<!doctype linuxdoc system>
<article>
<title>FBB Packet-radio BBS mini-HOWTO
<author>Miroslav "Misko" Skoric, YT7MPB,
<tt/skoric at eunet dot yu/
<date>v1.36, 2005-10-09
<abstract>
<nidx>linux windows nt amateur packet radio</nidx>
This mini-HOWTO covers the installation and use of
the most popular amateur packet-radio BBS server
software "FBB". That software works under Linux,
DOS and Windows operating systems. It serves as a
bulletin board system (BBS), a mailbox for
personal messages, a database for various texts,
documents and binary files, a server for small
useful calculations etc. Packet radio is a way of
connecting computers via amateur radio stations.
</abstract>
<sect>Introduction
<p>
I have been using FBB amateur radio software since
early nineties. It was the time of DOS operating
system, so most of us, system administrators (or, so
called system operators - sysop's), used various
packet radio <em>server</em> software for DOS.
Versions of FBB packet radio BBS <em>server</em>
software for DOS, today are known as "DosFBB".
<p>
I still administer one DosFBB database in the SRV
(Amateur Radio Union of Vojvodina, a part of SRJ).
It is DosFBB v7.00g23 that runs on a 486DX computer
with 16 MB of RAM and Hercules b/w graphics. Since
December 1999, it runs without any re-boot (excepting
some power failures). Before that, it was a bit
tricky to set up all memory management properly, in
order to avoid "frozen" system. Although this server
runs under DOS, its "radio clients" don't depend
on that. In fact, users of that DosFBB might run
their client software under DOS, Windows, Linux
or any other operating system that offer amateur
packet radio abilities.
<p>I have also used DosFBB v5.15c on a 286/12 box at home.
Five years ago, when I got better box, Pentium I at 166 MHz with
32 MB of RAM and VGA color graphics, I switched to a Windows
version of FBB ("WinFBB"). Author of the software, a radio amateur
from France, Jean-Paul F6FBB, has made many versions of WinFBB,
including 16 bit variant for Windows 3.x and Windows 9x as well as
32 bit variant for Windows NT. I have run both variants until now
(at the moment it is 16 bit WinFBB v7.00g25 that runs great under
Windows NT 4.0).
<p>Update: In late 1999, I upgraded my system to
Celeron 400 MHz, added more 64 MB of RAM and
switched to bigger hard disk that will have enough room
to install Linux and try LinFBB ...
<p>Update: Since Spring 2001, I run WinFBB v7.00i
(17 March 2001) under Windows 2000 Professional.
<p>The main
difference between DosFBB and WinFBB is that the
second one offers you to do other jobs with your
computer, while FBB is running as just any other
application. Besides that, it is always nice to
copy some text from another application (for example,
from an Internet email) and to paste it into a
packet radio message, or vice versa.
<p>Update: In July 2001, I added more 128 MB of RAM
so my home system is very confortable now.
<p>Finally, you should be aware what I want to
have here:
<tscreen><verb>
1. WinFBB when I run Windows.
2. LinFBB when I run Linux. It should be an
Xwindow application that may be
started/stopped similarly to WinFBB.
That's why X11 LinFBB package is used.
3. LinFBB when I run Linux, but as a daemon
that runs in the background. In addition,
an interface for a local user (myself)
is needed, as well as an interface to
monitor the radio channel.
4. All three versions must be capable to
share the same configuration files, i.e.
to be able, for example, to begin a new
session from the exact position where the
other version has finished its own last
session.
5. I am not an expert in Linux, so I am
only able to install "factory-made"
packages for Linux (just like to install
self executing software packages under
Windows). I mean of RPM packages. So, there
are no source (re)compilations here at the
moment, but in the future we will see :-)
</verb></tscreen>
<sect>How to install X11 (Xwindow) version of LinFBB
<p>
<itemize>
<item>First of all, you should have running Linux
with a GUI installed. I am fully satisfied
with Gnome GUI but I suppose that KDE will
be OK too (or any other GUI available).
<p>
<item>Download or copy LinFBB (the main ftp site
is <url url="http://ftp.f6fbb.org/" name=
"ftp.f6fbb.org"> but there are many mirror
sites too). For example, if you get a file
like <tscreen><verb>x700e_full.tgz</verb></tscreen>
it means that it is X11 version 7.00e and it
contains all you need in tgz archive to install
the BBS. On the other hand, a name like
<tscreen><verb>xd700g_full.tgz</verb></tscreen>
means that it is not X11 but daemon version 7.00g
and it is also complete to unpack. Further,
<tscreen><verb>x700f01.tgz</verb></tscreen>
and <tscreen><verb>x700g.tgz</verb></tscreen>
are "upgrades" to any previous "full" package.
For example, after I have upgraded to <tt>x700g.tgz</tt>
I started to run X11 LinFBB 7.00g (04 August 1998).
BTW, X11 versions are not maintained anymore, but
I still run it here. It has some bugs but I like it.
<p>
<item>Copy the archive file in <bf>/tmp</bf> directory.
<p>
<item>You have to make a "base" directory where
your FBB will be installed. For example you
may type: <bf>mkdir /usr/local/fbb</bf> if you want
FBB to be there. You have to be logged as
'root' or 'superuser' to install FBB.
<p>
<item>Then, you should locate yourself in that
directory: <bf>cd /usr/local/fbb</bf>.
<p>
<item>Now, you should unpack the archive:
<bf>tar xvzf /tmp/x700b25.tgz</bf> (<-- use the right
name of the archive here).
<p>
<item>When you finished unpacking the archive,
you may continue installing the software:
<bf>./install.sh</bf> is the command for that. The
setup will ask you for the 'base' directory
where FBB will be installed. If you chose
<bf>/usr/local/fbb</bf> again, you will be told that
such directory already exists and all files
will be overwritten. It is OK, so you should
answer yes. If everything is fine, you should
see on the screen that fbb system
directories are created. At the beginning
of that procedure, program will ask you for
BBS's callsign, name of the city, QTH
locator, your name etc. That details will
become a part of <bf>/usr/local/fbb/init.srv</bf>
file.
<p>
<item>After that, you MUST check this file
<bf>again</bf> manually in order to fix some other
details needed (because installation script does
not fix all parts within that file).
<p>
<item>Well, so far - so good. After you have checked
all configuration files, you may start the
software: <bf>./xfbb.sh</bf> (<-- type this within
an <em>xterm</em> or something similar). When you
start your BBS for the first time, it will ask
you to create some files it needs, so you
should answer "yes" to the questions.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect>How to install LinFBB in addition to existing WinFBB
<p>
<em>Notice: Folks, you see, at my place, I have a
dual-boot system, consisting of Windows NT and
Linux (each of them having their own partition(s)
and file system). I wanted to have 'independent'
operating systems that won't see each other. So I
made two NT's partitions as NTFS partitions and
rest of the space used Linux as ext2 & swap partitions.
Well, at first I have installed WinFBB under NT and X11
LinFBB under Linux. Both of them worked, but there
was a big "problem": I could not share their
system files. You might say: So, what a big deal.
But, my FBB's should serve as packet-radio forwarding
stations (regardless of which one I boot at the
moment), so it was really needed for new LinFBB
to "know", for example, the position where WinFBB
has stopped the mail exchange last time (and vice-
versa, of course).</em>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Well, in order to allow both WinFBB under
Windows NT and LinFBB under Linux to use
the same system files, it is needed to put these
files in a place that both operating systems are
able to "see". So I do that by re-installing
WinFBB onto a FAT (FAT16) partition that is
recognized by NT and Linux too. The best way to do
that is to install a "fresh" copy of WinFBB on
a FAT partition and to copy complete "old"
WinFBB from NTFS partition over the fresh
installation (whenever you are asked to
rewrite existing files, you should answer
"yes").
<p>
<item>When that is finished, you should have a "clone"
of the existing old WinFBB, but this time on
the FAT partition that is visible from under
Linux. Anyway, you should check if the "new" one
installation is able to run properly as the "old" one.
<p>
<item>I could also recommend you to check the file
tree of WinFBB in order to become more
familiar with it. The file tree of LinFBB
is a bit different so it is advisable to
note various details here and there.
<p>
<item>Some files can't be used as they are under <em>both</em>
operating systems (without some necessary
changes). That's why some file names should
be renamed (or, at least, you should make
appropriate copies of some files):
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
init.srv -> init_w.srv
forward.sys -> forw_w.sys
port.sys -> port_w.sys
protect.sys -> prot_w.sys
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
FBB is able to recognize and accept those renamed files.
<p>
<item>Make a backup of the actual WinFBB (I do that
by copying the whole WinFBB file structure into
the other Windows partition that <em>won't</em> be
shared with Linux, like NTFS one). You'll never
know when a catastrophe may happen, so as a result,
you won't be able to start neither of the "old" WinFBB or
the "new" LinFBB. As a precaution, the backup might be the
easiest way to recover at least the old WinFBB for
a while (until you configure your new LinFBB, OK?).
<p>
<item>Now, you should restart your machine and boot
into Linux. Log on as 'root' or make 'su' from a
user's account.
<p>
<item>Mount a shared FAT directory (where FBB files are):
<bf>mount -t vfat /dev/hda2 /mnt/win</bf>
(for example). If that works, later you may adopt that
change within your <bf>/etc/fstab</bf> configuration.
<p>
<item>Copy LinFBB archive to <bf>/tmp</bf> directory.
<p>
<item>Position yourself to the 'base' directory:
<bf>cd /usr/local/fbb</bf> (for example).
<p>
<item>Unpack the archive: <bf>tar xvzf /tmp/filename</bf>.
<p>
<item>Start the installation script <bf>./install.sh</bf>
and, after asked for the 'base' installation
directory, chose <bf>/usr/local/fbb</bf>. It doesn't
matter if the program warns you that such
directory already exists so existing files
will be overwritten (by the way, if you
choose a mounted directory shared with NT,
many original WinFBB files, located there, would be
over-written by LinFBB files, so after returning
to Windows, WinFBB might not be as functional
as before this installation).
<p>
<item>Copy <bf>/usr/local/fbb</bf> to <bf>/mnt/win/fbb</bf> but do
*not* rewrite existing files with the new files
having the same names.
<p>
<item>Copy <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/init_w.srv</bf> to
<bf>/mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv</bf> file.
<p>
<item>Edit <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv</bf> to what is
needed for Linux. You may use the existing
file <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/init.srv</bf> as an example.
<p>
<item>Copy newly edited <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv</bf>
over the <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/init.srv</bf> (if you do
not do that, maybe you wouldn't be able to start LinFBB
using <bf>./xfbb.sh</bf>, like me at the first time).
<p>
<item>Copy <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system/port_w.sys</bf> to
<bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system/port_l.sys</bf> file.
<p>
<item>Edit <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system/port_l.sys</bf> to
what is needed for Linux and LinFBB. You may use the
existing file <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system/port.sys</bf>
as an example.
<p>
<item>Edit <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/xfbb.sh</bf> in order to fix
the right path.
<p>
<item>Ensure that you are in FBB's main directory:
<bf>cd /mnt/win/fbb</bf> (for example).
<p>
<item>Start the script <bf>./xfbb.sh</bf> to run LinFBB.
If everything is OK, your LinFBB under Linux
should run with the <em>same</em> configuration as
your "old" WinFBB under Windows. From this point,
both FBB's should behave very similar (actually,
I must admit that WinFBB has much better visual
quality than X11 LinFBB, but probably the reasons
for that you may find in Windows-vs.-Linux-GUI
quality "battle field"). FYI, my actual WinFBB is v7.00g25
(05 January 2000) and X11 LinFBB is v7.00g (04 August
1998).
<p>
<item>Although this combination WinFBB/X11 LinFBB works fine, I
have noticed some problems. For example, LinFBB
was not able to use <tt>amsat</tt> forward_to_file routine
(located in <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system/fwd</bf> directory),
because that file was composed like this (for example):
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
A AMSAT
*
P @
*
C D:\FBB\SYSTEM\SAT\AMSAT.TXT <-- looks familiar to DOS/Windows only
*
G AMSAT
*
--------
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
On the other side, LinFBB's <tt>amsat.sys</tt> (located
in <bf>/etc/ax25/fbb/fwd</bf> directory) has suggested
something like this:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
A AMSAT
*
P @
*
C /var/ax25/fbb/sat/amsat.txt <-- looks familiar to Linux only
*
G AMSAT
*
--------
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
Well, then I copied LinFBB's <tt>amsat.sys</tt>
into <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system/fwd</bf> directory so
it could become functional. As a result, I got
<em>two</em> <tt>amsat.txt</tt> files, one of them
for each of WinFBB/LinFBB, and of course, both files
appeared on different locations: the first one was
<bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system/sat/amsat.txt</bf> and it
was filled by WinFBB; the other one was in
<bf>/var/ax25/fbb/sat/amsat.txt</bf> and was filled by
LinFBB. I didn't like it that way.
<p>
In order to have only <em>one</em> result,
regardless of FBB version, the newly copied
<tt>amsat.sys</tt> had to be slightly changed:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
A AMSAT
*
P @
*
*C /var/ax25/fbb/sat/amsat.txt
C /mnt/win/fbb/system/sat/amsat.txt
*
G AMSAT
*
--------
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
As you can see now, when LinFBB is active, its
<tt>amsat.sys</tt> will not forward into
its "native" location of <tt>amsat.txt</tt>.
Instead of that, it will go to the location
of the WinFBB's <tt>amsat.txt</tt> and just
add some new materials into it, OK?
<p>
Well now it's up to you to decide what to do
with your growing <tt>amsat.txt</tt>. An old
DosFBB manual says that the 'batch' file
(I suppose, the old good <tt>APPEL.BAT</tt>)
should be adopted in order for <bf>SATUPDAT.EXE</bf>
can update <em>sat</em> tracking data and, after
that, to erase AMSAT.TXT because it is not
needed anymore. Well, I haven't found a way to
manage that in both WinFBB and LinFBB. Actually,
whenever I perform housekeeping from either of them,
it seems that AMSAT.TXT remains intact. Happily,
it doesn't grow too much, so it's not a big problem.
Any suggestion here?
</itemize>
<p>
<sect>How to install Protus password utility
<p>
<em>Notice: Well, I have been using Protus
<bf>connection filters</bf> for a long time now.
At first, it was the version 3.1/1.2 for DosFBB515c
and, later, version 3.3 for Dos/WinFBB700. I have
found Protus as very useful utility because of its
implementation of automated BBS-to-BBS
forwarding protection, using MD2 algorithm.
One of the reasons to cover Protus
in this document is the fact that its author
haven't made a manual in English yet. I keep
trying to translate original manuals
from Spanish into English, but it is a hard work.
Any good 'Spanish-to-English'
translator is welcomed to contact me:
skoric at eunet dot yu
<p>
Protus offers several interesting features:
<p>
<itemize>
<item>It can send a presentation message to
all users, informing about possibility
to make users' access more safe,
<p>
<item>It can send messages to users who have
usual, non-restricted access, informing about
utility's existence,
<p>
<item>It can send messages to users who have no
valid access (before disconnecting them),
<p>
<item>It can send messages to new users who have
connected the BBS for the first time, informing
them about the password utility.
<p>
<item>It can send messages to users who have entered
wrong password (before disconnecting them),
<p>
<item>It can inform sysop about almost everything
related to users' connections (new user on
the system, unsuccessful connections etc),
<p>
<item>Messages mentioned above could be translated
into various languages and used similarly as various
language files that FBB system use,
<p>
<item>Messages mentioned above could be different
for different BBS ports,
<p>
<item>Protus could be activated/deactivated at various
intervals of time using CRON.SYS system file,
<p>
<item>Passwords could be managed remotely, using an
external server, developed by Jose EB5IVB,
<p>
<item>...
</itemize>
<p>
Well, let's see what should be done in order to
implement secure access to the FBB packet
radio BBS, using Protus type of, so called, <em>c_filter</em>:
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Users of Dos/WinFBB versions of Protus
already know that it is needed to create a new
directory <bf>\FBB\PROTUS</bf> where several
*.PRT files should be placed. In addition, the
main C_FILT*.DLL files should be copied
into <bf>\FBB\BIN</bf> directory, as well as a couple
of "system", (i.e. config) *.PRT files that are going to
be within <bf>\FBB\SYSTEM</bf> directory.
<p>
<item>After the sysop has copied all files into
their proper locations, it is needed to make
some configuration. The most important files
are two "system" ones: <tt>CONFIG.PRT</tt> and
<tt>USERS.PRT</tt> that should be carefully
adopted to any particular situation. Other *.PRT
files will work as they are in original, but they may
be translated because they are originated
in Spanish (those files are just the parts of
information that are sent to users who
connect to the BBS). For your information,
I usually don't care much about, because my
BBS's are so called "open systems". It means
they work quite normal for <em>all</em> users in the
same way as they worked <em>before</em>
implementing Protus. Only a couple of callsigns
have password installed and, when connecting,
they know what they are doing, so, they don't need
any additional info. Your mileage may vary.
<p>
<item>So far - so good. After everything mentioned has
been done, you have to restart your FBB in order
for Protus utility to be activated. In all
connections to your BBS (including console),
you should see a line like this: <bf>{PROTUS-4.0}</bf>
just after the well known line [[FBB-7.00-AB1FHMRX$]. It
only gives an information that Protus is active on the
system. Users of your BBS who don't have
their passwords, connect just normally as before.
Users who's callsigns have password implemented,
are prompted for password just after their connections.
<p>
<item>The author of Protus, Jesus EB5AGF, has made
several working "modes" of its utility. It
is possible for users to have various kinds
of passwords: a fixed phrase (similar as those you
are used to when connect to the Internet
via telephone line, but this way the phrase
can be masqueraded within the longer answer);
a changeable answer to the 5 random numbers (just
like usual FBB sysop's password); a mode
that uses automatic answer from user's client
packet programs; implementation of MD2 and
MD5 algorithms; FBB-to-FBB automatic
protection etc. FYI, my WinFBB is equipped
with 16-bit Protus 4.0 (13 August 1999).
There is also a 32-bit module of the same date
that would be called from within 32-bit WinFBB
(I haven't tested those 32-bit applications).
<p>
<item>Well, the situation regarding working location
of Protus files under LinFBB is somewhat different.
I have become familiar to the directory structure
that DosFBB and WinFBB versions of Protus have
been using, so I considered that it was enough
to implement the same directory structure when
I started the installation of Protus under LinFBB.
It was wrong. After having pulled out the
remaining hair, the things started to work, so,
now I am going to tell you what to do.
<p>
<item>I have already told you that I have been running
here both WinFBB under Windows NT and LinFBB
under Linux (see also <tt>Linux+WinNT mini-HOWTO</tt>
and <tt>Lilo mini-HOWTO</tt>). That means all Protus
stuff has already been installed in a way WinFBB has
required, except <em>Linux</em> executable of
<em>c_filter</em> file. I put that one file into <bf>/fbb/bin</bf>
directory and, after the next restart of LinFBB, I got the
info mentioned above: {PROTUS-4.0}. But the
password protection was not likely to work.
I was told by the author to make a new directory
<bf>/var/ax25/fbb/protus</bf> and put *.PRT files there.
I <em>didn't move</em> files from <bf>\FBB\PROTUS</bf>
but rather <em>copied</em> them into the new location,
because I wanted Protus to continue working under WinFBB
as before. The utility still didn't want to run, unless I
<em>also</em> copied additional two *.PRT files from
<bf>\FBB\SYSTEM</bf> to the same new location
(<bf>/var/ax25/fbb/protus</bf>). After I did that, Protus
became functional.
<p>
<item>Well, I suppose, the above info would be
useful for those of you who intend to run
*both* Windows and Linux FBB's on the same machine.
For the majority of LinFBB-only users, it is just
important to make <bf>/var/ax25/fbb/protus</bf>
where <em>all</em> *.prt files should be placed.
<em>Only</em> c_filter executable should go to
<bf>/fbb/bin</bf> and that's it.
<p>
<item>About FBB-to-FBB protection: *both* partners
have to install Protus. Password for the
forwarding partner's callsign must be the
same at *both* sides of the link. The versions
of Protus don't need to be the same (neither
the versions of FBB, neither the operating
systems, HI!). Anyway, MD5 algorithm will only
work if both parties have Protus 4.x and
above (I still don't use that, but it is not
a problem, because my two boxes, DosFBB-Protus3.3 and
WinFBB/LinFBB-Protus4.0, make all things OK with MD2).
<p>
<item>One of the interesting features of Protus is to
log unsuccessful connections. Due to the
<em>different</em> locations of *.prt files here, I have
separate logs for WinFBB and LinFBB "c_filtering".
Those of you who are going to run only one operating
system and appropriate version of FBB, will have <em>one</em>
complete log of connection errors, users make when try to
connect your BBS.
<p>
<item>As it was told earlier, if you implemented
password protection for only <em>some</em> of your
users (but not for all of them who connect
normally) - your system is considered as
the "open" one. It means that will be logged
only unsuccessful tries to enter the system
by "protected" callsigns. But, if you decided
that your BBS can be accessed by <em>only</em> those
callsigns who have Protus password, that
means your system is the "closed" one.
Then, there is no way a user could enter your
FBB unless its callsign has given a password
within your Protus. Any unauthorized try to
connect your BBS is also logged.
<p>
<item>In addition, you may decide to have a "guest"
access or a "read-only" as <em>default</em> for
some BBS's access ports and/or for users who enter
the wrong password. Many combinations are possible.
You could even password protect your own FBB console!
<p>
<item>To finish with this topic for now, just to
inform you that my X11 LinFBB is equipped
with Protus v4.1b7 (15 February 2000). It
has some minor bugs, for example, it logs
incoming connections with a SSID of -48 if
a user doesn't have a SSID at all (of course,
in such case a SSID of -0 would be expected).
</itemize>
<p>
<sect>How to install "xfbbd", a daemon version of LinFBB
<p>
<em>Notice: You see, folks, that I keep trying to get
as many as possible versions of this great
software (Jean-Paul, F6FBB, must be very proud after
reading these words now). What I think when mention
"as many as possible versions" means that we have
learned how to get both WinFBB and X11 LinFBB on
the same computer. But, that's not all. There is a
variety of daemon versions of LinFBB. In this section
we are going to discuss how to *add* a daemon LinFBB
to the existing two: X11 LinFBB and WinFBB!</em>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Well, many amateurs have suggested me to install
a couple of packages that weren't look to me as
really requested for LinFBB daemon to work.
Anyway, I installed those packages <em>before</em>
the installation of LinFBB itself:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
libax25.rpm
ax25apps.rpm
ax25tool.rpm
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<item>Now it is the right time to install <tt>fbbsrv.rpm</tt>
package. The archive was composed to make its
own directories, as "base" directories. The last new
version to start with, that I have managed to find as
a <tt>.rpm</tt> package, was 7.01f Release 4 (09 December
1999).
<p>
<item>A file called <bf>fbb.conf</bf>, serving as the
replacement for <bf>init.srv</bf>, is placed in the
location: <bf>/etc/ax25/fbb.conf</bf>
<p>
<item><em>Unless</em> you are going to install daemon-<em>only</em>
system, you should make a backup of the
following existing files:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
dirmes.sys
etat.sys
heard.bin
inf.sys
statis.dat
tpstat.sys
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<item>Now you have to edit <bf>/etc/ax25/fbb.conf</bf>
and change some paths in case you already
have X11 LinFBB installed on a <em>different</em>
path. Here you have some examples that cover
my particular situation...
<p>
<item>Directory of data files, instead of /var/ax25/fbb,
should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system</bf>
<p>
<item>Directory of config files, instead of /etc/ax25/fbb,
should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/system</bf>
<p>
<item>Directory of message files, instead of /var/ax25/fbb/mail,
should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/mail</bf>
<p>
<item>Directory of compressed files, instead of /var/ax25/fbb/binmail,
should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/binmail</bf>
<p>
<item>Directory of users, instead of .../home/fbbdos/...,
should be ...<bf>/mnt/win/fbb/users</bf>... (case you
don't mind that both your WinFBB and LinFBB users handle
the same location for users' files)
<p>
<item>Directory of YAPP files, instead of /home/fbbdos/yapp,
should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/users/yapp</bf> (the same
reason as above)
<p>
<item>Directory of documentation files, instead of
/var/ax25/fbb/docs, should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/docs</bf>
<p>
<item>Directory of pg programs, instead of /usr/local/pg,
should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/pg</bf>
<p>
<item>Path and filename for import file, instead of
C:\FBB\MAIL.IN should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb/mail.in</bf>
<p>
<item>Now you have to edit <bf>/usr/sbin/xfbb.sh</bf>
and change some paths in case you already
have running X11 version of LinFBB on a <em>different</em>
path. Here you have an example that cover
my particular situation...
<p>
<item>Base directory of XFBB software, instead of
/var/ax25/fbb, should be <bf>/mnt/win/fbb</bf>
<p>
<item>So far - so good. Now it is the time to start
LinFBB daemon. The command for that is in the
location: <bf>/usr/sbin/xfbb.sh</bf> and it may
be executed within an <em>xterm</em>. If
everything is OK, you should get several
system messages on your screen, ending with
something like:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
xfbbC/X server running ...
xfbbd ready and running ...
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<item>Well, daemon itself can't be used to access the
BBS so it is needed to activate a <em>client</em>
that is <bf>/usr/sbin/xfbbC</bf>. It has a couple
of parameters (a callsign/password pairs that are
stored in <bf>/fbb/passwd.sys</bf>). Note that xfbbC can
also be activated within another <em>xterm</em>.
<p>
<item>If you are like me, you would like to activate one
more <em>xterm</em> with xfbbC in a way to monitor
your radio frequency. If you have enough room on
your screen, you may place all three <em>xterm</em>
windows side by side.
<p>
<item>When you finish your xfbbC console session, it is suitable
to use the same <em>xterm</em> to eventually stop the
daemon. First of all, with the command <bf>ps ax</bf>
you should locate PIDs of xfbb.sh shell and daemon itself,
that you may <bf>kill</bf> after that.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect>How to install an <em>upgrade</em> to a daemon version of LinFBB
<p>
<sect1>LinFBB v7.02g
<p>
<em>Notice: Well, the main trouble I have discovered with 7.01f
daemon was the absence of Protus c_filter protection. As I told you
before, Protus is a "third-party" product, so it might have
some problems with the compatibility to LinFBB itself. Anyway,
it is also possible that a daemon version of LinFBB has some
special requirements over some "third-party" software.</em>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>I also noticed that my version of Protus was <em>newer</em>
than the version of daemon LinFBB I had at first. Besides
that, some hams, including F6FBB himself, have suggested me
to upgrade LinFBB. I have also found a "problem" that I am
still new in compiling Linux software, so, I'd rather
look for pre-compiled packages for easy installation.
<p>
<item>Jose, HI8GN, has offered daemon LinFBB v7.02g as a
<tt>.rpm</tt> package (18 September 2000). I got it
from his site:
<url url="http://hi8gn.dynip.com/indice.html" name=
"http://hi8gn.dynip.com/indice.html">. But, when I tried
to install it <em>over</em> the previous version 7.01f, it
complained about some existing LinFBB files.
<p>
<item>Then I had to uninstall the old package, after what
some config files remained in their locations, but
with new <tt>.rpmsave</tt> extensions. It was nice,
so I could use them later to update my new-installed
config files.
<p>
<item>BTW, the installation of Jose's package was performed
without problems, but the new daemon was not likely to run
as I expected, although I tried to configure it as best
as I could. Not quite sure, but it looked to me that F6FBB
is likely to implement some changes not only to the main
executables but to shell files too. So, I have decided to
save copies of these new
<tt>xfbbd</tt> and <tt>xfbbC</tt> executables from 7.02g
package (I have made it with adding extensions like
.702 to the files). After that, I *uninstalled* the rest
of that 7.02 <tt>.rpm</tt>, in order to install the previous
version of LinFBB once again - the version that I was
satisfied with.
<p>
<item>So far - so good. The "old" 7.01f version was installed again
and tested one more time to be sure it was OK. Then, I just
copied the previously saved executables from the new package,
over the "old" executables. In a couple of minutes, the new
daemon LinFBB v7.02g has come in place and function. Comments...?
<p>
<item>Well, the new daemon is likely to check for some more directories
than the older version (mostly related to <tt>7plus</tt>
operations). Next, its <tt>xfbbC</tt> console client looks better
than the previous version. But, I still miss graphical
<tt>xfbbX</tt> client, that I have found not able to become
activated. I hope it will be fixed soon. Finally, Protus
<tt>c_filter</tt> utility is active too.
<p>
<item>An interesting question might be: is that now a really upgraded
LinFBB daemon or not? Actually, I haven't changed the "old"
script <tt>xfbbd.sh</tt> with the new one, because during the
first tests with the new 7.02 I was getting lots of error messages.
Looks that the directory structure was a bit complicated for me
to set properly within the new version of <tt>xfbbd.sh</tt>.
After I returned to <tt>xfbbd.sh</tt> from 7.01 package, the
BBS finally started to be run, though without some functions
like over-night maintaining (that one problem I solve in a way
to boot the BBS as WinFBB under Windows NT where that task is OK).
In addition, there are still some mysterious messages telling
that <tt>m_filter</tt> has not been found or something like that.
The next tasks are to solve these issues.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect1>LinFBB v7.03
<p>
<em>Notice: As I have said in the previous section,
I haven't found an easy way to upgrade FBB's (its main
executables), without temporary uninstalling an
older version, then to install the new version - in
order to get new executables. After that is done, a
reverse procedure must be put in place.</em>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Well, it was needed to get 7.03 package (09 December 2000)
as an <tt>.rpm</tt> package from
<url url="http://www.f6fbb.org/versions.html"
name="www.f6fbb.org/versions.html">,
that was suggested by Jean-Paul, F6FBB. Anyway,
soon after there appeared several mirror sites,
offering 7.03 too.
<p>
<item>If you use <em>GnomeRPM</em>, it is easy to uninstall
your actual LinFBB (If you just try to install new
<tt>.rpm</tt> over the existing LinFBB you will get
some error messages complaining that you already have
FBB installed on the computer). Anyway, after
the uninstallation, there you will find some config
files as <tt>.rpmsave</tt> files, so you could use
them later again.
<p>
<item>Installation of 7.03 package will give you
new executables in <bf>/usr/sbin</bf> directory.
Those new executables should be temporary given
extensions like <tt>.703</tt> (for example).
<p>
<item>So far - so good. Now you should *uninstall* the
7.03 package (of course, <tt>.703</tt> files won't
be unistalled automatically). Uninstall? Why? You will
find out soon, read on ...
<p>
<item>Once again, you should *install* the <em>last</em>
one version of LinFBB daemon, that works OK with its
own <tt>xfbb.sh</tt> (in my case, that is 7.01f).
<p>
<item>For sure, many of you might find it odd, but
now it is the right time for the executables from
<bf>/usr/sbin</bf> (I mean of all fbb executables,
except those who were renamed to <tt>.703</tt>) to get
their new extensions (in my case, that is <tt>.701</tt>).
<p>
<item>Well, after that is performed, <tt>.703</tt> files
should *lose* their previously attached extensions,
in order to become usable.
<p>
<item>Folks, on that point I usually hold my breath, <bf>cd</bf>
to <bf>/usr/sbin</bf> and type: <bf>xfbb.sh</bf>
following with an Enter. If everything is fine, several
lines should scroll on the screen, ending with
something like:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
xfbbC/X server running ...
xfbbd ready and running ...
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<item>If you don't get something similar on your <em>xterm</em>
'window' (or on other appropriate terminal
utility), you're out of luck, so you might go
through the procedure once again in order to be
sure you did all what was needed to be done :->
<p>
<item><bf>/usr/sbin/xfbbC</bf> is the easiest way to
check if your new 7.03 is in the game
or not. When I mention xfbbC it is good to let
you know, that I kept living in a belief that
xfbbC is also useful for regular telnet users
(who are also supposed to 'connect' to the BBS via
the same computer's console, where LinFBB is
running from). But, I have discovered that my
users, who were <em>not</em> declared as sysops,
are allowed to read all messages (including all
private messages), as well as to have some
other sysop's abilities. I did think it was
a matter of probably wrong declared security flags.
But, it was not.
<p>
<item>Recently, I was informed that <bf>xfbbC</bf>
is suitable mostly for sysops, so the other users
(who might also have access to the local
keyboard) should rather try something less
dangerous, like this:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
telnet localhost 6300
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<item>... where 'localhost' and '6300' may vary from
BBS to BBS. I was pleasantly surprised
when discovered that <bf>telnet</bf> is much more
suitable for ordinary BBS users than <em>sysops'</em>
client <bf>xfbbC</bf>.
<p>
<item>Folks, I also think of writing a chapter about
FBB's system configuration. Until something
like that appears in this howto, you should know
that all of those callsigns who are going to
use <bf>xfbbC</bf> have to be added into
your <tt>passwd.sys</tt> file. In addition, all
of these folks who are going to <bf>telnet</bf>
the BBS, have to be declared as users with
the 'M' flag (modem users). It is up to your
security precautions, if either of them would
eventually have <em>'root'</em> capabilities
to that one Linux machine itself.
<p>
<item>My next task is to use an old i286/12 MHz box,
having only 1 MB of RAM, running DOS 5.0, as a
'telnet client' computer. That box has a network
card so I would like to 'connect' to the
BBS from that one 'telnet client' box. If that
succeeds, it would be a good preparation for
installing another LinFBB (in the local school
club), where several old 286 computers will be also
available. It would be nice to offer more than
one student-amateur the opportunity to 'connect' the
BBS simultaneously, using a bunch of vintage
'telnet client' DOS computers.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect1>LinFBB v7.04
<p>
<em>Notice: Maybe I have already explained that I
use Red Hat 6.2 at home. That's why I usually look
for <tt>.rpm</tt> packages that have been made for
that particular Linux distribution, but not only that. I have
also tried to use Red Hat 7.1 but it seemed not to support
an older Xwindow application, LinFBB 7.00g (04 August 1998).
When I noticed that issue, I returned back to Red Hat 6.2.</em>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Well, I started by downloading the package
<tt>xfbb-7.04-2.i386.rpm</tt> (07 August 2001)
from <url url="http://www.f6fbb.org/versions.html"
name="www.f6fbb.org/versions.html">
<p>
<item>Folks, this time I finally decided to install
version 7.04 as a completely "fresh" installation, i.e.
without some parts of any previously used "daemon"
on the disk. It means that I have uninstalled the last
daemon version I was using before, and, in addition,
I also removed the old executables. Of course,
before the uninstalation, I made the backup of some
config files that are not version depending
(like <tt>/etc/fbb.conf</tt>), in order to avoid
editing the same "defaults" once again and again :-)
<p>
<item>The setup procedure has reported some dependency
issues. I didn't want to get bored with them so I repeated
the installation once again with "--force" and "--nodeps"
options.
<p>
<item>So far - so good. Then, I replaced a couple of
"default" files with the <em>saved</em> ones.
After that being accomplished, I mounted a
FAT partition with WinFBB's system files,
made a pray and started LinFBB's daemon. It was
also an interesting new experience to try HI8GN's
script <bf>/usr/sbin/fbb start</bf> (activated in an
<em>xterm</em>) to start the server. Although there
were no usual lines:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
xfbbC/X server running ...
xfbbd ready and running ...
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
on my screen, TNC's <em>PTT</em> lamp confirmed
that a <em>beacon</em> was really transmitted.
<p>
<item>Then I wanted to try HI8GN's script
<bf>/usr/sbin/monitor</bf> to see what's
going on the frequency. Although
I got something like:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
Connecting localhost ... Ok
Authentication in progress ... Ok
Monitoring channel 0 ...
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
there appeared no traffic on the screen. In order to really
monitor the channel, I had to start another <em>xterm</em>
and type:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
telnet localhost 6300
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
Bingo! From the usual FBB's prompt I entered the gateway
and typed the familiar "M" ("Monitor") command.
Interestingly, as soon as I "telnet-ed" to the
BBS, <bf>/usr/sbin/monitor</bf> window, mentioned
above, started to copy whatever was going on the
telnet <em>xterm</em> as long as that telnet session
was closed. I was in doubt if that was OK or not,
because there I expected to see the traffic from the radio
channel - regardless being connected to the system or
not. Any suggestion here?
<p>
<item>Well, then I wanted to use <bf>/usr/sbin/bbs</bf>,
in order to connect to the client's (or better to say: sysop's)
console (<em>xfbbC</em>). Looks that there was a line in
HI8GN's script:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
xfbbC -c -f -h localhost -i [callsign] -w [password]
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
with missing ./ (dot slash) before xfbbC, so the script
was not likely to be executed. Instead of that it reported
that command couldn't be found. Anyway, <em>xfbbC v3.01</em>
itself appeared to work nice. It is still possible to monitor the
working channel too (using the "M" command from within the
gateway), but this is not a valuable solution because
while "Monitor ON", it is not confortable to do
anything else within the gateway. Once again, solutions
are welcomed!
<p>
<item>Although the active <em>xfbbC</em> session can be
easily terminated using "B" ("Bye") command, a fooled
<bf>/usr/sbin/monitor</bf> can not. The user has to
find its <em>process number</em>, (PID), using <bf>ps ax</bf>
command and then kill that process.
<p>
<item>At the end of the game, daemon itself should
be stopped. HI8GN's script <bf>/usr/sbin/fbb stop</bf>
returns:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
Shutting down xfbbd: [OK]
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
but <bf>/usr/sbin/fbb status</bf>
reports:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
Checking, the FBB daemon
xfbbd (pid) is running...
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
Looks that <bf>/usr/sbin/fbb stop</bf> does not terminate
daemon *every* time the command is executed, but re-start it
(the only difference is the new PID of the process and
<bf>ps ax</bf> can show that new PID). So, there is
a question why it returns that [OK] when it is
obvious that daemon is not stopped, but rather re-started.
<p>
<item>Well, if you are like me, you may also want to
experiment with some special sysop's commands, from
within an <em>xfbbC</em> session. For example, "/R"
command ("Re-boot PC") shuts down <em>xfbbC</em>
and <bf>/usr/sbin/fbb status</bf> reports:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
Checking, the FBB daemon
xfbbd dead but subsys locked
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
while "/A" command ("Stop BBS") returns:
<tscreen><verb>
Stop-request accepted, no connection.
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
before shutting down <em>xfbbC</em> client itself.
<p>
Further attempts to re-start either <em>xfbbC</em> client
or <em>xfbbd</em> server (using <bf>/usr/sbin/fbb start</bf>)
are not successful, unless an additional
<bf>/usr/sbin/fbb stop</bf> is executed. The result is:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
Shutting down xfbbd: [FAILED]
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
Now another <bf>/usr/sbin/fbb status</bf> reports:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
Checking, the FBB daemon
xfbbd is stopped
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
so finally, daemon might be re-started again. Here it is
also a mystery why it returns that [FAILED]
when it is obvious that daemon is really
stopped (maybe it is a "failure" when we try to
stop the same thing <em>twice</em>).
<p>
There are some other commands: "/K" (Re-boot BBS with
housekeeping), "/M" (Re-boot BBS immediately) and
"/L" (Re-boot BBS, waiting users to disconnect) -
all of them with slight different behavior. Anyway, those
three commands have something in common: they all re-start
the daemon (with different PIDs, of course).
<p>
<item>Finally, what I would like to have is to
manage housekeeping and other maintaining
tasks. Until now, that is not accomplished.
I suppose that I should make some more fine
customization in system paths. Any suggestion
about is welcomed.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect>How to use LinFBB's "xfbbX", a GUI client for Linux
<p>
2002-10-20
<p>
Well, soon after the installation of LinFBB v7.04
<em>.rpm</em> package, I noticed
a new "kid on the block", i.e. a new item within the
Start menu (under Gnome environment). That was a
"HamRadio" group, having several "Xfbb version 7.04"
sub-items and one of them was "xfbbd X Client".
<p>
It seemed that a mouse <em>click</em> on that
"xfbbd X Client" icon was not likely to return any
response, although <em>xfbbd</em> daemon has been successfully
running <em>before</em> invoking the client. That's why I have
been asking for help (related to that issue) from other LinFBB
users, but it seemed there was no one capable to solve that
problem. Anyway, it looks to me that there is a "dead" link
from this "xfbbd X Client" icon to an existing executable.
<p>
Trying to find a solution, the other day I was browsing the
<bf>/usr/sbin</bf> directory. I have noticed something that
I have already seen for several times. That was <bf>xfbbX</bf>
file. Well, I am sure that I tried to use this <em>executable</em>
earlier, but without much success. This time, I have entered
the full path, like this:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
/usr/sbin/xfbbX
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
and, finally, the GUI client appeared on the screen.
<p>
So far - so good. Soon after, I realized that 'Monitoring'
window was capable to monitor the actual traffic on the radio
frequency, but not only that. Headers of all packets appear
in green and the actual information is in blue, so it is easy
to distinguish what is the header and what is the text info
(comparing to my old X11 LinFBB application where everything
came in black).
What I could describe as a disadvantage of the 'Monitoring'
window, is that the scroll bar does not give you much of the
previous, already <em>scrolled</em> traffic.
<p>
The 'All channels' screen was even better, so the system
user correspondents' traffic appeared in green, the local
user's traffic was in black and the port information was in
yellow. Unfortunately, there's no easy way (if any) to
change colors (and that's the standard feature in WinFBB)
for both 'Monitoring' and 'All channels' windows. Maybe I
haven't managed yet to find a switch for that, so any
useful info about is appreciated.
<p>
What I have also found a bit annoying, was that both
windows mentioned above, appear not arranged side-by-side,
a form that would be more suitable. Besides that, the
third window, 'Console', has to be activated with another
mouse click (instead of being activated automatically
with the other two windows). Actually, the whole thing of
<em>xfbbX</em> client seems to be primarily useful for
sysops looking only for BBS's command line, in order to
execute some server's commands etc. That's why I have found
a bit strange why the console window must be activated
separately (OK, I know that's the same with WinFBB's
windows, but why not to add some additional feature?)
<p>
Anyway, the 'Console' connection window has almost the same
functionality as WinFBB's 'Console' window. Here I think
of the commands given at the BBS's command prompt, because
they are invoked from the usual language *.TXT files.
<p>
But, the big disadvantage of today's version of
<em>xfbbX</em> client, I've found here, is the absence of
several useful icons, that I was very fond of within
the WinFBB's user interface. For example, there are
no icons for pending mail, users information,
disconnect a user, edit a message text or a header
etc. It looks to me that <em>xfbbX</em> developers are
not likely to offer the full comfort that we have
within WinFBB's GUI. It makes me wonder why? There are lots
of commands that can not be easily activated without the
proper icons. It drives me crazy whenever I have to
re-boot to Windows to start WinFBB, in order to perform
some simple tasks mentioned, using the mouse.
<p>
Besides that, there is no way to activate that nice
message editor screen, very useful in WinFBB
(also existed in an old Xwindow LinFBB application
v7.00g from 1998!) The same goes for replying
a message, where a sender does not get the text
of a message to be replied to, within the new
message body. In short, I don't like absence of
all those earlier implemented, but now abandoned
features.
<p>
Well, I can't imagine what Jean-Paul, F6FBB, and
other developers would do in the future, but I am not
satisfied with the idea to only keep further development
of LinFBB server side, but, in the same time, to abandon
the development of LinFBB's graphical client side. And not
only that: It looks that MS Windows client for LinFBB server,
<em>xfbbW</em> has been reported to be much more functional
that described xfbbX, while, in the same time, WinFBB server
development has been also stopped. A bit confusing situation,
isn't it?
<p>
Some amateurs think that it is just a result of "global" IT
situation: Linux (as well as other Unix-type platforms) is better
suited for servers, but Windows is better for clients. If so,
it looks that LinFBB packet-radio system operators, "sysop's",
seem to be forced to run at least two computers, in order
to get the same functionality they always had with WinFBB.
I'd rather suggest to Jean-Paul, F6FBB, and other developers
to transfer all known WinFBB's GUI features to <em>xfbbX</em>
GUI environment, in order to avoid using two computers.
<p>
2002-10-30
<p>
A couple of paragraphs ago, I said that "xfbbd X Client" icon
didn't work under Gnome environment. It did make me wonder
if it would work under KDE graphical user interface. So, this
time I started KDE (and I did it as "root" so, in addition, I
also got a mailbox icon on the desktop, named "fbb X11". When I
located the mouse pointer over that icon, there appeared some
more description: "F6FBB bbs Server for Packet Radio").
<p>
Well, when I tried to <em>click</em> on that icon, I got a
KFM Warning message box explaining that program
<bf>/root/.xfbbX</bf> could not be executed. Fortunately,
a "right click" on the icon allowed to enter file's Properties.
The Execute card gave me a possibility to change the path
for a program to be used. So, I did some browsing and located
the new path: <bf>/usr/sbin/xfbbX</bf>. After that, another
<em>click</em> resulted in running the GUI client.
<p>
Interestingly, there is some slight difference between
<em>xfbbX</em> appearance under KDE and Gnome. Actually,
each KDE's <em>xfbbX</em> window has "FBB" logo in the upper
left corner (Gnome's windows haven't that). That may indicate
that <em>xfbbX</em> client was produced primarily for KDE
environment. Besides that, it seems that other features
are almost the same, regardless being within KDE or Gnome
environment.
<p>
On the other side, the already mentioned "xfbbd X Client"
item (within the Start menu, under the "HamRadio" group), still
does not work. I suppose that there should also be some
modifications, related to program executable paths, but I
do not know how to manage that. Anyway, it does not matter
because <em>xfbbX</em> is running here this or that way.
<p>
2003-06-30
<p>
A recent email from Jose, HI8GN, related to the xfbbX GUI client,
about the RPM package:
<p><em>
"The reason of the why not the xfbbd X Client didn't give you any
answer is for several causes. 1) if the xfbbd daemon is not running
the xfbbd X client won't run. 2) if the xfbbd is dead in its process.
3) if the xfbbd was not shutoff correctly, but delete the xfbbd lock file
as this:</em>
<p><em>
. /etc/init.d/rc.fbb stop or service rc.fbb stop, and then it was run
and didn't create the xfbbd lock file, the shell script looks for the
existence the /var/lock/subsys/xfbbd or /var/lock/subsys/xfbbX lock file
and 4) if the xfbb X11 Server it is running it create a xfbbX lock file
by that the xfbbd X client won't neither run</em>
<p><em>
the same thing makes the X11 Client the one it verifies that the xfbbd is
not running</em>
<p><em>
if you make a click on the Icon that says fbb X11 Client and it doesn't run
it is because the one is seeing that there is a process of the xfbbd
running like as daemon.
the script rc.fbb I have also modified it so that it can not be executed
twice.</em>
<p><em>
if exist xfbbX lock file the xfbbd X client won't run
if exist xfbbd lock file the fbb X11 won't run.</em>
<p><em>
Lastly if you execute the command fbb in the console or in xterminal in
the desktop, you will see what I mean that simple."</em>
<p>
Thanks Jose!
<p>
<sect>How to use LinFBB's "xfbbW", a GUI client for Windows
<p>
2002-11-17
<p>
<em>Notice: Well, folks, I couldn't try to install and use
LinFBB client for Windows, because I have not had
a second computer for that purpose. The only way to
check how this client works, was to borrow a laptop machine
and give it a try.</em>
<p>
The first task was to link that Windows laptop to a Linux
desktop. I had some difficulties with the network card on
the desktop box, because it seemed not to be likely to start
the appropriate <bf>eth0</bf> interface. I'll give you some
more details about the equipment here: Linux is Red Hat 6.2
and my ISA network card has UMC UM9008 chip. Long ago, I
used some utilities that should "recognize" ISA cards (if
I remember their names, that were isapnptools, pnpdump etc).
<p>
What I do know, is that such tools should have add some new
lines into the existing files, like <bf>/etc/conf.modules</bf>
or, to create some new files, like <bf>/etc/isapnp*</bf>.
Well, I have forgotten what exactly should be done, so I
went to look for the right tools. The one that was looking
suitable was <bf>/sbin/isapnp</bf>. Although I got its
response on the screen, telling that the UM9008 chip was
recognized, there was nothing added to the system files,
nor new files seemed to be created.
<p>
What I also tried to use, was the old good <em>Linuxconf</em> tool, that
was already installed per default within RH 6.2 Linux. I
found the right place to add the information related to NIC's
IRQ and I/O address. There I seemed to make a little mistake,
so I put the value of <em>220</em> (for the I/O address), instead
of <em>0x220</em> that would better fit. The result was as one
may expect: the interface <bf>eth0</bf> continued to
report that a <em>ne</em> module had not found a card
at that one address. Then I checked the actual I/O address
the card uses under Windows OS (was the same) and
tried to fix the parameters (Thanks goes to a UK ham who advised
me to have to let Linux know the proper IRQ and I/O
addresses).
<p>
Interestingly, <em>Linuxconf</em> added a couple of new lines
into <bf>/etc/conf.modules</bf> too. In short, the next time
during the system boot, the interface <bf>eth0</bf>
reported a green <em>[OK]</em>, so I could
establish the link. So far - so good.
<p>
The next task was to download the client package from the
FBB's main site. I did it from the <em>"Newest version"</em>
web page and the number of the version was 1.12 (it
seems that was not a pretty much new version, or maybe the
content on that <em>"newest"</em> page has not been updated
recently - another task for Jean-Paul?). Anyway, I installed it
without any problem, configured its part related to the LinFBB
server it was about to access, changed the console font to my
favorite one (Tahoma) and started the utility.
<p>
At the first sight, the client looked great, because
Linux clients still prefer so small letters, that are
hard to read (compared to characters on a Windows screen).
Now I tried the most used commands like List, Read, Send Reply
etc. All of them worked great. What I have found a bit
strange, was that the <em>message justification</em> did
not work in its message editor window. You see, I like
my messages to be justified on both sides. I hope a solution
for that problem will be found soon.
<p>
Another issue with <em>xfbbW</em> client is that seems not to
allow a multiple click onto more than one
BBS callsign within <em>pending forward</em> list,
comparing to WinFBB's behavior. You know, I am not very fond of
opening the same <em>pending forward</em> window repeatedly
again and again, in order to start (or to stop) more than
one forwarding action.
<p>
In general, I like <em>xfbbW</em> client. I hope to
install some newer version(s) soon, and I hope some of
its features will be upgraded and some new ones will be added
in the future. What I would also like to have, is to
activate the maintenance of the BBS (a "housekeeping" task)
from that client's menu. Another thing I miss at the moment, is the
absence of the <em>xfbbW</em>'s help system. I mean
of a <em>real</em> Windows help, because there's not
much use of a <em>Help</em> menu, having only
<em>Copyright</em> and <em>About</em> information :-))
<p>
<sect>How to compile LinFBB's <em>executable</em> files
<p>
<sect1>fbbsrc.704h (using Red Hat 7.1)
<p>
2003-01-01
<p>
<em>Notice: Until recently, I preferred to download "factory-made"
executables in RPM format (something like ZIP in MS Windows world).
After getting a RPM package, a click on it activates the program
that unpack and install its content. Well, it is great whenever
your RPM has been "manufactured" for the very similar distribution
of Linux you have. If not ...</em>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Well, I have already had the package
<tt>xfbb-7.04-2.i386.rpm</tt> (07 August 2001), that was
running OK under RH 6.2 distro. And not only that. Its
"packer", Jose HI8GN, has explained that this package
was actually compiled and linked with utilities that came
with RH 6.2 - so under that distribution should be no
problems at all.
<p>
<item>One day I finally decided to abandon another 4-5 year old
version of an X11 LinFBB <em>application</em> that I knew it would
not run under Red Hat Linux newer than 6.2 distribution.
I decided to stay with LinFBB's daemon only, so it was also the
right time to upgrade the Linux system itself. Another handy
installation that I had, was RH 7.1 and I used it. After
finishing that task, I rushed to re-install the RPM package
mentioned above (just to test if it would eventually work), but as
expected it didn't want to run.
<p>
<item>I had no choice but to browse web sites in order to find a RPM
package that would fit my RH 7.1 distribution. Unfortunately,
it looked that there was no one recompiled LinFBB RPM for 7.1
RedHat version. The only solution was to try with <em>tarballs</em>.
So, what I have downloaded from <url url="http://www.f6fbb.org/versions.html"
name="www.f6fbb.org/versions.html">, was <tt>xd704h-src.tgz</tt>
archive.
<p>
<item>So far - so good. Well, folks, I am not very good of "deepest"
secrets of Linux, so I was not sure where might be the best
place to unpack the archive. According the <em>readme</em>
file, it might be a "fbbsrc" directory, so I considered that
<bf>/usr/src</bf> would be the best location to copy archive's
<bf>fbbsrc.704h</bf> directory tree.
<p>
<item>Well, the <bf>fbbsrc.704h</bf> directory consists of 12 files and 7
subdirectories, one of which is <bf>src</bf> subdirectory. As the
<em>readme</em> suggested a user to "goto fbbsrc/src" directory,
I concluded that <bf>/usr/src/fbbsrc.704h/src</bf> was the right place.
<p>
<item>The <em>readme</em> also suggested to "update the variables" at
the beginning of <em>Makefile</em> files, but I did not do that
because I was not sure what exactly should be put in there. So I have
just left the file(s) intact.
<p>
<item>The next task was to run <em>make</em> command from the shell
and it took half a minute to be finished. The results were several
<em>xfbb</em> executable files that I quickly moved to
<bf>/usr/sbin</bf> directory. BTW, some people rather suggest to run
<em>make install</em> (instead of <em>make</em>), in order to avoid
multiple copying of compiled executables, but I found that way as not
functional.
<p>
<item>Soon after, I tried to activate <bf>xfbbd</bf> - the new LinFBB's
<em>daemon</em> and it seemed to work without visible difficulties.
Using a home LAN including a Windows laptop, I also started <bf>fbbW</bf>
- a LinFBB Windows client. It recognized the <em>daemon</em> in a second
and I've only noticed that there was no Protus password utility running.
<p>
<item>According the <em>readme</em>, the next task should be to "compile
the xfbbC client". That operation should be done from a place
called "fbbsrc/client" but the only available directory under
<bf>/usr/src/fbbsrc.704h/src</bf> was <bf>X11</bf>.
<p>
<item>After clicking on its icon, I recognized the second one file
named <em>Makefile</em> (they have mentioned "updating" of
<em>both</em> Makefile files, so I hoped to reach the proper
place once again, regardless of two unfamiliar paths). Besides that,
they have also suggested to use "at least the version 2.1.37b of
ax25-utils" and I found <em>not</em> to have something like that
installed (in the case they have possibly meant of a <em>suit</em>
of libax25, ax25apps and ax25tool - than it should be OK). Anyway,
then I activated <em>make</em> command from the shell one more time
and the result was in getting <em>xfbbC</em> executable.
<p>
<item>As usual, <bf>xfbbC</bf> client is to be invoked from within an
<em>xterm</em> (or similar) command line environment. It also seemed
that it was fully functional. So far - so good.
<p>
<item>The next issue was to "compile the xfbbX client", but this time
a user was requested to have a version of Motif installed. Well,
what I already knew was that I haven't had any Motif software in the box,
but a couple of Lesstif RPM packages were somewhere around. I installed them
using <tt>--force</tt> and <tt>--nodeps</tt> options in order to avoid
various <em>dependency</em> 'obstacles'. In sum, Lestiff stuff has
come to its place on the hard disk.
<p>
<item>This one time, I did make some "updates" related to <em>Makefile</em>
paths and tried to run <em>make</em> command from the shell (for
the 3rd time now). At the first sight, it seemed that I got no answer,
because there appeared neither <bf>xfbbX</bf> nor <bf>xfbbX_cl</bf>
executables. In order to "make" missing files, I just copied the
appropriate executables from an earlier LinFBB version (which I backup-ed
before).
<p>
<item>Finally, I managed to activate <bf>xfbbX</bf> client without visible
problems, although I knew it was not an up-to-date version (compared
to the <em>daemon</em> itself). Regardless of that detail, the GUI
client worked properly.
<p>
<item>As I just mentioned, I also noticed that the first console connection
was without familiar <bf>{PROTUS-4.1b7}</bf> designation (that means
there was no <em>c_filter</em> utility running). So, I had
to check and double-check all the paths and system directories,
described in the Protus section of this mini-HOWTO. At the first
sight, it looked to me that everything was fine, but the utility
was not likely to start. Finally, I copied its main executable
into yet another system location: <bf>/usr/lib/fbb/filter</bf>,
re-started the system once again and Protus returned back to its
function.
<p>
<item>That was all. I am satisfied with what I have done for the first time.
What I have to do in the future, will be to check if the procedure
described in this section was the right one, although most of the
BBS's main features seemed to be active (just like as if they were
running under RH 6.2 distribution using LinFBB packages in RPM format
mentioned earlier). The only "mystery" was how to activate some
system administering tasks: maintenance (a "housekeeping"), get
user's data and other tasks easily accessed from under WinFBB main
console (for example). Until now I haven't solved that, but that
is not a real problem because I can also run WinFBB whenever my
Windows is active, and from there I can perform sysop's tasks, using
a mouse click or like.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect1>fbbsrc.704j (using Red Hat 7.1)
<p>
2004-01-03
<p>
<em>Notice: The other day I tried to upgrade my Red Hat 7.1
distribution to Red Hat 9.0 - in order to get more up-to-date
system, being also capable to be upgraded from its original Netscape
4.76 browser to Netscape 7.1 (In fact, the more newer Netscape
I need for other purposes - not related to FBB stuff at all - but I have
not succeeded to perform a kind of a 'browser-only' upgrade (In fact,
Netscape 7.1 needs newer <em>Glibc</em> and some other things not
easily being upgraded within under Red Hat 7.1). That's why I decided
to upgrade the complete Linux system - i.e. not just reinstalling it
'from scratch'. The reason for that was I wanted to preserve my old
Netscape Messenger email directory tree etc). So, at first, I made cca.
450 MB of free space on my / partition, hoping that would be enough to
upgrade. But, RH 9.0's setup asked for even more 400 MB - that I couldn't
made. Then I tried to make a 'fresh' installation of RH 9.0 and it also
looked that I had better supply a larger hard disk (besides that,
it seemed that RH 9.0 performed a bit slower on my system than the old
RH 7.1). Finally, I made a decision to re-install RH 7.1 again.
</em>
<p>
After I did it, one of the first tasks to do was to install LinFBB. I
took some browsing in order to find something newer than that
<bf>fbbsrc.704h</bf> and I've got <bf>fbbsrc.704j</bf> <em>tarball</em>
from <url url="ftp://www.f6fbb.org/pub/f6fbb/distrib/linux/src"
name="ftp://www.f6fbb.org/pub/f6fbb/distrib/linux/src">
<p>
<itemize>
<item>At first, I extracted <em>.tgz</em> package to the <bf>/usr/src</bf>
directory. <bf>fbbsrc.704j</bf> consists of 7 subdirs and 12 files.
According to its <em>readme</em>, at the beginning I should 'goto fbbsrc/src
directory' so I went to <bf>/usr/src/fbbsrc.704j/src</bf>
<p>
<item>The <em>readme</em> also suggested to "update the variables"
at the beginning of <em>Makefile</em> files, but I just left
the file(s) intact.
<p>
<item>The next task was to run <em>make</em> command from the shell
and it took almost two minutes to be finished. The result was new
<em>xfbb</em> executables (clr_user, epurmess, epurwp, fbbgetconf,
maintinf, reqdir, xfbbC and xfbbd) that I quickly moved to
<bf>/usr/sbin</bf> directory.
<p>
<item>Then I copied <bf>fbb.conf</bf> (previously backup-ed) as well as
other config stuff that should go to <bf>/etc/ax25/fbb</bf> directory.
I have <em>not</em> created new directories LinFBB should use as a
'normal' Linux-only BBS (a 'configuration tree', a 'utilities tree'
and a 'data tree' - all of which suggested by /usr/src/fbbsrc.704j/FBBTREE
file. If I haven't copied my backup-ed <bf>fbb.conf</bf> (that, in turn, has
been configured to share config files with my WinFBB on a spare FAT16
partition) and if I wanted to activate LinFBB's daemon <em>before</em>
copying my particular <bf>fbb.conf</bf> - then I had to create those
FBB-trees. In opposite, LinFBB couldn't run.
<p>
<item>Soon after, I tried to activate LinFBB's <em>daemon</em> and
it seemed to work without visible difficulties (using a temporary home
LAN with a laptop, I performed <bf>telnet xfbbd_IP_address 6300</bf>, from
Windows' utility Command Prompt. It recognized the <em>daemon</em>
in a second and I've only noticed that there was no Protus password
utility running). The latter I solved by copying /var/ax25/fbb/protus/c_filter
file to a location /usr/lib/fbb/filter and re-starting LinFBB. To make more
tests, I have also installed <bf>xfbbW</bf> (Windows client for LinFBB). It
also worked fine.
<p>
<item>According the <em>readme</em>, the next task should be to
"compile the xfbbX client". That operation is to be performed from
a place called "fbbsrc/client" but the only sub-directory available
under <bf>/usr/src/fbbsrc.704j/src</bf> was <bf>X11</bf> subdir.
I went there, but <em>before</em> trying to activate <bf>make</bf>
again, I also installed a couple of <bf>LessTif</bf> RPM packages
of version 0.93.18-1 (lesstif, lesstif-mwm, lesstif-devel and lesstif-
clients). In fact, I haven't had a version of Motif to be installed.
<p>
<item>Once again, I did not make "updates" related to <em>Makefile</em>
paths and just tried to run <em>make</em> from the shell (for the
2nd time now). In a half a minute, I got two new executables:
<bf>xfbb</bf> and <bf>xfbbX_cl</bf>. I also copied them to
<bf>/usr/sbin</bf> directory, accompanied with <bf>xfbbX</bf>
shell script. The difference to the older version 704h was that
this time I haven't had to apply the GUI client executables from
an earlier version I have backup-ed previously. That means, I
could be sure now that both <em>server</em> and <em>client</em>
parts of LinFBB are of the very same version.
<p>
<item>Then I entered /usr/sbin/xfbbX and soon after XFBB Setup screen
appeared, asking to enter the Callsign and Password. From the
Help menu, I checked for About and Copyright and I was satisfied
when noticed that it was 7.04j version of the Linux GUI client.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect1>fbbsrc.704j (using Red Hat 9.0)
<p>
2004-01-05
<p>
<em>Notice: Although I managed to compile all parts of the newest
LinFBB version, I was not so happy because my Linux platform was
still the old one: Red Hat 7.1 and I wanted to have 9.0 version.
That's why I started planning what to do with the things intended
to be backup-ed <em>before</em> the another fresh installation of
Linux. The main trouble were the existing Netscape 4.76 email
folders, because it was obvious that the 4.76 directory structure
greatly differ from Netscape 7.1 folder tree. In fact, a user of
Netscape 4.76 email only has to make a backup copy of the hidden
<bf>.nsmail</bf> directory that, in turn, has to be restored into
the same location <em>after</em> the eventual next re-installation
of the Red Hat 7.1 distribution. That is a simple task to do. But,
the problem with newer Netscape 7.1 was that it has the different
directory tree when compared to its predecessor, in addition to
a slightly changed email structure. In fact, I tried to use Netscape
4.76's <bf>.nsmail</bf> directory with the fresh Netscape 7.1
installation and that just didn't want to run properly. Than I looked
for another way to accomplish that task and here is how I did it.
</em>
<p>
I already knew that Netscape and Mozilla software (in particular
the newer one versions of them) converge in a way they seem to
use a similar or the very same "engine" as well as the directory
structure. Having in mind that the newer Red Hat 9.0 distribution
have <em>not</em> offered any version of Netscape software at all
and that Mozilla packages remained in the newer Red Hat's - I
decided to perform the following steps:
<p>
1. to make a simple <em>upgrade</em> from Red Hat 7.1 to Red Hat
9.0 (in order to keep the original Netscape's 4.76 <bf>.nsmail</bf>
directory structure <em>intact</em>, but to get an up-to-dated
version of Mozilla which comes with this particular Red Hat upgrade
and that is the same as Mozilla after the 'fresh' installation
of RH 9.0);
<p>
2. to make an <em>import</em> of the existing email from Netscape
4.76 to Mozilla (interestingly, the new Mozilla only supports an
<em>import</em> from a "Netscape 4.x");
<p>
3. to make a <em>backup</em> copy of the new Mozilla's directory
structure;
<p>
4. to make a <em>'fresh' installation</em> of Red Hat 9.0 (in order
to ensure the stable environment that, in turn, will also have the
same new Mozilla);
<p>
5. to make a <em>'restore'</em> of Mozilla's directory structure
(previously backup-ed);
<p>
6. to <em>install</em> the new Netscape 7.1 that, as mentioned, will
use the <em>same</em> directory structure as the new Mozilla;
<p>
7. to <em>have</em> a choice: to run either Netscape or Mozilla (if
you get bored from either of them :-)).
<p>
Well, these steps were the nice mental exercise, but finally I got
them all running as I wanted. After I got sure that the Internet
email and browsing capabilities of my new Red Hat 9.0 became OK, I
got to the beginning of LinFBB installation procedure. Now I am not
going to repeat the items from the previous LinFBB sub-section, but
what I would like to say is that the step 4. (a couple of paragraphs
above) have not brought some X Window development packages, needed
for compiling of <bf>xfbbX</bf>. I mean, once again I managed to
compile <em>xfbbd</em> and <em>xfbbC</em> without problems, but a
<bf>make</bf> of xfbbX haven't produced the result I expected. In
fact, it returned something like this:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
[root@localhost X11]# make
gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -g -funsigned-char ...
In file included from ../../include/xfbb.h:34,
...
...
xfbbabtd.c: In function `DisplayInfoDialog':
xfbbabtd.c:428: warning: comparison between pointer and integer
make: *** [xfbbabtd.o] Error 1
[root@localhost X11]#
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
I was advised by the friendly FBB-hams that obviously something of the
X Window development stuff have been missing, so I started to explore
the <em>RPM</em>'s I already have installed:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
[root@localhost root]# rpm -qa *lesst*
lesstif-devel-0.93.18-1
lesstif-clients-0.93.18-1
lesstif-mwm-0.93.18-1
lesstif-0.93.18-1
[root@localhost root]#
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<itemize>
As long as I know, all these <em>lesstif</em> packages
don't belong to either Red Hat 7.1 nor 9.0 distribution.
I have probably downloaded them as a '3rd party' software.
Besides that, I also noticed that Red Hat 9.0 installation
CD's do include the following:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
lesstif-0.93.36-3.i386.rpm
lesstif-devel-0.93.36-3.i386.rpm
openmotif21-2.1.30-8.i386.rpm
openmotif-devel-2.2.2-14.i386.rpm
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<item>Well, a nice try to 'upgrade' to lesstif-0.93.36-3.i386.rpm
ended up with an error report on the conflicts with
the existing lesstif-0.93.18-1 - so I gave up;
<p>
<item>Then I entered a 'loop' of failed dependencies as follows:
</itemize>
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
lesstif-devel-0.93.36-3.i386.rpm required
XFree86-devel and lesstif = 0.93.36
XFree86-devel-4.3.0-2.i386.rpm required
fontconfig-devel and pkgconfig
fontconfig-devel-2.1-9.i386.rpm required
freetype-devel >= 2.1.2-7
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<itemize>
Then the following stuff got installed without complaints:
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
[root@localhost root]# rpm -i freetype-devel-2.1.3-6.i386.rpm
[root@localhost root]# rpm -i fontconfig-devel-2.1-9.i386.rpm
[root@localhost root]# rpm -i pkgconfig-0.14.0-3.i386.rpm
[root@localhost root]# rpm -i XFree86-devel-4.3.0-2.i386.rpm
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
<item>Well, at this point I tried to recursively install
lesstif-0.93.36-3.i386.rpm <em>once again</em> but it
conflicted with the existing lesstif-0.93.18-1 - so I
gave up <em>once again</em>;
<p>
<item>While pulling out the remaining hair, I just tried another
<em><bf>make</bf></em> within the X11 directory and ...
Bingo! ... <em>xfbbX</em> finally got compiled! Only God
knows which one of the packages above was/were the missing
part(s). Case some of <em>you</em> knows, please let me
know.
<p>
<item>And, as they said: ... and after all that had happened,
what remained has just gone to a legend ... :-)
</itemize>
<p>
What remains to be explored (at least for me) is to see how to
maintain various sysop's tasks (ex. how to execute 'housekeeping'
mechanism by a mouse click or like) - from within <em>xfbbX</em>.
Any suggestion is welcomed (it may also be a contribution for the
next release of this mini-HOWTO, hams!).
<p>
<sect>How to access the "xfbbd" server from a DOS client?
<p>
<em>Notice: In some of the previous chapters, I announced
my plans to use an old i286/12 MHz box,
having only 1 MB of RAM, running DOS 5.0, as a
'telnet client' computer. That box has a network
card so I would like to 'connect' to the
BBS from that one 'telnet client' box. If that
succeeds, it would be a good preparation for
installing another LinFBB (in the local school
club), where several old 286 computers will be also
available. It would be nice to offer more than
one student-amateur the opportunity to 'connect' the
BBS simultaneously, using a bunch of vintage
'telnet client' DOS computers.</em>
<sect1>NCSA Telbin DOS client
<p>
2003-06-30
<p>
First of all, I have been looking for networking software that
does not require much of hardware resources. Several hams
keep advising me to try this or that way, but Jose, CO2JA,
sent me his distribution copy of <bf>NCSA Telnet</bf> utility.
According to its own <em>howto</em> document, that is
actually a <bf>"NCSA Telbin DOS client"</bf>, being "used
at The University of Port Elizabeth (Sep '94)". So far
about software's earlier "official" usage.
<p>
Well, it seems that NCSA TCP/IP kernel only runs on packet
drivers now. That's why I looked for appropriate packet drivers
for my old ISA network card, equipped with the UMC's UM9003AF
chip. <bf>CZ20000.COM</bf> packet driver seemed to be the
most suitable one.
<p>
Before implementing the driver I also needed the proper diagnostic
utility to check and/or modify NIC's IRQ and I/O address in order to avoid
possible hardware conflicts (you know, under DOS it is less easier
to resolve interrupt hardware conflicts case a user has several ISA
cards that are not of P'n'P type /as PCI cards are/). It seemed that
<bf>DIAG.EXE</bf> ("The Ethernet Adapter Diagnostic Program,
Ver. 2.13" - that comes with E1000 and E2000 series Ethernet cards)
was fully capable to handle my card's parameters, so I choose the
values of IRQ 5 and I/O 320 that weren't occupied by other resources.
<p>
Then I could execute the following DOS command:
<tscreen><verb>
cz2000 0x60 5 0x320
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
in order to activate the NIC.
<p>
Now the configuration file CONFIG.TEL should be modified
in order to satisfy my particular needs, including local (DOS client) and
remote (Linux server) IP addresses etc. In a couple of minutes
that was finished so the main executable <bf>TELBIN.EXE</bf>
successfully started running on my old 286 DOS box.
<p>
If you want, you may put <bf>cz2000 0x60 5 0x320</bf> and
<bf>telbin</bf> commands into a dedicated <em>TELNET.BAT</em>
file in order to make your telnet utility easier to activate. Should
you plan to use your old DOS box for only accessing the
Linux FBB server, both lines may be added to the
<em>AUTOEXEC.BAT</em> start up file.
<sect1>Xrouter 176b
<p>
2003-07-20
<p>
A "YL" (the amateur "young lady") from the UK, Paula Dowie G8PZT, has
suggested me to try her own product, XROUTER MULTI-PROTOCOL
ROUTER, that is "an AX25 and IP packet router for the amateur packet
radio network, using a standard PC and DOS". Actually, it seems that
Xrouter has much more functions that I need now, but anyway it was
intriguing to test its features, in order to connect LinFBB via LAN. Paula
said that "Xrouter <url url="http://pzt.org.uk/software/software.htm" name=
"http://pzt.org.uk/software/software.htm"> will run on a 286 DOS machine,
and will act as a telnet client". She added that, Xrouter's "outgoing text is
composed in a one line buffer, so the receive window is only 22 lines".
According to Paula's email signature, seems she's very active in
helping to the amateur digital radio activities:
<tscreen><verb>
> Packet: G8PZT @ GB7PZT.#24.GBR.EU (44.131.91.2) [Kidderminster]
> Email: g8pzt@blueyonder.co.uk _/\_
> GB7PZT: 01562-745527 24h 300-33,600 8,n,1 ()
> Software: XServ BBS, Xrouter, PEARL off-line-reader. />
> Web Site: www.pzt.org.uk (also www.qsl.net/g8pzt) ===>--->>\----
> Telnet: (BBS): gb7pzt.dyndns.org:88 and 44.131.91.2:23
> Telnet: (KIDDER): g8pzt.ath.cx and 44.131.91.245
> HTTP: http://g8pzt.ath.cx/ and http://44.131.91.245
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
So, I went to visit the site to see what it was about and to download the
package. There were two compressed files, rout172.zip and rout176c.zip
so I decided to get both of them (the latter is the newer one, 28/7/02 but
the other one is also not so old, 15/11/01).
<p>
According to sysop's manual <bf>XROUTER.TXT</bf> the ethernet driver
allows connection with Windows, Linux, NOS and BPQ. At the moment I am
primarily interested in connections to LinFBB (and maybe to WinFBB too).
Xrouter's hardware requirements include at least one COM port or Ethernet
card and I used only the Ethernet card for the first time because I am not
going to use Xrouter for anything else but for accessing LinFBB over my
home network.
As described in the previous section, related to "NCSA Telbin DOS client",
I have managed to activate my NIC using the command:
<tscreen><verb>
cz2000 0x60 5 0x320
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
After doing that, there was a requirement to use the software component
<bf>ETHDRV.EXE</bf> (supplied with Xrouter), like this:
<tscreen><verb>
ethdrv 125
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
where "125" stands for a software interrupt in the range 60 - 127 (125
is used as an example that, BTW, works here without any problem). On the
other side, the same software interrupt must be defined as the INTNUM
parameter, that is a part of the INTERFACE block within
<bf>XROUTER.CFG</bf> configuration file.
<p>
And, finally, there was a command:
<tscreen><verb>
xrouter
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
to activate the main executable. As mentioned before, all three lines above
may be incorporated into an <em>XROUTER.BAT</em> (or whatever similar)
batch file to make user's life easier.
<p>
Well, although in my case the first two lines responded in positive manner,
the last one rather suggested that I had some errors in the configuration.
The nice thing is that errors are reported with a detail such the exact line
of <bf>XROUTER.CFG</bf> where an error is made. In fact, Xrouter is able
to support lots of various "ports" and has a plenty of other features, so it
was not easy to solve the config issues I faced to. With some help from
other hams I managed to adapt the following configuring blocks:
<tscreen><verb>
INTERFACE=8
TYPE=EXTERNAL
PROTOCOL=ETHER
MTU=1600
INTNUM=125
ENDINTERFACE
</verb></tscreen>
and
<tscreen><verb>
PORT=6
ID=Ethernet LAN
INTERFACENUM=8
CHANNEL=A
FRACK=1000
RESPTIME=200
MAXFRAME=7
PACLEN=240
ENDPORT
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
So far, so good. Now I got Xrouter's main screen from where I could enter
telnet and other commands. But I was still not able to connect to the LinFBB.
Finally, I got the suggestion to reconfigure another Xrouter's system file,
<bf>IPROUTE.SYS</bf>. It seemed that the missing part was to change the
default route, as follows:
<tscreen><verb>
route default 6 * d
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
Then I became capable to access my LinFBB server.
<p>
<sect>How to communicate with LinFBB in Serbian?
<p>
2003-08-01
<p>
<em>Gentle folks, I am a Serb and I live in Serbia.
My language is Serbian and I communicate with FBB
in that language. If you like to expand the language
capabilities of your LinFBB (and-or WinFBB too), I
include two system language files: <bf>SRPSKI.HLP</bf>
and <bf>SRPSKI.TXT</bf> for your convenience. As you
can see, the files are in the Latin alphabet although I
would like to have them in the Cyrillic too. Case some
of you have ideas or links on how to manage that, you
are welcome to help.</em>
<p>
<sect1>SRPSKI.HLP
<p>
=====BOF=====
<tscreen><verb>
##############################
# SRPSKI.HLP for FBB 7.00g #
# (Serbian help file) #
# by Misko,YT7MPB 02Jul99 #
##############################
#################
# -1 za goste #
#################
@@ -1 ?
Imate ograniceni izbor naredbi:
B : bye-diskonekt
H : ovaj tekst
KM : brise sve PROCITANE poruke za vas
LM : ispis naslova SVIH poruka za vas
O : izbor opcija (jezik,stranice..)
RM : cita sve poruke za vas
RN : cita sve NOVE poruke za vas
S : upucuje poruku (SEND)
T : poziva SysOp-a
###################
# 0 je za SERVER #
###################
@@ 0 ?
*** nema takve naredbe !!!
C : statistika konektovanja
D : dokumentacija i informacije
Q : QTH lokatori
N : adresar stanica (CALLBOOK)
T : sateliti i njihove putanje
F : povratak u BBS mod
B : diskonekt iz bbs-a
Upisite: ? <slovo> za detaljniju pomoc (na pr.. ? T )
@@ 0 C
Konekt-statistika
-----------------
Razne statistike o upotrebi servera, liste i slicno.
@@ 0 D
Informacije
-----------
U ovom delu mozete pronaci razne informacije i dokumentaciju ako postoje.
Naredbe su brojcane.
@@ 0 N
Adresar
-------
Ovde se nalaze informacije koje su korisnici bbs-a ostavili o sebi.
(ime, adresa, telefoni, ...).
Mozete upisati i svoje podatke ....(preporucujemo).
@@ 0 Q
Lokatori
--------
Razni proracuni vezani uz lokator (iz koordinata u LOC, iz LOC u koordinate,
QRB, sumirajuci QRB vise lokatora, azimuti...).
@@ 0 T
Putanje satelita
----------------
Proracun putanja, orbitalnih parametara, karakteristike raznih satelita
(ukoliko za njih postoje podaci).
@@ 0 F
Povratak u BBS
--------------
Naredbom: F <enter> se mozete vratiti nazad u BBS mod.
@@ 0 B
Bye - diskonekt
----------------
Naredbom: B <enter> prekidate QSO sa bbs-om.
###########################
# QRA-locator server is 2 #
###########################
@@ 2 ?
*** nema takve naredbe !!!
Q : proracun koordinata iz lokatora,
L : proracun lokatora iz koordinata,
D : proracun QRB i azimuta izmedju dva lokatora,
C : sabiranje QRB izmedju pocetnog LOC i vise drugih lokatora,
F : povratak u server meni,
B : diskonekt iz bbs-a.
Ukucajte: ? <slovo> za detaljniju pomoc (na pr.. ? L).
@@ 2 Q
naredba Q
---------
Izracunava koordinate iz lokatora. Rezultat je u stepenima/min. i gradima.
Gradijani nam bas i nisu zanimljivi pa zavisno od jezika se nece ni ispisati.
@@ 2 L
naredba L
---------
Izracunava lokator iz koordinata. Koordinate se mogu uneti u decimalnim
stepenima, stepen./min. i gradijanima.
Primer unosa u stepenima i minutima: 1:45:00 (smer)
Ovaj smer zamenite sa Sever, Jug, Istok, Zapad prema potrebi. Pazite da
prvo slovo bude VELIKO, na pr.. 1:45:00 Sever
@@ 2 D
naredba D
---------
Izracunava QRB i azimut izmedju dva lokatora. QRB je u km, azimut u stepenima.
@@ 2 C
naredba C
---------
Sabira izracunate QRB. Nakon unosa polaznog LOC svi sledeci QRB se nakon
proracuna dodaju ukupnoj sumi km.
Ako nemate digitron ili racunar mozete ovde izracunati rezultate contesta :))
@@ 2 F
naredba F
---------
Vraca vas nazad u SERVER mod pa mozete probati neki drugi modul servera.
Ako ponovo posaljete F <enter> vracate se u BBS mod.
@@ 2 B
naredba B
---------
Prekidate vezu bez vracanja u BBS mod.
###################
# STATISTICS is 3 #
###################
@@ 3 ?
*** nema takve naredbe !!!
O : zauzeca na bbs-u u %,
G : opsta statistika bbs-a,
L : spisak konektovanih stanica,
H : graficki prikaz dnevne upotrebe bbs-a,
J : graficki prikaz nedeljne upotrebe bbs-a,
I : spisak svih stanica koje su do sada bile u bbs-u,
F : povratak u SERVER-MENI,
B : diskonekt iz bbs-a,
Ukucajte: ? <slovo> za detalje o nekoj naredbi ( na pr.. ? L).
@@ 3 O
naredba O
---------
Procenat upotrebe raznih resursa servera, mailbox-a i DOS modula.
@@ 3 G
naredba G
---------
Opsta statistika servera (broj poruka, konekta, vremena...)
@@ 3 L
naredba L
---------
Konekt lista. Za svaki konekt ispisuje se: port, znak, pocetak i vreme
trajanja konekta. Lista se daje unazad, a ispis se prekida sa A.
@@ 3 H
naredba H
---------
H : graficki prikaz upotrebe BBS-a po satima od 00 - 24h,
H CALL : graficki prikaz upotrebe BBS-a od strane CALL. Moguci su i "dzoker"-
znaci.Na pr. H YU7* ce dati ispis za sve YU7 stanice koje su bile tu.
@@ 3 J
naredba J
---------
J : graficki prikaz upotrebe BBS-a po danima u sedmici od Pon do Ned,
J CALL : graficki prikaz upotrebe BBS-a od strane CALL. Moguci su i "dzoker"-
znaci.Na pr. J YU7* ce dati ispis za sve YU7 stanice koje su bile tu.
@@ 3 I
naredba I
---------
I : abecedni spisak stanica koje su koristile BBS. Moguci su i
"dzoker"-znaci.Na pr. I YU7* ce dati listu svih YU7 stanica.
@@ 3 F
naredba F
---------
Vraca vas nazad u SERVER-MENI pa mozete da probate neki drugi modul servera.
Ako ponovo posaljete: F <enter> vracate se u BBS mod.
@@ 3 B
Bye - diskonekt
----------------
Naredbom: B <enter> prekidate vezu, bez potrebe da se vracate u BBS mod.
######################
# DOCUMENTATION is 4 #
######################
@@ 4 ?
Dokumentacija
-------------
Da bi procitali neki tekst sa liste samo upisite njegov broj.
Nove stvari se upisuju putem NEWDOC servera iz BBS-a (? NEWDOC).
L ispisuje listu fajlova.
Sysop: OPIS se moze menjati D naredbom ( na pr.. D BBS.DOC opis).
@@ 4 F
naredba F
---------
Vracate se nazad u SERVER-MENI pa mozete probati neki drugi modul servera.
Ako ponovo posaljete: F <enter> vracate se u BBS-mod.
@@ 4 D
naredba D (samo za SysOp-a)
--------------------------
Izmena opisa dokumentacionih fajlova.
@@ 4 L
naredba L
---------
Daje spisak postojecih tekstova.
@@ 4 R
------
naredba R
---------
Ako ste otisli u neki od DOCS poddirektorijuma sa R se vracate na raniji DIR.
#####################
# NOMENCLATURE is 5 #
#####################
@@ 5 ?
*** nema takve naredbe !!!
N : promena licnih podataka: imena, adrese...,
R : pretrazuje bazu za podacima o nekoj stanici,
I : lista konektovanih znakova,
F : povratak u server meni,
B : diskonekt iz bbs-a.
Ukucajte: ? <slovo> za detalje o naredbi (na pr.. ? N ).
@@ 5 N
naredba N
---------
Ako nema podataka o vasem imenu, adresi, tlf ili su netacni, mozete ih
uneti ili menjati ovom naredbom.
Ukoliko na pitanje odgovorite sa razmakom ili <RETURN> nece se promeniti
taj podatak.
Ukoliko je sve OK, samo odgovorite slovom N na (D/N) pitanje.
SysOp : sysop moze menjati podatke korisnika naredbom N CALL.
@@ 5 R
naredba R
---------
Pretrazuje bazu podataka u potrazi za podacima o nekom pozivnom znaku.
Na pr. R YU7APV <enter>.
@@ 5 I
naredba I
---------
Abecedni popis stanica koje su do sada konektovale ovaj BBS.
@@ 5 F
naredba F
---------
Vraca vas nazad u SERVER-MENI pa mozete probati neki drugi modul servera.
Ako ponovo posaljete: F <enter> vracate se u BBS.
@@ 5 B
Bye - diskonekt
----------------
Naredbom: B <enter> prekidate vezu, bez potrebe da se vracate u BBS mod.
#######################
# TRAJECTOGRAPHY is 6 #
#######################
@@ 6 ?
*** nema takve naredbe !!!
T : izracunava putanju/polozaj nekog satelita,
P : prikazuje orbitalne parametre,
C : karakteristike amaterskih satelita,
F : povratak u server meni,
B : diskonekt iz bbs-a.
Posle naredbi C, P i T mozete da upisete L za SPISAK satelita.
Ukucajte ? <slovo> za detalje o nekoj naredbi ( na pr.. ? C ).
@@ 6 T
naredba T
---------
Izracunava putanju satelita. Nakon sto ste odabrali satelit za koji zelite
proracun morate uneti datum i vreme za koje zelite podatke. Svi podaci su
bazirani na vasem lokatoru ukoliko ste ga upisali inace se racuna prema
lokatoru ovog bbs-a.
Za popis satelita upisite L <enter>.
@@ 6 P
naredba P
---------
Ispisuje orbitalne parametre satelita koji se koriste u proracunima.
Za popis satelita upisite L <enter>.
@@ 6 C
naredba C
---------
Daje karakteristike i informacije o izabranom satelitu.
Za popis satelita upisite L <enter>.
@@ 6 F
naredba F
---------
Vraca vas nazad u SERVER-MENI pa mozete probati neki drugi modul servera.
Ako ponovo posaljete: F <enter> vracate se u BBS-mod.
@@ 6 B
Bye - diskonekt
----------------
Naredbom: B <enter> prekidate vezu bez potrebe da se vracate u BBS-mod.
###############
# 9 is DosFBB #
###############
@@ 9 ?
Moguce naredbe u DosFBB delu su:
? i HELP : ovaj tekst,
O : opcije (stranice po liniji, bazni broj...),
BGET : Autobin download,
BPUT : Autobin upload,
DIR : ispis sadrzaja direktorijuma (LIST je daleko bolja)
DU : disk usage - spisak DOS dir's sa pojedinacnim zauzecem,
EDIT : editovanje fajla,
GET : download (ispis) tekst fajla,
PUT : upload (upis) tekst fajla,
CD : promena direktorijuma,
COPY : kopiranje fajla,
DEL : brisanje fajla,
MD : napravi direktorijum,
RD : obrisi prazan direktorijum,
XGET : XMODEM download (tel. modem),
XPUT : XMODEM upload (tel. modem),
X1GET : 1k-XMODEM download (tel. modem),
YGET : YAPP download (ili YMODEM via tel. modem),
YPUT : YAPP upload,
ZGET : ZMODEM download (tel. modem),
TYPE : ispis ASCII fajla sa paginacijom,
LIST : ispis fajlova sa kratkim opisom ako postoji,
PRIV : odlazak u posebni, privatni direktorijum,
VIEW : pogled u sadrzaj arhiviranih fajlova (ARJ, ZIP, LZH, ARC),
WHERE file : pretraga po disku za fajlovima,
NEW : ispis novih fajlova od zadnje primene NEW,
EXIT,F i QUIT: povratak u BBS-mod,
B : diskonekt iz bbs-a.
Diskove mozete menjati kao i u DOS sa A:,C:,D: (ukoliko postoji vise diskova)
Za detalje ukucajte ? <naredba> (na pr.. ? WHERE).
@@ 9 HELP
naredba HELP
------------
Ispisuje spisak svih raspolozivih naredbi u DosFBB delu.
@@ 9 B
Bye - diskonekt
----------------
Naredbom B <enter> prekidate vezu bez potrebe da se vracate u BBS-mod.
@@ 9 CD
naredba CD
----------
Koristi se za promenu direktorijuma, na pr.. CD \YAPP. Za "natrag" jedan dir
koristite naredbu: CD <enter>.
@@ 9 COPY
naredba COPY
------------
Sluzi za kopiranje fajlova. (na pr.. COPY TEST.TXT TEST2.TXT)
Kopiranje preko vec postojeceg fajla nije dozvoljeno (greska).
@@ 9 DEL
naredba DEL
-----------
Sluzi za brisanje fajlova. Mozete obrisati SAMO fajlove koje ste vi poslali.
@@ 9 DIR
naredba DIR
-----------
DIR prikazuje sadrzaj direktorijum,a bilo onog u kojem ste sada bilo drugog
ako unesete punu putanju ("path") na pr. DIR \YAPP.
"Dzokeri" su dozvoljeni, na pr.. DIR *.SYS
@@ 9 DU
naredba DU
----------
DU (Disk Usage) ispisuje zauzet/slobodni prostor na disku.
@@ 9 EDIT
naredba EDIT
------------
Sluzi za editovanje (ispravku) tekst fajlova. Nakon njene primene ulazi se
u poseban editor sa malom grupom posebnih naredbi, sto je previse pa ne bi
dalje o ovome ....
@@ 9 EXIT|QUIT|F
naredbe EXIT,QUIT i F
---------------------
Sve znace isto: izlaz iz DosFBB nazad u BBS-mod.
@@ 9 GET
naredba GET
-----------
Ovo upotrebite ako zelite da preuzmete/procitate neki TEKST fajl sa BBS-a.
Ispis je kontinuiran. Na pr. GET PHONE.BBS.
Pazite, neki fajlovi nisu tekstualni i ova naredba nije za njih. Tacnije,
dobijate cudne znakove na ekranu ako probate GET sa NE-tekstualnim fajlovima.
@@ 9 LIST
naredba LIST
------------
Daje spisak fajlova (kao i DIR), ali uz njih ispise i kratki opis ukoliko
postoji.
@@ 9 MD|MKDIR
naredba MD ili MKDIR
--------------------
Pravi novi direktorijum unutar onoga u kojem se koristi. Na pr MD TEST.
Nema svrhe da se ovo proba, osim uz dobro objasnjenje SysOp-u (hi)...
@@ 9 NEW
naredba NEW
-----------
Vrlo zgodno jer vam daje spisak SVIH NOVIH fajlova u SVIM direktorijumima od
kako ste poslednji put dali NEW. Koristite je kad udjete u DOS, lakse je nego
DIR "okolo-naokolo".
@@ 9 O|OL|ON|OR|OP|
naredba O
---------
Daje dosta raznih stvari:
O <enter> ispisuje stanje ovoga ispod za vas slucaj,
OP - iskljucuje ispis po stranicama,
OP br. - ukljucuje ispis po stranicama sa <br.> brojem linija po strani,
OL - spisak mogucih jezika za koriscenje u bbs-u,
OL br. - prelazak na jezik <br.>,
ON - ispis osnovnog (pocetnog) broja za listanje poruka,
ON br. - upis novog osnovnog (pocetnog) broja <br.>.
To je broj koji se sabira sa onim sto upisete kod rada sa porukama.
Kako je nezgodno kucati R 20002 postavite ON 20 (isto kao i ON 20000)
i posle kucate samo R 2, a BBS vam cita poruku 20002 (20000 + 2, ok?)
OR - uklj/isklj citanje licnih poruka za druge korisnike,
OM - uklj/isklj mogucnost auto-listanja novih licnih poruka kod konekta.
@@ 9 PUT
naredba PUT
-----------
Sluzi za upis nekog vaseg tekst fajla u BBS. Ukoliko vec postoji isto ime,
stari fajl se prvo mora obrisati (naravno, samo ako je to bio vas fajl).
Na pr. PUT INFO.C64 snima u bbs fajl pod imenom INFO.C64
@@ 9 PRIV
naredba PRIV
------------
PRIV naredba daje pristup u posebni direktorijum, samo vas ili jos neciji.
To moze u dogovoru sa SysOp-om, ako ima mesta na hard disku.
Takav DIR moze da postavi samo SysOp.
@@ 9 RD|RMDIR
naredba RD ili RMDIR
--------------------
Brise prazan direktorijum koji ste vi napravili.
@@ 9 TYPE
naredba TYPE
------------
Daje ispis tekst fajla po STRANICAMA ukoliko tako zelite (vidi OP naredbu).
@@ 9 VIEW
naredba VIEW
------------
naredbom VIEW moze se "pogledati" sta sadrzi neki arhivirani fajl.
To su svi fajlovi sa: .ARJ .ZIP .LZH .ARC nastavcima.
Primer: VIEW SP&YAPP.ARJ
@@ 9 XGET|XPUT|X1GET|ZGET
naredbe XGET, XPUT, X1GET, ZGET
-------------------------------
SAMO ukoliko BBS ima i telefonski modem-port i ako ste preko njega
konektovani. One sa GET su za skidanje , a sa PUT za upis fajlova i to:
XGET - XModem
X1GET - XModem-1k
ZGET - ZModem
YGET - YModem
Upotreba je ista : naredba <ime_fajla>
VAZNO: na BBS-u moze biti postavljen dozvoljeni dnevni limit u kb za preuzimanje.
@@ 9 YGET|YPUT|BPUT|BGET
naredbe YGET, YPUT, BPUT, BGET
------------------------------
Koriste se za skidanje/slanje binarnih fajlova putem radio veze.
YGET i YPUT za YAPP protokol (YAPP, TPK, PTM..)
BPUT i BGET za Autobin protokol (SP, GP, Turbopacket..)
YGET preko modema za YModem protokol
Upotreba je ista : naredba <ime_fajla>
VAZNO: na BBS-u moze biti postavljen dozvoljeni dnevni limit u kb za skidanje.
Napomena: NE koristite YAPP ako nemate program sa "yapp resume" mod-om !!!
##################
# BBS-mode is 14 #
##################
@@ 14 A|ABORT
(A)bort tj... prekid ispisa iz BBS-a.
OK, ako ste poceli da citate nesto pogresno, ali uzmite u obzir sva kasnjenja
kroz mrezu dok "A" ne stigne do BBS i prekine ispis....
@@ 14 B
B naredba vas diskonektuje iz BBS-a (uz jos neke podatke).
Bitno je da samo tako izlazite iz BBS-a, a ne diskonektom jer ce vam samo tako
ostati podesene nove vrednosti za naredbu L ("List").
Ukoliko se veza prekine tako necete izgubiti poslednje stanje.
@@ 14 C|CW
CW naredba ispisuje stanice u konferenciji.
C naredba vas ubacuje u konferenciju tj... "bla-bla" okrugli sto u kojem sve
sto pisete ide svima koji su takodje trenutno u konferenciji na bbs-u.
U konferenciji sve naredbe pocinju sa tackom u prvoj koloni !!!
.C[port] call [via digi1 digi2...] konektuje stanicu na portu,
.H vam daje ovaj tekst,
.W ispisuje prisutne stanice u konferenciji,
.Q vraca vas iz konferencije nazad u BBS-mod.
@@ 14 CB
Pomocu naredbe CB CALL dobicete adresu za trazeni znak iz callbook-a
sa CD ROM-a (kad ga budemo ugradili, hi), na pr.: CB YU7APV
@@ 14 D|DOS
Naredba ima dvostruko znacenje:
1. Samo D bez argumenata vas prebacuje iz BBS u DOS mod. Tu mozete kao i na PC
slati/skidati fajlove, kopirati, citati.....
Paznja: DOS deo ima svoje, drukcije naredbe. Napravite HELP kada udjes u
njega !
2. D uz argument vam daje download nekog tekst fajla. Na pr D \yaesu\ft-411.mod
i BBS ce vam poslati fajl FT-411.MOD iz YAESU direktorijuma. U vezi ovog
pogledajte i pomoc za W naredbu (?W).
VAZNO: samo programi koji imaju uobicajene ekstenzije tipa: .TXT, .DOC, .INF
se mogu normalno procitati. Svi ostali se moraju preneti posebnim
nacinom (vidi pomoc za YAPP prenos).
@@ 14 F
F naredba vam daje pristup serveru i dodatnim mogucnostima.
Server koristi sistem menija gde ulazite prvo u glavni meni.
Za objasnjenja koristite uvek samo: ? <enter>.
@@ 14 G
G naredba daje pristup Gateway-u. Upotrebljivo tek kod BBS-ova sa
vise portova na razlicitim frekvencijama.
@@ 14 ?|H|HELP
Spisak mogucih naredbi ili GRUPE naredbi (vise njih sa istim PRVIM slovom).
A :(abort) - prekida ispisivanje necega,
B :(bye) - diskonekt,
C :(conference) - ulaz u konferenciju (bla-bla vise stanica),
CB: Trazenje adrese ARS sa CD ROM-a (ako je ugradjen CD citac),
D :(DOS) - ulaz u FbbDOS ili download fajla,
F :(FBB) - ulaz u server (adresar, sateliti, lokatori...),
G :(gateway) - pristup drugim frekvencijama BBS-a (ako postoje),
H :(pomoc) - tekst za pomoc kad vam zatreba,
I :(info) - info o sistemu ili grupa naredbi White Page servera,
J :(jheard)- spisak nekoliko poslednjih konektovanih/slusanih stanica,
K :(kill) - brisanje poruka,
L :(list) - listanje poruka,
M :(make) - kopira poruku/bilten u fajl,
N :(name) - menja vase ime,
NH: - upisuje BBS na koji ce ici poruke za vas (MYBBS, HomeBBS...)
NZ: - upisuje postanski broj vaseg QTH,
NQ: - upisuje vas grad ili mesto,
NL: - upisuje vas QTH lokator,
O :(option)- odabir opcija (stranice, jezika.....),
PS: - spisak prisutnih servera (nije isto sto i "server mod"),
PG: - pokretanje ili popis posebnih DOS programa,
R :(read) - cita poruke,
S :(send) - salje poruke,
T :(talk) - zove SysOp-a,
TH:(themes)- pristup tematskoj podeli biltena (novo u FBB 7),
V :(verbose)- cita poruke sa kompletnim putanjama ili verzija BBS-a,
W :(what) - spisak fajlova u DOS delu,
WP: - White Page server, pomoc detaljnije sa: ? WP,
X :(expert)- menja status korisnika: normal ili expert,
Y :(yapp) - protokol za prenos binarnih (najcesce programskih) fajlova,
Z :(delete)- brise fajl,
> :(text) - salje kratki tekst nekom drugom korisniku (sada) u BBS-u,
= :(conn.) - konektuje vas sa nekim drugim korisnikom (sada) u BBS-u,
! :(info) - kratki info o bbs-u,
Opsirniju pomoc za sve naredbe dobijate ukoliko otkucate: ? <naredba>.
Na pr: ? c ? f ? y .....
@@ 14 I|INFO
I daje INFO fajl o ovom BBS-u (ukoliko postoji informacija).
WhitePages server naredbe:
I CALL daje podatke o stanici, preuzete iz WP servera,
ID broj zapisa u WP bazi podataka,
I@ BBS daje listu korisnika nekog BBS-a (I@ YU7A),
IH ruta daje poznate korisnike sa zadatom hijerarhijskom rutom (IH YUG),
IZ ZIP daje korisnike sa zadatim postanskim brojem (IZ 21000).
U vecini WP naredbi dozvoljeni su "dzoker" znakovi.
@@ 14 J|JA|JB|J1|J2|JK
JK daje spisak poslednjih 20 konektovanih stanica,
JA daje spisak poslednjih 20 konektovanih stanica na portu A (JB - port B),
J1 daje spisak poslednjih 20 slusanih stanica na portu A (J2 - port B),
JK CALL daje spisak nekoliko poslednjih konekta stanice CALL,
@@ 14 K|KILL|KM|KK
K broj1 broj2 .. brise poruke koje ste poslali ili primili. Mozete obrisati
i ono sto niste procitali od licnih poruka.
KM naredba brise SVE poruke za vas koje ste procitali. Ovo NECE obrisati one
koje niste procitali.
@@ 14 L|LIST|LB|LM|LN|LL|LS|L<|L>|L@|LU|LR|LC|LD>|LD<
L lista sve NOVE pristigle poruke/biltene od poslednje primene L naredbe,
LB lista biltene,
LD> GGMMDD lista sve poruke pristigle posle datuma GGMMDD,
LD< GGMMDD lista sve poruke pristigle pre datuma GGMMDD,
LM lista poruke upucene licno vama,
LN lista poruke upucene licno vama koje jos niste procitali,
LL 10 lista poslednjih 10 poruka,
LS <text> pretrazuje NASLOVE poruka u potrazi za textom <text>,
L< CALL lista poruke koje je poslao CALL,
L> CALL lista poruke za CALL,
L@ lista lokalne biltene bez @ BBS polja,
L@ CALL lista @CALL poruke,
L 220- lista samo poruke od 220 pa navise,
L 220-230 lista poruke izmedju 220 i 230,
LU lista sve neprocitane poruke koje ste poslali/primili,
LR lista poruke UNAZAD od najstarije prelistane prema najnovijoj u bbs-u,
LC posebno listanje po vasem uslovu. Prvo zadate uslov na pr.. LC DX i od tada ce
sve gornje naredbe za listanje (osim LM i LN) listati SAMO poruke poslate
za DX. Ako stavite "dzoker" na pr.. LC *DX* onda ce listati sve poruke koje u
polju "Za" imaju slova DX (VHFDX, DXHF, DXCC...). Za povratak u "obicno"
listanje ukucajte LC *
Da dobijete spisak mogucih LC polja ukucajte: LC ?
@@ 14 M|MH|MV|MA|MVA|MHA
M <por.br.> <ime> : kopira poruku <br.> u fajl <ime>,
MH <por.br.> <ime> : isto, ali kao kod citanja u formatu R naredbe,
MV <por.br.> <ime> : isto, ali kao kod citanja u formatu V naredbe,
Napomena: sve ove naredbe ce PREPISATI preko starog fajla (ako postoji).
Naredbe: MA, MHA i MVA imaju istu upotrebu, ali nece prepisati stari fajl
nego ce DODATI novi tekst na kraj starog fajla.
@@ 14 N|NAME
Naredbom N mozete upisati ili promeniti svoje ime (do 12 znakova max.).
Na pr. N Haralampije
Pogledajte jos i: NP, NL, NQ, NZ, NH naredbe.
@@ 14 NH|HOMEBBS|MYBBS
Ovom naredbom upisite svoj maticni ("home") BBS na koji vam dolaze poruke.
Na pr. NH YU7A
Sve licne poruke za vas, koje kasnije stignu, bice upucene na BBS koji ste
naredbom NH odredili.
@@ 14 NP
Za promenu lozinke kod porta za telefonski modem.
@@ 14 NQ
Naredbom NQ upisite svoj QTH (grad ili mesto).
@@ 14 NL
Naredbom NL mozete upisati svoj QTH lokator, sto je vazno za razne proracune
u server modu.
@@ 14 NZ
Naredbom NZ upisite svoj postanski broj. Na pr. NZ 21000
@@ 14 O|OP|OR|OL|ON|OM
Naredba O ispisuje vase licne parametre u ovom BBS i to:
- jezik koji koristite,
- da li je ispis po stranicama i sa koliko linija (pre pitanja: Dalje?),
- bazni broj za poruke,
- zelite li da vidite i tudje licne poruke ili ne (ako sistem dozvoljava),
- zelite li spisak novih poruka za vas odmah po ulasku u BBS.
OL sluzi za izbor jezika na kojem ce BBS komunicirati sa vama.
Otkucajte OL za spisak mogucih jezika, a onda ponovite sa odabranim jezikom.
Na pr. OL 4 za promenu u jezik broj 4 sa spiska mogucih jezika.
OP sluzi sa formatiranje stranica listanja/citanja.
Podesava nakon koliko linija ce BBS prekinuti ispis i cekati vasu odluku
da: prekinete, idete dalje i slicno. Upisite na pr.. OP 20 za 20 linija pre
pitanja za dalji rad.
Ukoliko ukucate samo OP bez broja, dobijate stalni ispis bez prekidanja.
ON podesava tzv. osnovni (pocetni) broj kod citanja poruka.
Kako ovaj tip BBS-a poruke i biltene razlikuje samo po njihovom broju, koji
stalno raste sa dolaskom novih poruka, ubrzo postane malo nezgodno kucati
na pr.. R 20050 20056 itd. Zato naredbom ON 20000 podesite "bazu" na 20000 i
dalje radite kao da nema tih 20000 tj... od tada kucate: R 50 56 itd. Inace,
naredbe: ON 20 i ON 20000 su ista stvar.
Naredbom OR mozete odabrati da li zelite da citate/listate licne poruke
ostalih korisnika bbs-a. Ako je ukljuceno, moze biti nezgodno ako vam stigne
ispis, recimo 200 komadica nekog fajla koji vas ne zanima.
Naredbom OM, prilikom svakog konekta u bbs, prvo dobijate spisak NOVIH
poruka za vas a zatim uobicajeni bbs prompt.
@@ 14 PG
Naredba PG startuje usluzne programe iz posebnog direktorijuma. PG <enter>
daje samo spisak tih malih programa. Pokretanje nekog od programa sa spiska:
PG <ime_programa_bez_ekstenzije> <parametar_programa_ako_treba> <ENTER>
@@ 14 PS
Naredba PS daje spisak ugradjenih "servera" u ovom BBS-u. Ti serveri nisu
isto sto i tzv. server-mod samog BBS-a. To su posebni programi koji po nalogu
korisnika odrade razne stvari automatski. Sa serverom se komunicira kao i sa
nekim amaterom - slanjem "licne" poruka tom serveru.
Na pr. REQDIR server ce vam spremiti sadrzaj direktorija koji zelite i u vidu
licne poruke za vas uputiti na vas maticni BBS.
Primer:
Naredba: SP REQDIR <enter>
Naslov: \yapp\*.* @ YU1A <enter>
Tekst: Ostavite prazno, na kraju: CTRL-Z <enter>
ce vam poslati licnu poruku na bbs YU1A, u kojoj je sadrzaj YAPP
direktorijuma ovog BBS.
@@ 14 R|RM|RN|RU|R>|R<
R <broj> cita poruku <broj>,
R <broj1> <broj2> itd cita poruke po navedenim brojevima,
RM cita SVE poruke za vas - i one vec procitane (ne zaboravite na brisanje),
RN cita sve NOVE poruke za vas (samo NEprocitane),
RU cita sve poruke za vas koje jos niste procitali,
R< <poz_znak> cita sve poruke koje su poslate od strane stanice <poz_znak>,
R> <tekst> cita sve poruke za pozivni znak ili temu <tekst>.
@@ 14 S|SB|SR|SC|SP
Naredba S se koristi za slanje licnih poruka i biltena:
S SVIMA za otvorenu poruku samo na ovom BBS (ne ide dalje),
SB PRODAM @YU za otvoreni bilten na sve BBS u Jugoslaviji sa temom prodaje,
SP YT7MPB@YU7A za licnu poruku YT7MPB koja treba da ode/ostane u bbs-u YU7A,
SR <broj> salje odgovor na poruku <broj>. BBS ce sam da doda sve ostalo
u vezi adrese primaoca, kao i "Re:" u naslovu.
SC <broj> <CALL> kopira poruku <broj> za <CALL>. Na pr. dvojici primalaca ide
isti tekst. Pre CTRL-Z mozete dopisati neki komentar, a
kopija poruke <broj> se sama dopise posle tog komentara.
To je moguce u svim varijacijama (@EU, @YUG, @WW, @YU7 itd.).
@@ 14 T
Naredba T trazi od BBS-a da pozove SysOp-a na razgovor. Nema nikakvog
argumenta, samo T <enter>. Ukoliko SysOp nije prisutan ili se ne javi
na poziv u roku od 1 minuta, dobijate informaciju da mu ostavite poruku.
@@ 14 TH
Izlistava poruke slozene po temama, ranije podesenim u BBS-u.
Na pr. sve poruke, poslate za OS2, DOS, NT4 i sl. mogu da budu u temi OPSISTEMI.
Moguce naredbe su:
H (list themes) - popis tema u bbs-u,
L (list) - listanje poruka o izabranoj temi,
R msg# (read) - procitaj poruku broj <msg#> u izabranoj temi,
broj - idi na teme <broj>.
@@ 14 U
Naredbom U mozete da posaljete neki tekst fajl u BBS. Sintaksa je kao
i kod MS-DOS. Pogledajte i pomoc za D i W naredbe (? D ? W).
@@ 14 V
Naredba V daje kratku informaciju o porukama, verziji BBS programa itd.
Takodje moze da radi i kao naredba R za citanje poruka. Tada prikazuje
zaglavlja sa putanjama i usputnim bbs-ovima, pa pravi daleko veci ispis.
@@ 14 W
Naredba W je nesto kao DIR ili CAT naredba. Dobijate spisak svih fajlova
i direktorijuma koji su na raspolaganju korisnicima. Vaze sva MS DOS
pravila. Primeri:
W
W *.DOC
W \IBM\*.*
@@ 14 WP
WP je interni server BBS-a. To je velika baza podataka o korisnicima stvorena
bilo direktnim upisom podataka od strane samih korisnika, bilo analizom svih
zaglavlja koja prate svaki bilten/poruku. WP sadrzi podatke o pozivnom znaku,
imenu korisnika, postanskom broju i "home"-BBS-u sa H-adresom.
Ukoliko je WP aktivan, mozete bilo kome poslati licnu poruku iako ne znate
koji je njegov "home"-BBS. Ukoliko server ima tu informaciju, sam ce je
dodati, ako je (ponekad) nema - trazice od vas da adresu sami unesete.
Sa bilo kojeg BBS-a, mozete WP serveru poslati pitanje o nekom korisniku:
Naredba: SP WP @BBS (@BBS zamenite sa znakom BBS-a sa kojeg zelite odgovor),
Naslov: unesite neki tekst (nebitno, napr. Info)
Tekst: YU1A ? (napr. trazite info o YU1A)
/EX ili CTRL-Z
Takodje je dozvoljeno koristiti i dzokere pa mozete traziti info za
na pr. sve stanice sa prefiksom YT:
YT* ?
Napomena: da bi se smanjio QRM, odgovor ce imati maksimalno 100 redova, bez
obzira koliko ima pravih informacija.
U vezi sa ovim, pogledajte i pomoc za I naredbe (? I).
@@ 14 X
Naredba X prebacuje vas korisnicki status iz "normal" u "expert" i obrnuto.
Status "normal" daje kompletniji i opsirniji odgovor od BBS-a,
Status "expert" daje kratki i sazetiji odgovor od BBS-a.
@@ 14 Y|YAPP|YW|YI|YN|YU|YD|YZ
Sve naredbe koje pocinju slovom Y rade binarni transfer fajlova pomocu tzv.
YAPP protokola.
YW lista direktorijum programa,
YN lista "novitete" od poslednje upotrebe naredbe YN,
YU fajl ubacuje - snima fajl u BBS,
YD fajl salje vam - "skida" file iz BBS-a,
YI kao i YW, samo dobijate i kratki opis programa,
YI fajl daje kratku informaciju o fajlu (ako je upisana kod unosa fajla),
YZ fajl brise fajl.
YAPP mogu koristiti samo vlasnici racunara sa programom koji sadrze i
taj protokol. Na pr za PC :YAPP, THS, TPK, modifikovani SP, s tim da bi trebalo
upotrebiti prg koji podrzava tzv. RESUME mod. To znaci da kad se veza prekine,
dodjete opet i nastavite tamo gde ste stali. Takvi su prg: TPK, ZACC, PTM,
AUTOYAPP itd.
YAPP se takodje moze upotrebiti iz FbbDOS-a, ali su onda druge naredbe.
@@ 14 Z
Naredba Z brise fajl iz BBS mod-a.
@@ 14 >
Znak > omogucuje da nekom drugom ko je takodje prisutan u BBS-u, posaljete
kratku poruku (jedan red). Nesto kao "Break" u fonijskoj vezi. Primer:
> YT7MPB Hi OC ! Pozovi me kad zavrsis !
Napomena: pre naredbe > pogledajte koga jos ima u BBS-u naredbom !
@@ 14 =
Znak = daje mogucnost da stupite (kroz BBS) u direktnu vezu s nekim ko je
takodje u BBS-u. Ako nije zauzet necim dobijate odgovor *** Connected to ...
a obe strane mogu prekinuti takvu vezu sa CTRL-Z i vratiti se u BBS-mod.
Primer:
= YT7MPB
Pre toga naredbom ! pogledajte da li je YT7MPB trenutno u bbs-u.
@@ 14 !
Naredba ! daje spisak stanica u BBS i jos poneke informacije o sistemu.
#################
# GATEWAY is 16 #
#################
@@ 16 H|B|K|C|D|J|M|P
Gateway naredbe:
B : bye -diskonekt za drugog, a vas vraca nazad u BBS,
K : converse mod,
C : konekt,
D : diskonekt,
H : pomoc,
J : spisak poslednjih 20 slusanih stanica,
P : direktni skok s porta na port. P1 - idi na port1 (port je sam TNC),
M : monitor on/off,
W : W <fajl> otvara "capture" file, samo W <enter> ga zatvara.
Prvo odaberete port. Ukoliko nije zauzet, bice vam dodeljen i preuzece vas
znak. Kad nekog konektujete, ulazite u "converse" mod (kao i primenom K
naredbe). Povratak u "command" mod je ESC ili: > <enter>.
@@ 18 C
C naredba: ulazite u konferenciju,
CW naredba: ispisuje stanice koje su u konferenciji.
Napomena: sve naredbe u konferenciji pocinju tackom u prvoj koloni!
.C<port> <call> konektuje stanicu <call> na portu <port>,
.H daje vam ovaj tekst,
.W ispisuje spisak stanica u konferenciji,
.Q izlazite iz konferencije.
</verb></tscreen>
=====EOF=====
<p>
<sect1>SRPSKI.TXT
<p>
=====BOF=====
<tscreen><verb>
##############################
# SRPSKI.TXT for FBB 7.00i #
# (Serbian text file) #
# by Misko,YT7MPB 07Jul03 #
##############################
#
# 255 karaktera max.po liniji.
# ----------------------------
#
# Ne menjajte broj i raspored linija!
#
# Ime jezika - What language is this ?
#
Srpski
OL: Izabrali ste Srpski jezik.$W
#
# Definicija odgovora Da i Ne
#
Da
Ne
#
# Dani i meseci
#
NedPonUtoSreCetPetSub
JanFebMarAprMajJunJulAvgSepOktNovDec
#
# Strane sveta (za QTH-lokator server)
#
Sever
Jug
Istok
Zapad
#
#
#T_MES: Dobrodoslica
#
# za BBS:
#
$O Mailbox, QTH $?.$W
#
# za expert:
#
$O BBS, $c.$WZdravo $I! (prethodni QSO je bio: $x $Y)$WNove poruke su: $Z - $L, aktivnih ima $N.$W
#
# normal user
#
$O BBS, QTH $c $?.$WZdravo $I, nalazite se na kanalu $=.$WQSO $d $H (prethodni QSO je bio: $x $Y)$WU BBS-u ima $N aktivnih poruka,$W$Z je poslednja koju ste listali, $L je poslednja stigla u BBS.$WFilter za listanje poruka (LC) je: $l (* = sve).$W
#
# Upis podataka
#
Upisite sa N svoje ime (na pr.. N Petar) : $W
Upisite sa NQ svoj grad (na pr.. NQ Novi Sad) : $W
Upisite sa NH najblizi BBS (na pr.. NH YU7A) : $W
Upisite sa NZ postanski broj (na pr.. NZ 21000) : $W
#
#
# za goste:
#
Zdravo $I, na raspolaganju vam je ogranicen izbor naredbi.$W
#
# tekst za onog ko uleti na 'BBS only' port:
#
Ovaj kanal je samo za BBS stanice! //q $W
#
# prvi put u BBS-u:
#
Pozdrav za prvi konekt ovom BBS-u!$WOdgovorite na pitanja, snimite HELP i prijatna vam zabava!$W
#
# poruke za vas:
#
Niste procitali nove poruke za vas: $0 kom.$W
#
# procitane, neobrisane poruke:
#
Naredbom KM obrisite $0 kom. licnih poruka koje ste procitali.$W
#
# bye-bye:
#
U BBS-u ste boravili: $: - CPU vreme: $.$W73! $I, dodjite opet...$W
#
# odgovor na "!"
#
BBS i server F6FBB tipa, ver. $E - $* aktivnih kanala.$W$%$W$N aktivnih poruka - poslednja poruka $L.$WOvaj konekt traje: $: PC vreme: $.$W
#
# neka standardna pitanja i poruke
#
#T_QST
ENTER = nastavak, A = prekid, C = bez prekidanja, N = sledeca poruka -->
Promeniti (D/N) ?
Hvala $I.$W
$WPrekid !!$W$W
Napraviti (D/N) ?$W
$WVas izbor (L za listu, F za kraj) :
ENTER = nastavak, A = prekid, R broj = procitaj broj ->
#
# poruke o greskama...
#
#T_ERR
*** Greska $I: Netacan odgovor.$W
*** Greska $I: Pogresna naredba $0.$W
*** Greska $I: Zaboravili ste razmak posle naredbe !$W
*** Greska $I: Samo su brojevi dozvoljeni !$W
*** Greska $I: Nedostaje tekst posle poz.znaka.$W
*** Zalim $I, nema pomoci za $0.$W
*** Greska $I: Nedostaje znak primaoca.$W
*** Greska $I: Nedostaje znak.$W
*** Greska $I: Nepoznat fajl.$W
*** Greska $I: Znak $0 nije dozvoljen ovde.$W
*** Greska $I: Ne postoji poruka broj %M.$W
*** Greska $I: Ime fajla $f ne postoji.$W
*** Greska $I: Ne mozete obrisati poruku %M (ili je vec obrisana)$W
*** Greska $I: Broj %M ne postoji.$W
*** Greska $I: Pogresan port.$W
*** Greska $I: Upotrebite CD naredbu.$W
*** Greska $I: Polje $0 je predugo.$W
*** Greska $I: Adresa za $0 je pogresna.$W
*** Zao mi je $I, danas ste vec snimili %dkb. $W
*** Greska $I: Nema nista !$W
*** Greska $I: Nedostaje ime fajla.$W
*** Greska $I: Kako se zove odredisni fajl?$W
*** Greska $I: Ne govorim taj jezik, a sumnjam da postoji takav!$W
*** Greska $I: Ne diraj ono sto nisi poslao! (na $f mislim)$W
*** Greska $I: Nepoznat direktorijum $0 (ili nije prazan).$W
*** Greska $I: Nema takvog direktorijuma$W
*** Greska $I: Nemoguce je napraviti direktorijum $0.$W
*** Greska $I: A gde vam je "path" ?$W
*** Greska $I: "Path" predug.$W
*** Greska $I: Taj "path" ne postoji !$W
*** Greska $I: Nemoguce kreirati fajl $f.$W
*** Vreme isteklo !!!$W
#
# Tekstovi za pojedine celine
#
# BBS prompt:
#
#T_MBL
#
# expert prompt:
#
($*) $O BBS >$W
#
# gost prompt:
#
($*) $O BBS (B,H,KM,LM,O,RM,SP SYSOP,T,?) >$W
#
# normal prompt:
#
($*) $O BBS (B,C,D,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,PS,PG,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,?) >$W
#
# ostale poruke:
#
Nema takve poruke (filter za listanje je (LC): $l).$W
Nema novih poruka za vas.$W
Naslov poruke za %G (max. 30 slova):$W
Tekst poruke, zavrsite sa Ctrl-Z ili /EX u novom redu : $W
Poruka %M je obrisana.$W
#
# odgovor na V naredbu:
#
Program F6FBB v.$E, $N aktivnih poruka, poslednja poruka je $L.$W
#
# ostale poruke
#
Upisite svoje ime :$W
Ime je upisano kao $I... Hvala. $W
#
# Novo u 5.15c5: Slovo I
# Novo u 7.0b20: Slovo F
Call Zadnji conn #ukup RPBSXLFEMUI Ime Password PRIV-dir.$W
$V nije prisutan, mozete da mu ostavite poruku (SP SYSOP).$W
Pricekajte malo dok pozovem SysOp-a .....$W
$V nije u blizini. Pozovite ga ponovo (T) ili mu ostavite poruku (SP SYSOP).$W
$V je na vezi:$W
Molim vas pricekajte, SysOp bi da razgovara s vama.$W
Ekspertni mod. Otkucajte: X <enter> za povratak u Normal mod.$W
Normalni mod. Otkucajte: X <enter> za povratak u Ekspert mod.$W
Server mod. Otkucajte: F <enter> za povratak u BBS mod.$W
Datoteka $f je kopirana.$W
Poruka za $G je ponistena (nije bilo naslova).$W
OP: kontinuirani ispis.$W
OP: $p linija po stranici (pre pitanja za nastavak).$W
Korisnik je konektovan, editovanje nije moguce.$W
$0 $1 $2 $3 $j $K = $4'$5
#
#
ON: osnovni broj za poruke : $0 (dodaje se broju koji unesete).$W
#
#
(B)id, (F)rom, (V)ia=@BBS, (T)o, T(I)ttle, (S)tatus, T(Y)pe, (Cr)End >$W
R,P,B,S,X,L,E,M,U $W(N)ame,pass(W)ord,lan(G)uage,pri(V)-dir,(H)omeBBS (Z)ip-code >$W
Znak $0 je nepoznat. Da ga kreiram (D/N) ?
Obrisati $0 (D/N) ?
Moguci jezici su:$W
($0):$1
$W--- Kraj poruke $M za $G od $P ---$W$W
Poruka $0$WW
#
# zaglavlje kod citanja poruka:
#
Poruka od : $P$WZa : $G$0$WTip/Status : $t$s$WDatum/vreme : %j %K$WBid/Mid : $R$WDuzina : $n$W
#
# zaglavlje kod listanja poruka:
#
Vas filter za listanje (LC) je: $l$W$WPor# TSLD Duz Za @ BBS Od Datum Tema $W
#
# sadrzaj svake linije kod listanja poruka:
#
$M $t$s$r%r $n $G$0 $P %i $1$W
Naslov : $S$W$W(Do sada vec procitana %C puta u ovom BBS-u)$W$W
Bid (Mid) : $R$W
Poslata prema:
$0 ruta prema $v$W
#
# prompt za fwd
#
F>$W
>$W
#
# poruke tokom fwd
#
NO - pogresan parametar$W
NO - BID$W
OK $W
*** Done$W
Poruka #%M Duz : $n$W
Nemam forward prema $A, SysOp ce to da sredi.$W
Upisite odgovor za $G @ $v$W
###############################################################################
# New texts for 5.14
OR: Pristup svim licnim porukama$W
OM: Ispis novih licnih poruka za vas po ulasku u BBS : $0$W
Upisite pozivni znak BBS-a na koji zelite da vam se salju poruke:$W
Upisite svoj postanski broj :$W
HomeBBS : $0$W Post.br : $1$W
# umesto ovog dole mozda ubaciti "Upozorenje ! Nema WP-rute prema $G$W
Nema WP-rute prema %G. Pritisnite ENTER za prekid i ponovo adresirajte.$W
###############################################################################
Trenutno ima $0 zadrzanih poruka$W
(A)rchive,(K)ill,(L)ocall,(Q)uit,(R)ead,(V)erbose,(U)nhold ?
#
# Traitement
#
# T_TRT
############################################################################
# Line added from 515c45
Poruka je prihvacena i zadrzana na uvid SysOp-u pre razmene.$W
###############################################################################
*** Zauzet(o), molim pricekajte...$W
*** Zauzet(o), nema konekta trenutno....$W
*** $0 nije konektovan..$W
$W$B*** Connected to $0 kroz BBS (prekid sa Ctrl-Z).$W
*** Disconnected$W
*** Trenutna poruka ("break") od $0 *** (odgovor sa: > $0 tekst...)$W
*** Kraj poruke ("break") ***$W
Mali prekid za poruku od $0.$W
Zahtev "Stop" je zatrazen od $0. Code : $1$W
Zahtev "Stop" je prihvacen, nema konekta.$W
Zahtev "Reset" je prihvacen, inicijalizujem.....$W
ENTER=nastavi A=prekid -->$W
Zahtev za prekid je odbijen.$W
BBS mod. Otkucajte: F <enter> za povratak u server mod.$W
#
# server meni
#
# T_MEN
#
$WSERVER (B,C,D,F,N,Q,T,?=pomoc) >$W
$W
$W(C) Connect-statistika$W(D) Dokumenti, informacije$W(N) Callbook$W(Q) QTH-LOC$W(T) Sateliti$W(F) Povratak u BBS$W(B) Disconn.$W$W Za pomoc otkucaj ? slovo$WSERVER-MENI (C,D,N,Q,T,F,B ?=pomoc) >$W
#
# statistika
#
# T_STA
$WSTATISTIKA (G,H,I,J,L,O,F,B ?=pomoc) >$W
$W
$W(G) Ukupno$W(H) Zauzece po satima$W(I) Poz. znaci$W(J) Zauzece po danima$W(L) Detaljna conn. lista$W(O) Zauzece u % $W(F) Povratak u SERVER-MENI$W(B) Disconn.$W$W Za pomoc otkucaj ? slovo$W$WCONN-STAT (G,H,I,J,L,O,F,B ?=pomoc) >$W
Zauzece po danima$W
PON UTO SRE CET PET SUB NED$W
Zauzece po satima$W
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 Sati$W
0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 0 2$W
$N Aktivnih poruka$W
Konekta od $j: $0$W
Konekti$W Prosecno trajanje : $0min $1s$W
Pros. conn. dnevno : $0$W
Najveca guzva : u $0 i $1 sati$W
Zauzece u % $W
BBS : $0 % $W
SERVER : $0 % $W
SERVER detaljnije:$W
DOS : $0 % $W
QTH lokatori : $0 % $W
Dokumentacije : $0 % $W
Conn. statistika : $0 % $W
Callbook : $0 % $W
Sateliti : $0 % $W
$0 $1 $2 $3 $j $K = $4'$5"$W
#
# callbook deo
#
#T_NOM
#
$WCALLBOOK (I,N,R,F,B ?=pomoc) >
$W
$W(I) Spisak svih znakova$W(N) Promena ili upis tvojih podataka$W(R) Citanje podataka drugih$W(F) Povratak u SERVER-MENI$W(B) Disconn.$W$WZa pomoc ukucaj ? slovo$W$WCALLBOOK (I,N,R,F,B ?=pomoc) >$W
$WPoz.znak: $0$W
$WPrethodni conn. $j u $K$W
Ime i prezime: $1 $0$WAdresa : $2,$3$WQTH LOC : $4. $WTlf,kucni : $5 $WTlf,posao : $6$WHome-BBS : $7$W
Prezime :$W
Ulica i broj :$W
Grad/mesto :$W
Telefon u stanu :$W
Telefon na poslu :$W
QTH LOC :$W
$WUkupno: $0 poz.znakova$W
*** Znak $0 nepoznat.$W
*** Neispravan QTH LOC !$W
#
# sateliti
#
#T_TRJ
#
$WSATELITI (C,P,T,F,B ?=pomoc) >
$W(M) Promene parametara$W
$W(C) Karakteristike$W(P) Orbitalni parametri$W(T) Orbite$W(F) Povratak u SERVER-MENI$W(B) Disconn.$W$WZa pomoc ukucaj ? slovo$W$WSATELITI (C,P,T,F,B ?=pomoc) >
$WLokator : $0 Satelit $1$W
--------------------------------------------------------------$W
| Time | Az. | El. | Dpl. | Dist. | Alti. | Lon | Lat | Ph. |$W
| UTC | Deg | Deg | KHz | Km | Km | Deg | Deg | 256 |$W
--------------- $j-$a ------ Orbite #$0 ---------------$W
| $0:$1 | $2 | $3 | $4 | $5 | $6 | $7 | $8 | $9 |$W
Unesite datum za proracun (dd/mm/gg) :
Unesite vreme za proracun (HH:MM) :
$WMolim pricekajte...$W
$WNemam informacija za taj satelit.$W
Izmene od $j-$y.$W
Ime satelita :
Referentna orbita :
Referentna godina :
Referentni dan :
Mean anomaly :
Arg. of perigee :
R.A.A.N. :
Inclination :
Eccentricity :
Mean motion :
Derived mean motion :
Estimated step :
Doppler frequency :
$WOrbitalni parametri za $0$W
Broj orbite : $0$W
Epoch year : $0$W
Epoch day : $0$W
Mean anomaly : $0$W
Arg. of perigee : $0$W
R.A.A.N. : $0$W
Inclination : $0$W
Eccentricity : $0$W
Mean motion : $0$W
Derived mean motion : $0$W
Estimated step : $0$W$W
($0) $1
(F) Kraj$W
#
# qth lokatori
#
#T_QRA
#
$WQTH-LOKATOR (C,D,L,Q,F,B ?=pomoc) >
$W
$W(Q) QTH -> duz.i sir.$W(L) duz.i sir. -> QTH$W(D) QRB i azimut$W(C) QRB sabirnica$W(F) Povratak u SERVER-MENI$W(B) Disconn.$W$WZa pomoc ukucaj ? slovo$W$WQTH-LOC (C,D,L,Q,F,B, ?=pomoc) >
$WQTH Lokator :
Koordinate u centru polja :$W
Duzina : $0 step. $1' $2 : $3 grad. $2$W
Sirina : $0 step. $1' $2 : $3 grad. $2$W
$WRadni format$WU stepenima : 1 : 45 : 00 (smer).U gradijanima : 1.5 (smer)$W(smer) zamenite sa Sever, Jug, Istok, Zapad.$W
$WDuzina (Istok/Zapad) (F,Q=kraj) :
$WSirina (Sever/Jug) (F,Q=kraj) :
$WQTH Lokator (F,Q=kraj) : $0$W
$WOd QTH LOC (F,Q=kraj) :
$WDo QTH LOC (F,Q=kraj) :
Azimut : $0 step. $1'$W
Udaljenost: $0 Km$W
$WVas QTH Lokator (F,Q=kraj) :
$WDo QTH LOC ? (F,Q=kraj) :
Proracun br. $0 - Ukupna udaljenost: $1 Km$W
Kraj proracuna.$W
#
# Modul DOS
#
#T_DOS
#
$W$u:$0>$W
Direktorijum $0 obrisan.$W
Fajl ne postoji.$W
$0 $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7$W
Prekinut upis $f.$W
Fajl $f je snimljen ($0 bytes).$W
Unesite fajl $f (kraj = Ctrl Z).$W
$0 bytes kopirano.$W
$W$j $T FBBDOS V$E$W$WPomoc u FBBDOS-u dobijate sa: H <enter>.$W$WDownload u toku danasnjeg dana = %dkb$WDozvoljeno je max = %mkb$W
$WMoguce naredbe su:$W
Fajl $f obrisan.$W
$0 bytes slobodno.$W
#
# Modul dokumentacija
#
#T_INF
#
$WDOC (#,R,B,F H=pomoc) : >
$W(D) Label
$W(L) Lista$W(broj) Cita doc. broj$W(R) Nazad na prethodni nivo$W(B) Disconn.$W(F) Povratak u SERVER-MENI$W$WZa pomoc ukucaj ? slovo$W$WDOC (#,L,R,B,F H=pomoc) >
Ne postoji !!
#
# gateway
#
#T_GATE
#
Sada ste na kanalu $=, port $!. $g dostupnih portova.$WH = pomoc. Q = Bye.$W
Broj porta (Q = Bye) :
Kanal $0 dodeljen na $1.$W
Nema slobodnih kanala na tom portu.$W
Cmd :
Konvers mod. Esc ili > (return) za command mod.$W
*** Greska $I: Vec ste na tom portu!$W
*** Greska $I: Pogresan port.$W
*** Gateway nije dostupan.$W
#
$O: Pogresna naredba $0. (B,C,D,J,K,H,M,P,?)$W
Saljem $f...$W
Otvoren $f log fajl.$W
Zatvoren $f log fajl.$W
#
# Modul YAPP
#
#T_YAP
#
Spreman za slanje $f $0 protokolom.$W
Spreman za prijem $f $0 protokolom.$W
Zalim, $0 nije moguc na ovom portu.$W
Kratak opis fajla (40 znakova max) :
$0 $1 $2 $3 $4$W
#
# KONFERENCIJA
#
#T_CNF
#
Nalazite se u konferenciji (Pomoc= ".?").$W
$H. Stanice u konferenciji :$W
Call: $0, kanal $1.$W
$H $0 ulazi u konferenciju.$W
Izlazite iz konferencije.$W
$H $0 napusta konferenciju.$W
[$H - $0]$W
Nema nikog drugog u konferenciji.$W
$H $0 : Retry count exceeded.$W
$H $0 busy.$W
$H $0 nije u konferenciji!$W
#
###########################################################
# New in 5.15c5:
# T_THE : Module THEMES.
#
Poruka Duz Za Od Naslov (Tema :%T)$W
$M%r $n $G $P $1$W
%T - %t biltena (B,F,H,L,R,broj) :
#############################################################
</verb></tscreen>
=====EOF=====
<p>
In order to add Serbian to your FBB, you have to add/change
a couple of lines within your <bf>LANGUE.SYS</bf> like in the
following example:
<p>
=====BOF=====
<tscreen><verb>
#
# File that decides what language each user will use in the first
# connect. He can change language himself later...
# All prefixes not listed here, will receive language no 1 (English).
# 3 parametres :
# Number of languages - Number in PC at the time - Console-language.
13 2 1
#
ENGLISH
FRANCAIS
ESPAGNOL
ITALIANO
NEDERLAN
DEUTSCH
CATALA
NORSK
PORTUGUE
DANSK
SVENSKA
HRVATSKI
SRPSKI
#
# 1 : English
# 2 : French
# 3 : Spanish
# 4 : Italian
# 5 : Dutch
# 6 : German
# 7 : Catalan
# 8 : Norwegian
# 9 : Portuguese
# 10: Danish
# 11: Swedish
# 12: Croatian
# 13: Serbian
#
9A* 12
C3* 7
CT* 9
CU* 9
DU* 1
D* 6
EK* 1
E?3* 7
E?5* 7
E?6* 7
E* 3
F* 2
H* 2
I* 4
LA* 8
ON1A* 5
ON1B* 5
ON1C* 5
ON1K* 2
ON4* 2
ON5* 2
ON6* 2
ON7* 2
ON8* 1
ON9* 1
OZ* 10
PY* 9
P* 5
SK* 11
SM* 11
TU* 2
TK* 2
VE2* 2
YU* 13
YT* 13
YZ* 13
4N* 13
4O* 13
#
3A* 2
3B* 2
#
</verb></tscreen>
=====EOF=====
<p>
<sect>How to make better ham radio rules?
<p>
2003-10-26
<p>
<em>Notice: Gentle folks, here I am going to discuss some
rules'n'regulations issues that we, radio amateurs, face to
every day. These problems make rather significant obstacles
for this nice alternative way of communication to be more
developed and more widely used.</em>
<p>
First of all, anybody who might be interested in
running Linux amateur radio software, as a way of
using radio amateur stations on the international
HF waves, in a <em>digital</em> manner, has to learn
<bf>manual <em>analog</em></bf> Morse telegraphy and
pass the similar <bf>manual</bf> Morse skill test. For a long
time now, I have been trying to explain myself, why manual
Morse telegraphy is still being kept as the legal requirement
without an amateur is not allowed to use HF radio frequencies
under 30 MHz, in order to contact Linux and other remaining
<bf><em>digital</em></bf> radio amateurs world-wide. I still
have no answer to that question, except that all of those who
have wasted lots of time learning Morse, now don't want to
allow newcomers to use the same capabilities - but without
the same (useless) test!
<p>
You all know, there are so many Linux enthusiasts world-wide
(including myself) who have been fighting against all types
of <bf>monopols</bf> (like a company from Redmond, USA).
The Morse obligatory test is the same: just another type of a
<bf>monopoly!</bf>
<p>
That's why I have been trying to persuade all relevant
authorities to <bf>remove</bf> such outdated regulatory
principles, that make more and more obstacles for not
only Linux users, but for other kinds of computer users
- when it comes to the modern ICT technologies. I hope,
all of you, readers of this mini-HOWTO, can understand
now what does it mean to use outdated rules and regulations
endlessly . For example, I often contact various people from
the academic world, either students or scientists,
in order to motivate them to join amateur radio wireless
activities. They mostly refuse to think about the amateur
(also called <em>"ham"</em>) radio, as soon as they hear they
have to pass the Morse test, as the legal requirement
<em>before</em> they become allowed to connect to
remote <bf>computing</bf> radio users world-wide, using
the HF radio bands and devices.
What I am sure, the absence of those high educated people within
the digital ham radio is one of the most negative consequences in the
ICT areas today!
<p>
I have been thinking what to do since the early ninetees,
when I was the secretary of <em>YU7</em> (Vojvodina
province in Serbia) amateur radio union. It seemed to
me that it was a very hard task to persuade the people who govern
the amateur radio organizations, to remove such outdated rule.
When I realized that removing the mandatory manual Morse
test seemed to be almost impossible to be expected in a short period of
time, I decided to suggest the implementation of another regulatory
principle. It should be a major innovation: To make a new type of the
amateur radio license, a <bf>H</bf>am <bf>D</bf>igital <bf>L</bf>icence
(the <bf>HDL</bf> in short). The HDL licensees would be allowed to use
<em>all</em> amateur radio frequencies, including <em>all</em>
international HF bands under 30 MHz. But, they rather should be allowed
to use <em>only</em> <bf>digital</bf> sub-bands and types of the
amateur radio emissions a.k.a. "modes", including the usage of computers,
equipped with the LinFBB packet radio software. Besides that, the HDL
holders may only use modified and/or dedicated radio transmitters,
without the capability for both voice microphone and Morse key
connections, in order to avoid possible misuse of unwanted amateur
activities (like voice SSB operations).
<p>
All HDL candidates should have to learn topics like computer hardware
and software in general (operating systems and system software
configuration, amateur radio software setup etc), connecting the amateur
radio stations to the computers (connecting radio modems to the
transmitters etc), building simple antennas (like 1/2 wave wire dipole for
20m that I used long ago), the English language (or German etc) in the
written exam etc. The Morse requirement would not be used anymore,
as well as some other obsolete tests, like highly complicated radio
circuits or skills needed for building home-brew radios from the scratch
(instead of buying modern factory manufactured devices). Of course,
the regulatory issues should also be tested (like band plans - in particular
recognizing the sub-bands dedicated for <bf>digital</bf> ham radio). Next
are RFI issues and how to avoid them etc.
<p>
I believe that amateur radio <em>digital</em>
activities have their future only if we all do
our best to improve the regulatory principles that
govern this fine hobby. You should also know that,
besides the telegraphy skill requirement for an HF access,
here in Serbia we have some further restrictions: we all
have to be the members of the national amateur radio
unions (SRV union in YU7 province and SRS union in Serbia in whole),
as the legal requirement, <bf>before</bf> we become allowed
to use <em>any</em> type of the amateur radio activities.
Such a nonsense does not exist elsewhere!
<p>
Should you want help us to adopt internationally known
principles, that do NOT require to join <em>any</em>
type of the amateur radio organizational system, i.e. the
amateur radio society (that only wants to get our membership
money), you are invited to lobby for us. Our conservative
amateur society leadership also has their email address:
yu0srj@eunet.yu (I suppose they may have more than
one email address, but you may try to use this one).
You may also use an Internet search engine and scan for
information related to "Savez radio amatera Jugoslavije" and
"Savez radio amatera Srbije". Your help would be highly
appreciated. Case you need more info regarding our national
legal issues, do not hesitate to contact me.
<p>
If you find yourself interested enough in making
amateur radio rules and regulations better and more
updated (say to spread the idea of liberalize the whole
ICT areas and make them free of any kind of monopols),
I would suggest you to look for your national radio
amateur society and/or national telecommunication
regulatory agency (like FCC in the USA). Lobby to them
in order to remove the obsolete manual Morse proficiency
test. In addition, should you have some opportunities to
attend to some ICT meetings and conferences or
something like that, you are also invited to let me know.
<p>
Case we all do our best to remove obstacles mentioned above
and allow the new people, who may wish to enjoy the amateur
radio digital and Linux-related operations, to do so, the technology
would become the part of more homes. I hope you, the readers,
may help. So I look forward to hear from you soon!
<p>
<sect>Bibliography
<p>
2005-10-09
<em>Notice: I often participate to (inter)national ICT
conferences in Serbia & Montenegro, as well as abroad,
presenting papers and having tutorials. For example,
here you may see <url url="http://www.jisa.org.yu/Kongres/2005/slike/radni%20deo/radni%20deo%20800x600/Miroslav_Skoric_OkrRadvez.jpg"
name="me"> speaking to the audience. The picture was taken during
a round table session in <url url="http://www.jisa.org.yu/Kongres/2005/Okruglisto_rad-kom_e.htm"
name="Herceg Novi">. What I have been doing is to spread - as much as
possible - the basic ideas and the useful mission of the amateur
radio hobby. You bet, whenever possible I want my readers to make
it with Linux. Besides that, I have been writing various articles
for a variety of scientific and other magazines. Here you have a
list of the articles I have written, and the papers submitted to the
conferences until now.</em>
<p>
In case you want to re-publish or forward my volunteer paper
works to some journals or other public media around, you are
free to contact me. Some of my papers are written in Serbian
Cyrillic, some of them are in English and some of them even
combined!
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
- "U prilog I.A.C.", MI (the youth scientists' organization
newspaper), No. 69, 1990.
- "U prilog I.A.C. (2)", MI (the youth scientists' organization
newspaper), No. 70, 1990.
- "Vise od radio-amaterskog hobija", Vojska, No. 163, 1995.
- "Korak ka zvezdama", Vojska, No. 200, 1996.
- "Die Gefahr von Innen - Internet gegen Amateurfunk",
AMSAT-DL Journal, No. 4, Dez./Feb. 96/97.
- "Kakva nam organizacija (ne) treba?", Radioamater,
Feb. 1997.
- "Kakva nam organizacija (ne) treba? (2)", Radioamater,
Apr./May. 1997.
- "Sateliti umiru padajuci", Vojska, No. 235, 1997.
- "The Internet is not the Enemy", QST, Aug. 1998.
- "Novi radio-amateri za novi vek", Antena, June 2000.
- "Racunarske komunikacije putem radio-veza i
zastita pristupa", Bezbednost, No. 3, 2000.
- "Paket-radio - Racunarske komunikacije putem radio-veza",
proceedings, "Info-Teh", Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, 2001.
- "Racunarske komunikacije putem radio-amaterskih veza",
proceedings, "YU-Info", Kopaonik, Serbia, 2002.
- "Computer Communications over radio", presentation,
"Linux FEST", Belgrade, Serbia, 2002.
- "Paket-radio - Radio-amaterske digitalne veze",
proceedings, "Kongres JISA", Herceg Novi, Montenegro, 2002.
- "Paket-radio (2) - Modemi za radio-veze",
proceedings, "Info-Teh", Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, 2002.
- "Alternativne racunarske mreze", festival catalog,
"INFOFEST", Budva, Montenegro, 2002.
- "Alternative computer networks", proceedings, "TELFOR",
Belgrade, Serbia, 2002.
- "With rule and regulation improvements to the progress"
proceedings, "TELFOR", Belgrade, Serbia, 2002.
- "Racunarske komunikacije putem radio-amaterskih veza (2)",
proceedings, "YU-Info", Kopaonik, Serbia, 2003.
- "Racunarske komunikacije putem radio-amaterskih veza (3)",
proceedings, "YU-Info", Kopaonik, Serbia, 2003.
- "Paket-radio (3) - Programske mogucnosti na strani servera",
proceedings, "Info-Teh", Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, 2003.
- "Paket-radio (4) - Legal rules and regulations in the amateur
computer networks", proceedings, "Info-Teh", Vrnjacka Banja,
Serbia, 2003.
- "Packet-radio (2) - With rule and regulation improvements to the progress",
proceedings, "Kongres JISA", Herceg Novi, Montenegro, 2003.
- "Alternativne racunarske mreze (2)", festival catalog,
"INFOFEST", Budva, Montenegro, 2003.
- "Alternativne racunarske komunikacije putem radio-veza",
Info M, 6-7/2003.
- "Legal Rules and Regulations in the Amateur Radio Computer Networks",
proceedings, "22nd ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference",
Hartford, CT USA, 2003.
- "Favoritism", IEEE Potentials, Oct/Nov 2003
- "Alternative computer networks (2)", proceedings, "TELFOR",
Belgrade, Serbia, 2003.
- "With rule and regulation improvements to the progress (2)"
proceedings, "TELFOR", Belgrade, Serbia, 2003.
- "XI Telekomunikacioni forum - TELFOR 2003", Info M, 8/2003.
- "Aktivnosti organizacije IEEE Computer Society - YU Chapter"
Info M, 8/2003.
- "Yugoslavia IEEE Student Branch", IEEE Region 8 News,
Vol. 7 No. 1, Feb/Mar 2004
- "Radio-amaterske racunarske mreze", tutorial, "Info-Teh",
Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, 2004.
- "Radio-amaterske racunarske mreze", tutorial, "Kongres
JISA", Herceg Novi, Montenegro, 2004.
- "The Amateur Radio as a Learning Technology in
Developing Countries", proceedings, "ICALT/TEDC 2004",
Joensuu, Finland, 2004.
- "The Amateur Radio in Engineering Education", seminar,
"IEEE-EESTEC Technical Conference 2004", Arcavacata
di Rende (Cosenza), Italy, 2004.
- "The Conference Low-Down", IEEE Potentials, Feb/Mar 2005
- "ICALT 2004, IEEE Novi Sad SB, Serbia & Montenegro",
IEEE Region 8 News, Vol. 8 No. 1, Mar 2005
- "The Conference Low-Down", IEEE Potentials, Apr/May 2005
- "The Amateur Radio Networking And Computing", proceedings,
"PSU-UNS ICEE 2005", Novi Sad, Serbia, 2005
- "Radio-amaterske racunarske mreze", tutorial, "Info-Teh",
Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, 2005 (intro: dr D. Surla, PMF)
- "Radio-veze", round table session, "Kongres JISA", Herceg
Novi, Montenegro, 2005.
- "The New Amateur Radio University Network - AMUNET",
proceedings, "9th WSEAS CSCC Multiconference",
Vouliagmeni, Athens, Greece, 2005.
- "The perspectives of the Amateur University Network -
AMUNET", WSEAS Transactions on Communications, Vol 4,
pp 834, Sep. 2005.
- "Conferences in Serbia and Montenegro", IEEE Region 8 News,
Vol. 8 No. 3, Sep 2005
</verb></tscreen>
<p>
Besides these articles published and papers presented, I have been
studying for an M.Sc. degree in computing. I am also the member of
the following associations: IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Communications
Society and ACM. In addition, I have been voluntarily working on establishing
an academy computer network that would use the amateur radio
stations as the media. Such networks exist somewhere else on the globe and
I invite their administrators to contact me in order to cooperate.
<sect>Further information
<p>
<sect1>Copyright
<p>
Copyright (c) 2005 by Miroslav "Misko" Skoric, YT7MPB.
<P>
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify
this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the
Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections,
with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.
A copy of the license is available from
<a href="http://www.fsf.org/licenses/fdl.html">http://www.fsf.org/licenses/fdl.html</a>.
<sect1>Disclaimer
<p>
Use the information in this document at your own
risk. I disavow any potential liability of this
document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or
other content of this document is entirely at
your own risk.
All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless
specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in
this document should not be regarded as
affecting the validity of any trademark or service
mark.
Naming of particular products or brands should not
be seen as endorsements.
You are strongly recommended to take a backup of
your system before major installation and backups
at regular intervals.
<sect1>News
<p>
This is not the first release of this mini-HOWTO. I
hope to improve it whenever possible. Besides that,
there are other documents that may help you to
use amateur radio stuff on your computer. You may
also look for AX.25 (mini-)HOWTO at the same
location where you get this FBB mini-HOWTO.
<em>This mini-HOWTO would be improved from time
to time. If you think that the HOWTO on your
Linux installation CD is some out-of-date, you
may check for newest release on the Internet. It
could be found within the main <url
url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/"
name="Linux Documentation Project">
homepage or this one: <url
url="http://www.tldp.org/"
name="Linux Documentation Project">.
</em>
<sect1>Credits
<p>
<em>This version of mini-HOWTO can thanks to:</em>
<tscreen><verb>
Jean-Paul Roubelat, F6FBB, the author of FBB,
Per Olsen, LA6CU, the author of FBB documentation,
Jesus R., EB5AGF, the author of Protus,
Jose Marte, HI8GN, the packer of 7.02g package,
Paula Dowie, G8PZT, the author of Xrouter,
Sima YT1SM, first translation HLP and TXT (v.5.15c)
Sasa 4N7AM, first translation HLP and TXT (v.7.00b)
Dragomir Kalaba, a local Linux 'guru'
and a variety of helpful radio amateurs world-wide.
</verb></tscreen>
Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my
email address:
skoric at eunet dot yu
<sect1>HOWTO
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!HOWTOs</nidx>
These are intended as the primary starting points to
get the background information as well as show you how to solve
a specific problem.
Some relevant HOWTOs are <tt/Bootdisk/, <tt/Installation/, <tt/SCSI/ and <tt/UMSDOS/.
The main site for these is the
<url url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/"
name="LDP archive">
at Metalab (formerly known as Sunsite).
<sect1>Mini-HOWTO
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!mini-HOWTOs</nidx>
These are the smaller free text relatives to the HOWTOs.
Some relevant mini-HOWTOs are
<tt/Backup-With-MSDOS/, <tt/Diskless/, <tt/LILO/, <tt/Large Disk/,
<tt/Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2/, <tt/Linux+OS2+DOS/, <tt/Linux+Win95/,
<tt/Linux+WindowsNT/, <tt/Linux+NT-Loader/, <tt/NFS-Root/,
<tt/Win95+Win+Linux/, <tt/ZIP Drive/, <tt/FBB packet-radio BBS/ etc.
You can find these at the same place as the HOWTOs, usually in a sub directory
called <tt/mini/. Note that these are scheduled to be converted into SGML and
become proper HOWTOs in the near future.
<sect1>Local Resources
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!local</nidx>
In most distributions of Linux there is a document directory installed,
have a look in the
<htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc"
name="/usr/doc"> directory.
where most packages store their main documentation and README files etc.
Also you will here find the HOWTO archive (
<htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO"
name="/usr/doc/HOWTO">)
of ready formatted HOWTOs
and also the mini-HOWTO archive (
<url url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO/mini"
name="/usr/doc/HOWTO/mini">)
of plain text documents.
Many of the configuration files mentioned earlier can be found in the
<htmlurl url="file:///etc"
name="/etc">
directory. In particular you will want to work with the
<htmlurl url="file:///etc/fstab"
name="/etc/fstab">
file that sets up the mounting of partitions
and possibly also
<htmlurl url="file:///etc/mdtab"
name="/etc/mdtab">
file that is used for the <tt/md/ system to set up RAID.
The kernel source in
<url url="file:///usr/src/linux"
name="/usr/src/linux">
is, of course, the ultimate documentation. In other
words, <em>use the source, Luke</em>.
It should also be pointed out that the kernel comes not only with
source code which is even commented (well, partially at least)
but also an informative
<url url="file:///usr/src/linux/Documentation"
name="documentation directory">.
If you are about to ask any questions about the kernel you should
read this first, it will save you and many others a lot of time
and possibly embarrassment.
Also have a look in your system log file (
<htmlurl url="file:///var/log/messages"
name="/var/log/messages">)
to see what is going on and in particular how the booting went if
too much scrolled off your screen. Using <tt>tail -f /var/log/messages</tt>
in a separate window or screen will give you a continuous update of what is
going on in your system.
You can also take advantage of the
<htmlurl url="file:///proc"
name="/proc">
file system that is a window into the inner workings of your system.
Use <tt/cat/ rather than <tt/more/ to view the files as they are
reported as being zero length. Reports are that <tt/less/ works well here.
<sect1>Web Pages
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!WWW</nidx>
<nidx>disk!information resources!web pages</nidx>
There is a huge number of informative web pages out there and by their very
nature they change quickly so don't be too surprised if these links become
quickly outdated.
A good starting point is of course the
<url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/"
name="Linux Documentation Project"> home page, or this one: <url
url="http://www.tldp.org/"
name="Linux Documentation Project">,
an information central for documentation, project pages and much, much more.
Please let me know if you have any other leads that can be of interest.
<sect>Getting help
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!assistance, obtaining</nidx>
In the end you might find yourself unable to solve your problems and need
help from someone else. The most efficient way is either to ask someone
local or in your nearest Linux user group, search the web for the nearest
one.
Another possibility is to ask on Usenet News in one of the many, many
newsgroups available. The problem is that these have such a high
volume and noise (called low signal-to-noise ratio) that your question
can easily fall through unanswered.
No matter where you ask it is important to ask well or you will not be
taken seriously. Saying just <it/my disk does not work/ is not going
to help you and instead the noise level is increased even further and if
you are lucky someone will ask you to clarify.
Instead describe your problems in some detail that
will enable people to help you. The problem could lie somewhere you did
not expect. Therefore you are advised to list up the following information
on your system:
<descrip>
<tag/Hardware/
<itemize>
<item>Processor
<item>DMA
<item>IRQ
<item>Chip set (LX, BX etc)
<item>Bus (ISA, VESA, PCI etc)
<item>Expansion cards used (Disk controllers, video, IO etc)
</itemize>
<tag/Software/
<itemize>
<item>BIOS (On motherboard and possibly SCSI host adapters)
<item>LILO, if used
<item>Linux kernel version as well as possible modifications and patches
<item>Kernel parameters, if any
<item>Software that shows the error (with version number or date)
</itemize>
<tag/Peripherals/
<itemize>
<item>Type of disk drives with manufacturer name, version and type
<item>Other relevant peripherals connected to the same buses
</itemize>
</descrip>
Remember that booting text is logged to <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> which can
answer most of the questions above. Obviously if the drives fail you might not
be able to get the log saved to disk but you can at least scroll back up the
screen using the <tt/SHIFT/ and <tt/PAGE UP/ keys. It may also be useful to
include part of this in your request for help but do not go overboard, keep
it <em/brief/ as a complete log file dumped to Usenet News is more than a
little annoying.
</article>
