FADCA Linux CD
Charlie Schuman, K4GBB
Version 1.8.0 26 Jul 2006
This CD is dedicated to the memory of Bill Sinbine, N4XEO.
Bill was president of FADCA and an active member of the team that developed this CD.
Contents
Introduction
Running Live from CD
Installing to HD
Linux and AX25
Setting up Ports
The AX25 Start-up
Load Modules.
Setup ports.
Start support programs.
Putting AX25 to work.
Starting AX25
Status
Testing AX25 ports.
Receive
Sending
Telpac Node
FPAC Node
F6FBB BBS
NetRom
The FADCA CD is a remaster of Knoppix Version. 5.01. Based on Debian, this version uses Linux kernels 2.6.17.
Several large packages & multi-language support were removed from Knoppix to make room for the additional Ham Radio files and reduced the size of the ISO file .
Telpac, FPAC and the F6FBB BBS were added to the CD contents.
The entire system may be loaded into RAM and run directly from the CD. This allows you to load and test the operating system before committing it to a HD installation. You may want to run the system from CD for awhile to familiarize yourself with the menu system and the program packages available.
Set your computer's BIOS boot sequence to Boot from CD. Insert the CD in the CDROM drive. If your system BIOS does not support Boot from CD you may try booting from floppy and then switching to CD.
The live CD system has no security provisions. There is one User, knoppix, but root permissions are available through SUDO. All system setting will be lost when you exit or reboot.
If you want to be able to boot to a Windows partition, install the Windows system before starting the HD install. This gives you a partition to run DOS applications from Linux via WINE. This also allows you to install a FPAC DOS system to have as a backup.
Click on the Install to HD icon on the desktop (The package). The dialog that follows will lead you through the installations. You have the option of Beginner, Debian or Knoppix type of installion. Go to The HD install FAQ for more information. The install script will help you create Linux partitions and format them. Once you have entered your configuration preferences, start the installation and sit back. It may take awhile, especially on a slower system.
When the installation is complete, the script will allow you to create an Emergency Startup Disk. I'm not sure this is needed, unless you can not boot from CD.
Log off and reboot. Remove the CD and have your system boot from the HD.
Once your system has booted you will be presented with a Login screen. You may only sign onto the GUI as a User. Hopefully you remembered your password. If you need root athority you may open a root terminal session from the User menu or su to root. You may also switch terminal sessions with ctl-alt (F1 – F6)
Once logged on you may add additional Users/Groups.
A script has been written to set Startup services. The script is /home/Startups. This script will start AX25, Cron & SSH and remove CUPSYS.
There is a Linux How TO Doc which covers the subject very well. I keep a copy of it right under my Linux bible. It and other good information may be found at John Ackerman's (N8UR) web site, http://www.febo.com/packet/linux-ax25/index.html .
The ax25 support on the CD comes ready to run one KISS port on ttyS0 (Com1). If you have a TNC2 with KISS support you should be able to connect the TNC and be ready to run. The default callsign is n0call. So, you will need to edit /etc/ax25/axports to change the callsign. The /etc/ax25d.conf file will also need to be edited so that it may react to your callsign(s).
Other configurations will require that you modify other files in /etc/ax25/.
This is the script that starts the ax25 “ball” rolling. It is divided into three main parts.
There are four main modules. Not all are needed for every system. Ax25 and ROSE are the two that should be included in every setup. Depending upon your TNC setup you will need 6pack and or mkiss.
These modules are loaded with the cmd modprob.
Example :
modprobe ax25; modprob rose; modprobe mkiss; modprobe 6pack
There will be a block of code for each port. The blocks are set apart with a comment line showing the port #. Comment lines are those beginnging with #.
We could name the ports, but in order to remain consistant with DOS FPAC we have numbered them. The numbering scheme chosen assignes low numbers to the User ports (starting with 0) and the high numbers (9 and working down) to Network ports.
Example :
# Start0 KISS
/usr/sbin/kissattach /dev/ptyz0 0 44.1.1.1
/usr/sbin/mkiss -c -l /dev/ttyS0 /dev/ttyz0
/usr/sbin/kissparms -p 0 -r 128 -s 10 -l 20 -t 60
echo 100 > proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/t1_timeout
echo 30 > /proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/t2_timeout
echo 30000 > proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/t3_timeout
echo 10 > proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/maximum_retry_count
echo 4 > proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/standard_window_size
echo 256 > proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/maximum_packet_length
# End0 Kiss# Attach AXIP Port
#Start9 AXIP
/usr/sbin/kissattach -m 1580 /dev/ptyq0 9 127.0.0.1
sleep 1
echo 50 > /proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/t1_timeout
echo 15 > /proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/t2_timeout
echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/t3_timeout
echo 3 > /proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/maximum_retry_count
echo 7 > /proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/standard_window_size
echo 260 > /proc/sys/net/ax25/ax0/maximum_packet_length
sleep 2
#End9 AXIP
Once the modules are loaded and the ports defined we can start ax25 dependent programs. Ax25d, ax25ipd and mheardd are three examples. FPAC may be started from here or via the Automatic Startup Scripts.
# Allow External Connections/Logins
/usr/sbin/ax25d &
echo $! > /var/run/ax25d.pid
#Start AXIP
/usr/sbin/ax25ipd &
echo $! > /var/run/ax25ipd.pid
# Start mheard daemon
/usr/sbin/mheardd
echo $! > /var/run/mheardd.pid
To load the ax25 modules :
rcax25 -start
To get the status of your ax25 ports type:
rcax25 -status
Other options for the rcax25 script are -restart and -stop
You can have ax25-config generate the rc links, but if you chose not use ax25-config you can generate the links via a Perl script.
To generate links in rcx.d for the automatic start of AX25 on bootup type:
update-rc.d ax25 defaults 20
You should now see links at all rcn.d levels for ax25. (S020ax25 & K020ax25).
If your ax25 port has loaded w/o any errors you can monitor the port(s) with a program called listen. In a terminal window (with root permissions) type :
listen -artc
To test the port's ability to transmit use the calibrate program. Open a second terminal window and type:
calibrate <port #>
The connected TNC/Radio will begin transmitting packets which will be displayed in the Listen window. The port will continue to send packets until you press Enter.