Kuma
£49.95
K-COMM 2 is an uprated version of an earlier Kuma
product. It consists of two main GEM based programs, K-COMM and
K-VIEW, now supporting viewdata type systems as well as ordinary
bulletin boards and similar services. From its specifications it
looked just the job to partner the Miracle Technology WS4000
intelligent modem I had been trying out.
It comes in the flimsy cardboard packaging common
to the K series of Kuma products. Inside, there's a single sided
master disk and a 56 page instruction booklet. The booklet is quite
well presented, containing screen shots as well as text, but
unfortunately I found it to be unhelpful, if not confusing, in
places.
INSTALLATION PROCESS
Before you can use the program you have to prepare
a 'working disk' from the supplied master by going through an
installation procedure. This has the advantage of preserving the
master as a backup. The installation process is painful on a single
drive system, involving over 90 disk swaps!
If you damage the working copy, you can only
re-install the master onto your original working disk. And you must
never reformat that working disk, otherwise the re-installation
process won't work. This is Kuma's version of copy protection. Once
installed, K-COMM and K-VIEW may be loaded from the working disk.
Before using K-COMM you have to configure it to
suit the service you want to use. This involves setting all the
usual terminal parameters, such as baud rate, number of data bits,
stop bits, parity, and so on. One unusual setting is 'debug' mode,
where incoming ASCII characters with a value of less than 32 are
displayed as control characters rather than being acted upon –
useful for finding out what control characters a particular host is
using. There's also a 'description' entry, which allows you to give
a title to the configuration, reminding you what the configuration
is for next time you look at it. It's also used as an index entry in
your list of saved terminal configurations – much better than trying
to remember file names.
As well as configuring the terminal program you
also have to set up the modem type. The program has support for dumb
(manual) modems, pulse dial modems, and various makes of intelligent
modem, including Hayes compatibles. This gives you facilities for
setting up the command strings to be sent to the modem at specific
times, for instance auto-dialling and disconnection. Once the basic
command strings are set up you can automate their use further by
using some of the program's more advanced features, such as the
auto-logon facility.
AUTOMATED PROCEDURES
Auto-logon is designed to automate the whole
process of logging on to a remote system, including automatically
configuring the modem, dialling the number, establishing the link,
and supplying the logon identification and password information.
It's done by defining expected 'prompts' and their corresponding
'responses'. K-COMM watches the character stream coming in from the
remote system and if it finds a match with one of the prompts you
defined, it sends back the matching response. You don't need to do
anything until the system is ready for productive use. This could be
a great timesaver if you use lots of different remote systems
requiring different terminal configurations and logon procedures.
K-COMM has many other features, including file
uploads and downloads (with XMODEM if required). It can 'snapshot'
any screen into a buffer which can then be viewed at any time –
useful for capturing command menus for quick reference on systems
you're unfamiliar with. It can also log everything to disk for later
review or printing. The program has a facility for displaying disk
files, so you can look at previously downloaded or log files without
leaving the program. There's a single line editor for offline
preparation of particularly complex lines of text, and facilities
for
auto-answer of incoming calls and allowing the remote user to upload
or download files from elsewhere.
THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING....
Sounds super, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it
doesn't deliver what it promises. I didn't get on well with it at
all. The instruction booklet turned out to be woefully inadequate in
places and I tried to get round this by invoking K-COMM's online
help facilities, but the Help files turned out to be identical to
the instruction book! The basic comms facilities worked fine, but I
had great trouble with the auto-logon facility. A phone call to Kuma
revealed there have been problems with getting K-COMM to work with
the WS4000 modem. They provided me with modem configuration details
which partially solved the problem. At least it made the auto-dial
part work, but I still couldn't persuade the program to actually
perform the logon automatically. I gave up after several frustrating
sessions of experimentation and many wasted phone calls.
Attempts at downloading files from bulletin boards
were also less than successful. The software appears to do all the
right things, reporting number of blocks transferred, writing to
disk, etc., but when I came to use the files I found them to be
incomplete. Log files, too, suffered from missing data and when I
tried to display them using the program's display facilities, it
often locked up on me. On one occasion the program actually crashed.
In frustration, I switched to K-VIEW to see if
this was any better, using the PRESTEL demonstration system as a
test vehicle. This worked OK until I tried to save a frame to disk.
Result – a TOS error! At that point I gave up in disgust.
K-COMM 2 managed to turn a great specification
into a great disappointment, and can't be recommended in its present
state. It proves once more that you shouldn't judge a program by its
specifications or glossy advertising blurb. Perhaps with a lot more
fiddling about, or with additional information from Kuma it could
have been made to work properly. But surely, this shouldn't be
necessary on a piece of software costing nearly £50?
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