The Kermit Project, a program to create a transparent and flexible file transfer protocol, is begun at Columbia University.WHAT IS KERMIT? Kermit is a file transfer protocol first developed at Columbia University in New York City in 1981 for the specific purpose of transferring text and binary files without errors between diverse types of computers over potentially hostile communication links, and it is a suite of communications software programs from the Kermit Project at Columbia University. The Kermit protocol and software are named after Kermit the Frog, star of the television series, The Muppet Show; the name Kermit is used by permission of Henson Associates, Inc. Over the years, the Kermit Project has grown into a worldwide cooperative nonprofit software development effort, headquartered at and coordinated from Columbia University. The Kermit Project is dedicated to production of cross-platform, long-lasting, standards-conformant, interoperable communications software, and is actively engaged in the standards process. Since its inception in 1981, the Kermit protocol has developed into a sophisticated and powerful tool for file transfer and management, incorporating, among other things: File group transmission File attribute transmission (size, date, permissions, etc) File name, record-format, and character-set conversion File collision options, including an "update" feature File transfer recovery Auto upload and download Client/Server operations Automatic per-file text/binary mode switching Recursive directory-tree transfer, even between unlike platforms Uniform services on serial and network connections An Internet Kermit Service Daemon (From the Kermit FAQ at Columbia)
Mr. Adam Osborne (Osborne Books) unveils the Osborne 1 portable computer. It features a Z80 processor, 5-inch display, 64KB RAM, keyboard, keypad and a pair or 5.25-inch floppy disk drives for 1795ドル.
Source http://www.icwhen.com/book/the80s/1981.htmlJune, 1981Hayes Corporation (Previously D.C. Hayes Associates) releases the Hayes Smartmodem 300, which introduces the AT Command Set for Modems, which standardizes a language for interacting with modems. This language (with additions) is still in use today. The Hayes Smartmodem 300 is capable of dialing the phone and answering incoming calls, all without additional hardware and software.This command set was created by Michael D. Eaton and applied for as a patent on March 3, 1980 (Issued June 7, 1983). The patent number was 4,387,440 and describes the command set in use to the present day. The rights for this command set were purchased by Hayes Corporation and are now known as the "Hayes Command Set".
Source Dennis HayesJune 7, 1981The Chicago Syslink BBS is started on a TRS-80 Model I with 300bps Modem.
August, 1981The Original IBM PC (Personal Computer) is introduced.Has options for monochrome and CGA color display. Receives generally good reviews and acceptance by business users and a few home users. Original DOS version 1.0 released which supported only single sided disks (160K capacity). Later version 1.1 corrected bugs (problems) in the DOS programming code and provided double sided disks (320K capacity), and faster disk access, date and time stamping and better serial communications.