C-Kermit manual, applies to Mac Kermit's command window.

NEW (April 2011): Using Mac Kermit by Christine M. Gianone, unpublished draft manuscript (1991). This was to be the published manual for Mac Kermit 1.0, if it had ever been released, but it wasn't completed. CLICK HERE to download it PDF format. Note that this manuscript has a lot of frog images in it, which would have to be removed before publication. And a lot of crude line drawings done with the mouse that would have been replaced by professional illustrations. (In those days, we had illustrators.)

Nostalgia:

1996 screen shot showing authors,
courtesy Phil Cassell (2017).