SET HOST does nothing for NetBIOS connections on OS/2

[davidrg]

Following the instructions in the Kermit 95 manual in Kermit 95 2.1.2 on OS/2 Warp 4 and OS/2 Warp 4 Advanced Server, on the server:

set network netbios k2server
set host *

and on the client:

set network netbios k2client
set host k2server

Does nothing at all. The debug log indicates set host is silently failing. Trying to connect fails claiming there is no active connection.

Doing the same in C-Kermit 5A(191) works fine. The server outputs a message indicating its listening for connections, and the client says its calling k2server and connect switches to the terminal screen.

Looking at what code is available, it would seem the code to initiate a connection for NetBIOS in setlin(), ckuus7.c disappeared sometime between C-Kermit 6.0 (Kermit 95 1.1.17, June 1998) and C-Kermit 7.0 (Kermit 95 1.1.19, February 2000). Unless the documentation is totally wrong, it seems likely that K95 1.1.17 was the last release in which NetBIOS actually worked on OS/2.