Kermit is to TELIX or minicom as MSDos is to UNIX. Kermit supplants minicom, telnet and other programs in cLIeNUX, and also is a strong alternative to Perl, expect, chat, and other things that aren't in cLIeNUX Core. The UNIX version of Kermit, called C-Kermit, supports serial connections (direct or dialed) and TCP/IP connections.
cLIeNUX is largely about on-line documentation. C-Kermit was re-licensed as of Jan 1 2000 to permit re-distribution of C-Kermit without the former requirement of including the printed docs with the code, which is why kermit can now be in cLIeNUX. I feel that one of the many disingenuous aspects of the mis-named "open source movement" is the tendency to put out free software in the hope of selling a book about it. I feel that this can be, and often is, bad for the quality of on-line documentation, which is the most important documentation for software.
C-Kermit urges you to buy the book, but right up front, not disingenuously. I may, and certainly should, get it myself. In spite of offering a book for kermit, kermit on-line help is startlingly good, and is an excellent example of online help done very well. The kermit interpreter knows what you are up to on a keystroke-by-keystroke basis, has helpful comments in most error conditions, gives help on a "?" almost anywhere, and is deep and rich generally. Given all that, there's still plenty to write a book about. The mere supplement to the book in version 7.0.196 is half a meg. Kermit is a mature, robust, extensive, and very well designed work and is worthy of significant publications revenue.
The kermit file transfer protocol has an undeserved reputation for being slow. The kermit people are sensitive about this. Kermit used to be defaulted for slow modes. This is a matter of robustness, and is sound design, and I sympathize. In any case, several crucial defaults are now sped up.
Rick
June 2000