Macintosh Kermit

Thie page updated 1 August 2021 to convert FTP links to HTTP.

Macintoshes running Mac OS X have their own native Kermit program: C-Kermit 8.0 (or later). Don't bother with this page if you have Mac OS X.

Original Macintosh — *Smithsonian Institution*

Macintosh Kermit was devoped at Columbia University starting the moment the first Macintosh was released in 1984, based on C-Kermit 4.0 but with a Macintosh graphical user interface added. Mac Kermit 0.993(192), based on C-Kermit 6.0.19 (circa 1996) was the last release of Macintosh Kermit, but it is not a real release. Even though Mac Kermit was widely used for over ten years on mc68000-based Macs, it still had numerous rough edges, and it probably won't work at all on modern Macintoshes. 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, and ultimately because the original Macintosh OS was phased out in favor in Mac OS X, a form of Unix, and therefore also for C-Kermit.

Mac Kermit files

ckmaaa.hlp: Overview of Mac Kermit files.
mackermit.hqx: The Mac Kermit m680x0 executable in BinHex 4.0 format. There is no PowerPC executable.
ckmbwr.txt: Release and update notes, hints and tips, bug list, wish list.
ckmker.doc: User manual for version 0.9(40), 1988, plain text.
ckmker.ps: User manual for version 0.9(40), 1988, PostScript.
Using C-Kermit: C-Kermit manual, applies to Mac Kermit's command window.
Using Mac Kermit: Mac Kermit user manual (PDF)*

Using Mac Kermit by Christine M. Gianone, unpublished draft manuscript (1991).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 And a lot of crude line drawings done with the mouse that would have been replaced by professional illustrations.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.)