quux.org Kermit Server

This is a Kermit server maintained by me, John Goerzen.

To the best of my knowledge, it is the only public IKSD server remaining in existence. It was established in August 2023.

For a lot more background about this server, see Try the Last Internet Kermit Server.

What’s here

This server features a full copy of the gopher.quux.org site, as well as full mirrors of NNCP and the kermit FTP server.

What is this thing?

This is an Internet Kermit Service (IKSD) server. There’s much more about Kermit on my Kermit page.

You can browse with telnet, or browse and download with a Kermit client.

The page for the Columbia University Internet Kermit Service talks about the IKSD server, why IKSD servers are interesting, and how to use them. Note that although Columbia’s instructions survive, their server doesn’t, so use the instructions here for establishing a connection.

How to use it

The very simple way is with telnet, like so:

$ telnet kermit.quux.org 1649
Trying 135.148.101.37...
Connected to kermit.quux.org.
Escape character is '^]'.

 >>> Welcome to the Internet Kermit Service at kermit.quux.org <<<

To log in, use 'anonymous' as the username, and any non-empty password

Internet Kermit Service ready at Fri Aug  4 22:30:24 2023
C-Kermit 10.0 Beta.08, 15 Dec 2022
kermit

Username: anonymous
Enter e-mail address as Password: [redacted]

Anonymous login.

You are now connected to the quux kermit server.

Try commands like HELP, cd gopher, dir, and the like.  Use INTRO
for a nice introduction.

(~/) IKSD>

You’re now at a Kermit prompt in command mode. You can use cd, dir, etc. Run type filename to view a text file. Browse around

Use with C-Kermit client

This is more powerful. apt-get install ckermit. Then, run the kermit command, and type iksd /user:anonymous kermit.quux.org to connect. Here’s an example:

$ kermit
C-Kermit 10.0 Beta.08, 15 Dec 2022, for Linux+SSL (64-bit)
 Copyright (C) 1985, 2022,
  Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
  Open Source 3-clause BSD license since 2011.
Type ? or HELP for help.
(/tmp/t/) C-Kermit>iksd /user:anonymous kermit.quux.org
 DNS Lookup...  Trying 135.148.101.37...  Reverse DNS Lookup... (OK)
Connecting to host glockenspiel.complete.org:1649
 Escape character: Ctrl-\ (ASCII 28, FS): enabled
Type the escape character followed by C to get back,
or followed by ? to see other options.
----------------------------------------------------

 >>> Welcome to the Internet Kermit Service at kermit.quux.org <<<

To log in, use 'anonymous' as the username, and any non-empty password

Internet Kermit Service ready at Fri Aug  4 22:32:17 2023
C-Kermit 10.0 Beta.08, 15 Dec 2022
kermit

Enter e-mail address as Password: [redacted]

Anonymous login.

You are now connected to the quux kermit server.

Try commands like HELP, cd gopher, dir, and the like.  Use INTRO
for a nice introduction.

(~/) IKSD>

You can now browse as before – but you can also download. To download, run send filename. For instance:

(~/) IKSD>send gopher.quux.org/whatsnew.txt
Return to your local Kermit and give a RECEIVE command.

KERMIT READY TO SEND...
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------

 SENT: [/gopher.quux.org/whatsnew.txt] To: [/tmp/t/whatsnew.txt] (OK)
(~/) IKSD>

You can flip between Kermit modes (see the discussion on the Kermit page). When in connect mode, you will be talking to the quux.org kermit system (IKSD shows up in the prompt). When in command mode, you will be talking to your local system (C-Kermit is in the prompt). Of course, in command mode, you can use get instead of send to download a file.

Recursive download

You can do something like:

cd mirrors
send /recursive kermit

Beware that will be over 1GB of files!

Links to this note

How to Run an Internet Kermit Server

This page will describe how to run an Internet Kermit server, like the quux.org Kermit Server that was featured in my article Try the Last Internet Kermit Server.