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Archive-name: linux/howto/ham/part2
Last-modified: 30 Oct 95

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*** The Linux HAM HOWTO is posted automatically by the Linux
*** HOWTO coordinator, Greg Hankins <gregh@sunsite.unc.edu>.  Please
*** direct any comments or questions about this HOWTO to the author,
*** Terry Dawson <terryd@extro.ucc.su.oz.au>.

- --- BEGIN Linux HAM HOWTO part 2/2 ---

     Licensing/Copyright
        Public Domain and may be freely copied as long as the notices at
        the top of sunclock.c remain intact.


  13.3.  Xearth


     Author
        Kirk Lauritz Johnson, tuna@cag.lcs.mit.edu, modified by Dimitris
        Evmorfopoulos, devmorfo@cs.mtu.edu.

     Description
        A rotating earth for X-windows root window. It has real life
        shading, and options for geostatic view, and non geostatic view.
        A prettier and more modern version of sunclock but requires a
        bit more processing power.

     Status
        released, stable.

     System requirements.
        X-Windows.

     Detail
        xearth is much like sunclock except that it draws a view of the
        earth onto your root map in blue and green, as the earth would
        be viewed from space. You have a number of options in
        determining the behaviour of the view. You can either have it so
        that the same part of the earth is displayed, and the sun
        rotates, so you'll have varying light and shadow on the display,
        or you can have it shown as if you were travelling with the sun,
        so the whole of the globe is visible, and the earth rotates.
        You can specify the latitude/longtitude that will be the centre
        of the display. xearth is also capable of producing gif and ppm
        graphics output, so you can generate custom graphics of the
        globe.  When run as your root map, you can adjust the interval
        of time between updates.  On my 486sx25 you notice a small
        degradation in performance when it is recalculating, but it's
        not annoying.

     Where and How to obtain it.
        A precompiled xearth binary is available from: sunsite.unc.edu,
        or the source can be obtained from just about any X11/contrib
        directory. Try export.lcs.mit.edu if you can't find it
        elsewhere.

     Licensing/Copyright
        Copyright (C) 1989, 1990, 1993 by Kirk Lauritz Johnson. The
        copyright notice included states that xearth is freely
        redistributable so long as the copyright notice is left intact,
        and be included in documentation.

     Contributed by:
        Alan Cox, GW4PTS.


  14.  Installation, Configuration, Hints and Tricks.

  This section provides some detail on how to actually install and use
  some of the listed software. It will also detail some solutions to
  some tricky problems that you might encounter with the software.


  14.1.  AX.25 - Packet Radio protocol kernel software.

  The AX.25 protocol offers both connected and connectionless modes of
  operation, and is used either by itself for point-point links, or to
  carry other protocols such as tcp/ip and netrom.

  It is similar to X.25 level 2 in structure, with some extensions to
  make it more useful in the amateur radio environment.

  Alan Cox has developed some kernel based AX.25 software support for
  Linux and these are available in ALPHA form for you to try. Alan's
  code supports KISS based TNC's (Terminal Node Controllers), the Ottawa
  PI card and the Z8530 SCC driver.

  The User programs contain a P.M.S. (Personal Message System), a beacon
  facility, a line mode connect program, `listen' an example of how to
  capture all AX.25 frames at raw interface level and programs to
  configure the NetRom protocol.

  Be sure to read /usr/local/ax25/README as it contains more complete
  information regarding this software.


  14.1.1.  Where to obtain the AX.25 software.

  The AX.25 software is comprised of two component, the kernel source
  and the utility programs. As of the version 1.3.* release of Linux
  kernel source the AX.25, Netrom, Z8530 SCC and PI card drivers are all
  included as a standard. I strongly recommend you obtain and use the
  version 1.3.*  kernel source. Be warned though, this software is alpha
  and may have problem that you wouldn't otherwise encounter.

  You can obtain the latest kernel source from:

  ftp.funet.fi


       /pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/v1.3/




  You will also need the utility programs. The latest version of those
  can be found at:

  ftp.ucsd.edu


       /hamradio/packet/tcpip/incoming/ax25-utils-030.tar.gz
                                   .../ax25-utils-030-patch1.gz






  14.1.2.  Installing the AX.25 software.

  The software comes in two parts, the kernel source, and the user
  programs.


  14.1.2.1.  The kernel source.

  If you are using the 1.3.* kernel source then all you have to do is
  build the kernel as you would normally.

  The following should be safe:



       # cd /usr/src/linux
       # make config
       # make dep;make




  Be sure to answer `yes' when you are asked if you should include the
  AX.25 support in the make config step. You will also need to answer
  `y' to including SLIP if you want the AX.25 code to support a KISS TNC
  or if you intend running a version of NOS on your system so you can
  link the two.  You will be asked if you wish to include the Z8530
  driver. If you wish to support the Ottawa PI driver then you must
  answer `y' when asked: Do you want to be offered ALPHA test drivers ?
  and: Other ISA cards ? then `y' when prompted: Ottawa PI and PI/2
  support.


  14.1.2.2.  The user programs.

  To install the user programs you should try:



       # cd /usr/local
       # gzip -dc ax25-utils-030.tar.gz | tar xvvof -
       # gzip -dc ax25-utils-030-patch1.gz | patch -p0
       # cd ax25




  You should then read the README file and follow its instructions.
  When you are happy you are ready to compile, then do:



       # cd /usr/local/ax25/src
       # make clean
       # make install





  14.1.3.  Configuring and using the AX.25 software.

  Configuring an AX.25 port is very similar to configuring a slip
  device.  The AX.25 software has been designed to work with a TNC in
  kiss mode or an Ottawa PI2 card. You will need to have the TNC
  preconfigured and connected to your serial port. You can use a comms
  program like minicom or seyon to configure the TNC into kiss mode if
  you wish.

  You use the axattach program in much the same way as you would use the
  slattach program. For example:



       # /usr/local/ax25/bin/axattach -s 4800 /dev/cua1 VK2KTJ &




  would configure your /dev/cua1 serial device to be a kiss interface at
  4800 bps, with the hardware address VK2KTJ.

  You would then use the ifconfig program to configure the ip address
  and netmask as for an ethernet device:



       # /sbin/ifconfig sl0 44.136.8.5
       # /sbin/ifconfig sl0 netmask 255.255.255.0
       # /sbin/ifconfig sl0 broadcast 44.136.8.255
       # /sbin/ifconfig sl0 arp mtu 257 up

  To test it out, try the following:



       /usr/local/ax25/bin/call VK2DAY via VK2RVT




  The call program is a linemode terminal program for making ax.25
  calls. It recognises lines that start with ` ' as command lines.  The
  ` .' command will close the connection.

  You also need to configure some items such as the window to use. This
  necessitates editing only one file. Edit the /usr/local/ax25/etc/ports
  file. This is an ascii file containing one line for each AX.25 port.
  You must have the entries in this file in the same order as you
  configure your AX.25 interfaces.

  The format is as follows:



       callsign baudrate window frequency




  At this stage not much of this information is used, it will be picked
  up and used in later developments.

  Please refer to the man pages in /usr/local/ax25/man and the README
  file in /usr/local/ax25 for more information.


  14.2.  Ottawa PI/PI2 card driver.

  The Ottawa PI card is a Z8530 SCC based card for IBM PC type machines
  that is in common usage by Amateur Radio operators worldwide. While it
  is most commonly used by Amateur Radio Operators, it could be pressed
  into service in other fields where it is desirable to have the
  features of a Z8530. It supports a high speed half duplex (single DMA
  channel) port, and a low speed (<9k6bps interrupt driven) half duplex
  port. The PI2 is a new version of the card that supports an on board
  radio modem, and improved hardware design.

  A driver for this card has been written by David Perry,
  <dp@hydra.carleton.edu>, and is available from in the standard linux
  kernel. Please refer to the AX.25 section for configuration details.


  14.3.  HOWTO link NOS and the Linux kernel networking software

  Many people like to run some version of NOS under Linux because it has
  all of the features and facilities they are used to. Most of those
  people would also like to have the NOS running on their machine
  capable of talking to the Linux kernel so that they can offer some of
  the linux capabilities to radio users. Brandon S. Allbery, KF8NH,
  contributed information to explain how to achieve this.

  Since both Linux and NOS support the slip protocol it is possible to
  link the two together by creating a slip link. You could do this by
  using two serial ports with a loopback cable between them, but this
  would be slow and costly. Linux provides a feature that many other
  unix-like operating systems provide called `pipes'. These are special
  pseudo devices that look like a standard tty device to software but in
  fact loopback to another pipe device. To use these pipes the first
  program must open the master end of the pipe, and the open then the
  second program can open the slave end of the pipe. When both ends are
  open the programs can communicate with each other simply by writing
  characters to the pipes in the way they would if they were terminal
  devices.

  To use this feature to connect the Linux Kernel and a copy of NOS, or
  some other program you first must chosoe a pipe device to use. You can
  find one by looking in your /dev directory. The master end of the
  pipes are named: ptyp[1-f] and the slave end of the pipes are known
  as: ttyp[1-f]. Remember they come in pairs, so if you select
  /dev/ptypf as your master end then you must use /dev/ttypf as the
  slave end.

  Once you have chosen a pipe device pair to use you should allocate the
  master end to you linux kernel and the slave end to the NOS program,
  as the Linux kernel starts first and the master end of the pipe must
  be opened first.  You must also remember that your Linux kernel must
  have a different IP address to your NOS, so you will need to allocate
  a unique address for it if you haven't already.

  You configure the pipe just as if it were a serial device, so to
  create the slip link from your linux kernel you can use commands
  similar to the following:



       # /sbin/slattach -s 38400 -p slip /dev/ptypf &
       # /sbin/ifconfig sl0 broadcast 44.255.255.255 pointopoint 44.70.248.67 /
               mtu 1536 44.70.4.88
       # /sbin/route add 44.70.248.67 sl0
       # /sbin/route add -net 44.0.0.0 gw 44.70.248.67




  In this example the Linux kernel has been given IP address 44.70.4.88
  and the NOS program is using IP address 44.70.248.67. The route
  command in the last line simply tells your linux kernel to route all
  datagrams for the amprnet via the slip link created by the slattach
  command. Normally you would put these commands into your
  /etc/rc.d/rc.inet2 file after all your other network configuration is
  complete so that the slip link is created automatically when you
  reboot.  Note: there is no advantage in using cslip instead of slip as
  it actually reduces performance because the link is only a virtual one
  and occurs fast enough that having to compress the headers first takes
  longer than transmitting the uncompressed datagram.

  To configure the NOS end of the link you could try the following:



       # you can call the interface anything you want; I use "linux" for convenience.
       attach asy ttypf - slip linux 1024 1024 38400
       route addprivate 44.70.4.88 linux




  These commands will create a slip port named `linux' via the slave end
  of the pipe device pair to your linux kernel, and a route to it to
  make it work. When you have started NOS you should be able to ping and
  telnet to your NOS from your Linux machine and vice versa. If not,
  double check that you have made no mistakes especially that you have
  the addresses configured properly and have the pipe devices around the
  right way.


  15.  How to contribute or update an entry.

  I'd like for this list to be as complete and up-to-date as possible.
  So I'm keen to hear about any developments or products that I don't
  already know about, or that the entry is obselete or outdated for.

  What I'd like as a minimum set of requirement would be something like
  the following:


     Name
        The name of the software in question.

     Author
        Who wrote, or ported the software. An email address, or some
        other means of contacting them is also essential.

     Description
        A single line description of what the software does.

     Status
        An indication of the software's status. Is it still in testing?
        Is it a production release? Is it still in the design stage?

     System requirements
        What does the software require to run? Does it require X-
        Windows? Does it need a soundcard? Does it need a certain
        version of kernel? Does it need other software to support it?

     Detail
        I'm not keen on including a large amount of detail on each piece
        of software as this would consume a lot of time reading and
        trying to keep up to date. So instead what I'd like to list is
        what makes this software unique, anything special about it.
        Perhaps its most outstanding features, that sort of thing.

     Where and How to obtain it.
        If the software is freely distributable then ftp details would
        be great.  If it is commercial software then the name of the
        company distributing the software, and an address or telephone
        number. If it is available only by some other means, say mail
        order, then details on where and how to obtain it.

     Licensing/Copyright
        Is the software Copyleft? Copyright? Shareware? Public Domain?
        Restricted in use in any way?

  Don't worry if you don't know all of these details, just send me what
  you do know and I'll list what I can. I'd rather have an incomplete
  listing than no listing at all.

  Please mail any contributions to:

  terryd@extro.ucc.su.oz.au or terry@orac.dn.itg.telecom.com.au

  I'd list a packet radio address too but I'm still not properly
  operational again yet after moving house.


  16.  Discussion relating to Amateur Radio and Linux.

  There are various places that discussion relating to Amateur Radio and
  Linux take place. They take place in the comp.os.linux.* newsgroups,
  they also take place on the HAMS list on niksula.hut.fi. Other places
  where they are held include the tcp-group mailing list at ucsd.edu
  (the home of amateur radio tcp/ip discussions), and I believe there is
  an `IRC' channel that sometimes is used to discuss them as well.

  To join the Linux HAMS channel on the mail list server, send mail to:


       linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi




  with the line:


       X-Mn-Admin: join HAMS




  at the top of the message body (not the subject line).

  To join the tcp-group send mail to:


       listserver@ucsd.edu




  with the line:


       subscribe tcp-group




  in the body of the text.

  Note: Please remember that the tcp-group is primarily for discussion
  of the use of advanced protocols, of which tcp/ip is one, in Amateur
  Radio. Linux specific questions should not ordinarily go there.

- --- END Linux HAM HOWTO part 2/2 ---

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