Using FBB with PE1CHL NET and the BPQ Hostmode Emulator (Appendix 27)

Using FBB with PE1CHL NET and the BPQ Hostmode Emulator
(Appendix 27)

PE1CHL NET and FBB work together under DESQview (or other Multi-Tasker's) with the "G8BPQ Hostmode Emulator" package. The setup is very similar to the method for using the regular BPQ code. Setup your .SYS files in the same and read the appendix on using BPQ mode as well for details.

The following differences should noted.

In INITTNCx.SYS, monitoring is available but you may prefer to use the more comprehensive monitoring within NET instead.

In FORWARD.SYS, "C C SWITCH" will connect the BBS to the NET/ROM in NET, after this point the syntax is specific to NET and the options are :-

    A LA2D
       #
       P B
       #
       C C SWITCH       Connect to the switch (Net/Rom in NET)
       V P 70cm         Select the "70cm" port
       C LA2D           Connect LA2D on the port we have just defined
       #
       B LA2D
       F LA2D
       #
     ---------

Alternately, you could predefine the downlink to LA2D in AUTOEXEC.NET with the command :-

netrom downlink LA2D 70cm

You would then omit the "port select" line in the above example and the "downlink" would be selected by NET on whatever port you have predefined. This could be any valid NET portname, whether it is an Ethernet or AX/IP encapsulated portname or just another regular port.

Setting up the G8BPQ Hostmode Emulator with FBB

You must edit and use BPQCFG.TXT from the G8BPQEMU package and compile it with BPQCFG.EXE which should result in a 3072 byte BPQCFG.BIN file.

You should load G8BPQ.COM (from the emulator) from AUTOEXEC.BAT and this can be loaded high with your favourite memory manager.

You will need to exercise the usual tricks to get the maximum memory from each DESQview window. NET should be started first, to setup the G8BPQ Emulator port mappings, so that Unproto (for TPK users) broadcasts are setup before FBB is booted.

In the autoexec.net file, the emulator will need to be started and the port mapping setup. You should choose port names that differ from the internal names of FBB or BPQ types to avoid confusion, an example is given below.

           FREQ      USAGE    NET-PORT   BPQ-PORT    FBB-PORT

           RS232    38400bd      A1         1           A
           432.675   4800bd      70f        2           B
           432.675   1200bd      70s        3           C
           144.625   1200bd      2ms        4           D
           144.625   4800bd      2mf        5           E
           70.3125   1200bd      4m         6           F
           50.650    1200bd      6m         7           G
           Exp.     76800bd      exp        8           H

Then you would use the following in autoexec.net :-

ax25 start g8bpq
g8bpq ports A1 70f 70s 2ms 2mf 4m 6m exp

This will then map all the above ports to FBB and UI broadcasts will be available on those ports. If you want only selected ports, you could have an INITTNCx.SYS for them and specify if you want UI broadcasts or not. Alternately, an easier method is to specify only those ports you want to map to UI broadcasts as in the above example for NET and only ports setup this way will broadcast UI frames, ports not specified will not broadcast.

DESQview Window Management

The object is to get the maximum memory for FBB and this will always be available in the first DV window. The trick here is to open a dummy window first, as a place holder (a regular DOS one will do fine). Now you should start NET (which will automatically open in window 2) and once this has booted, you will need to switch to the 1st window, close it and then boot FBB. This will release the place holder and give the 1st DV window slot to FBB.

A script that does this automatically is called DESQVIEW.DVS and should be made with the script tools (see DV manual) from this ASCII file :-

    {Learn {Shift-F12} "!Startup"}          Name the startup script
    obd{Enter}                              Open BIG DOS Window
    {DESQ}ont                               Open NET window
    {Delay 5}                               Wait 5 seconds
    {DESQ}s1                                Switch to the 1st window
    {DESQ}cy                                Close that window
    {DESQ}ofb                               Open FBB window
    {Finish}                                End of script

This assumes you have the following two letter assignments for windows in DESQview :-

BD = Big DOS
NT = PE1CHL NET
FB = FBB

Note there is a delay of 5 seconds to allow NET to boot fully before switching windows and starting FBB, this may need adjusting to suit the speed of your machine.

You will need to make some .PIF files for NET and FBB and the following examples will give you a good starting point :-

You will also set your DMPI allocation for FBB here too. Make sure you allocate at least 2048KB, otherwise FBB may load it's own and waste memory.

Setting up PIF file options in DESQview for FBB and NET

                                   Standard Options

     Program Name............: FBB 7.00b41

     Keys to Use on Open Menu: FB                         Memory Size (in K): 536

     Program...: c:\FBB\APPEL.BAT

     Parameters:

     Directory.: C:\FBB

     Options:
                      Writes text directly to screen.......: [Y]
                      Displays graphics information........: [Y]
                      Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T).....: [N]
                      Uses serial ports (Y,N,1,2)..........: [N]
                      Requires floppy diskette.............: [N]

                                  Advanced Options

    System Memory (in K).......:   0     Maximum Program Memory Size (in K): 600

    Script Buffer Size.......:  1000     Maximum EMS/XMS/VCPI/DPMI (in K):  2048

    Text Pages: 4               Graphics Pages: 1         Initial Video Mode:

    Window Position:
       Maximum Height:  25       Starting Height:  25       Starting Row...:   0
       Maximum Width.:  80       Starting Width.:  80       Starting Column:   0

                                   Shared Program
    Pathname..:
    Data......:

    Close on exit (Y,N,blank)......: [ ]  Uses its own colors..............: [Y]
    Allow Close Window command.....: [Y]  Runs in background (Y,N,blank)...: [Y]
    Uses math coprocessor..........: [Y]  Keyboard conflict (0-F)..........: [0]
    Share CPU when foreground......: [Y]  Share EGA when foreground/zoomed.: [N]
    Can be swapped out (Y,N,blank).: [N]  Protection level (0-3)...........: [0]

                                  Standard Options

    Program Name............: NET

    Keys to Use on Open Menu: NT                         Memory Size (in K): 230

    Program...: net.bat

    Parameters:

    Directory.: C:\

    Options:
                     Writes text directly to screen.......: [Y]
                     Displays graphics information........: [N]
                     Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T).....: [Y]
                     Uses serial ports (Y,N,1,2)..........: [N]
                     Requires floppy diskette.............: [N]

                                  Advanced Options

    System Memory (in K).......:   0     Maximum Program Memory Size (in K): 700

    Script Buffer Size.......:  1000     Maximum EMS/XMS/VCPI/DPMI (in K):

    Text Pages: 1               Graphics Pages: 0         Initial Video Mode:

    Window Position:
       Maximum Height:  50       Starting Height:  50       Starting Row...:   0
       Maximum Width.:  80       Starting Width.:  80       Starting Column:   0

                                   Shared Program
    Pathname..:
    Data......:

    Close on exit (Y,N,blank)......: [Y]  Uses its own colors..............: [Y]
    Allow Close Window command.....: [N]  Runs in background (Y,N,blank)...: [Y]
    Uses math coprocessor..........: [Y]  Keyboard conflict (0-F)..........: [0]
    Share CPU when foreground......: [Y]  Share EGA when foreground/zoomed.: [N]
    Can be swapped out (Y,N,blank).: [N]  Protection level (0-3)...........: [0]

Adjusting memory size window for NET

1. Open the NET window and then check from the command line to see how much memory is available in NET with the "mem" command.

2. Close NET and allocate another 10KB to the window repeat step 1.

When the amount of free memory does NOT increase, you have reached the maximum and should backoff until you reach the exact point where the free memory starts to drop and add a few KB to that value. (Note this may need adjusting as you upgrade to new NET releases).

Adjusting memory size window for FBB

1. Open FBB with a large value, say 600KB and reduce in 10KB increments until APPEL.BAT starts to run. Cancel and close the window.

2. Increase the memory by 1KB and repeat step 1 until APPEL.BAT will no longer run then back it off to the previous value.

BPQ type Ethernet frames

As with the regular BPQ switch, NET can be setup to handle BPQ ethernet frame mapping. This is achieved through the normal packet driver (for your card) and you need to attach this mapping BEFORE any other mappings to the packet driver in AUTOEXEC.NET :-

attach packet 0x60 g8bpq bpq 8 256 GB7OSP-14 ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
attach packet 0x60 0 eth0 8 1500 anytype

    This page was last updated 17-Apr-99