  FBB Packet-radio BBS mini-HOWTO
  Miroslav "Misko" Skoric, YT7MPB, m.skoric@eunet.yu
  v1.17, 2003-01-01

  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 bul
  letin board system (BBS), a mailbox for personal messages, a database
  for various texts, documents and binary files, a server for small use
  ful calculations etc. Packet radio is a way of connecting computers
  via amateur radio stations.

  1.  Introduction

  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 server software for DOS.  Versions of FBB packet
  radio BBS server software for DOS, today are known as "DosFBB".


  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.


  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).


  New: Since Spring 2001, I run WinFBB v7.00i (17 March 2001) under
  Windows 2000 Professional.


  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. Beside that, it is always nice to copy
  a text from another application (for example, from an Internet email)
  and to paste it into a packet radio message, or vice versa.


  In the mean time, I upgraded my system to the Celeron 400 MHz with 96
  MB of RAM and a big hard disk that has enough room to install Linux
  and try LinFBB ...


  New: In July 2001, I added  more 128 MB of RAM so my home system is
  very confortable now.


  Finally, you should be aware what I want to have here:


        1. WinFBB when I run Windows.

        2. LinFBB when I run Linux. It should be an
           Xwindows 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  :-)



  2.  How to install X11 (Xwindows) version of LinFBB


    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).



    Download or copy LinFBB (the main ftp site is ftp.f6fbb.org
     <http://ftp.f6fbb.org/> but there are many mirror sites too). For
     example, if you get a file like


       x700e_full.tgz



  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


       xd700g_full.tgz



  means that it is not X11 but daemon version 7.00g and it is also com
  plete to unpack. Further,


  x700f01.tgz



  and


       x700g.tgz



  are "upgrades" to any previous "full" package.  For example, after I
  have upgraded to x700g.tgz 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.



    Copy the archive file in /tmp directory.



    You have to make a "base" directory where your FBB will be
     installed. For example you may type: mkdir /usr/local/fbb if you
     want FBB to be there. You have to be logged as



    Then, you should locate yourself in that directory: cd
     /usr/local/fbb.



    Now, you should unpack the archive: tar xvzf /tmp/x700b25.tgz (<--
     use the right name of the archive here).



    When you finished unpacking the archive, you may continue
     installing the software: ./install.sh is the command for that. The
     setup will ask you for the 'base' directory where FBB will be
     installed. If you chose /usr/local/fbb 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 /usr/local/fbb/init.srv file.



    After that, you MUST check this file again manually in order to fix
     some other details needed (because installation script does not fix
     all parts within that file).



    Well, so far - so good. After you have checked all configuration
     files, you may start the software: ./xfbb.sh (<-- type this within
     an xterm 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.


  3.  How to install LinFBB in addition to existing WinFBB

  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).



    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").



    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.



    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.



    Some files can't be used as they are under both 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):



             init.srv    ->  init_w.srv
             forward.sys ->  forw_w.sys
             port.sys    ->  port_w.sys
             protect.sys ->  prot_w.sys



  FBB is able to recognize and accept those renamed files.



    Make a backup of the actual WinFBB (I do that by copying the whole
     WinFBB file structure into the other Windows partition that won't
     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?).



    Now, you should restart your machine and boot into Linux. Log on as
     'root' or make 'su' from a user's account.



    Mount a shared FAT directory (where FBB files are): mount -t vfat
     /dev/hda2 /mnt/win (for example). If that works, later you may
     adopt that change within your /etc/fstab configuration.



    Copy LinFBB archive to /tmp directory.



    Position yourself to the 'base' directory: cd /usr/local/fbb (for
     example).



    Unpack the archive: tar xvzf /tmp/filename.



    Start the installation script ./install.sh and, after asked for the
     'base' installation directory, chose /usr/local/fbb. 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).



    Copy /usr/local/fbb to /mnt/win/fbb but do *not* rewrite existing
     files with the new files having the same names.



    Copy /mnt/win/fbb/init_w.srv to /mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv file.



    Edit /mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv to what is needed for Linux. You may
     use the existing file /mnt/win/fbb/init.srv as an example.



    Copy newly edited /mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv over the
     /mnt/win/fbb/init.srv (if you do not do that, maybe you wouldn't be
     able to start LinFBB using ./xfbb.sh, like me at the first time).



    Copy /mnt/win/fbb/system/port_w.sys to
     /mnt/win/fbb/system/port_l.sys file.



    Edit /mnt/win/fbb/system/port_l.sys to what is needed for Linux and
     LinFBB. You may use the existing file /mnt/win/fbb/system/port.sys
     as an example.



    Edit /mnt/win/fbb/xfbb.sh in order to fix the right path.



    Ensure that you are in FBB's main directory: cd /mnt/win/fbb (for
     example).



    Start the script ./xfbb.sh to run LinFBB.  If everything is OK,
     your LinFBB under Linux should run with the same 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).



    Although this combination WinFBB/X11 LinFBB works fine, I have
     noticed some problems. For example, LinFBB was not able to use
     amsat forward_to_file routine (located in /mnt/win/fbb/system/fwd
     directory), because that file was composed like this (for example):



         A AMSAT
         *
         P @
         *
         C D:\FBB\SYSTEM\SAT\AMSAT.TXT     <-- looks familiar to DOS/Windows only
         *
         G AMSAT
         *
         --------



  On the other side, LinFBB's amsat.sys (located in /etc/ax25/fbb/fwd
  directory) has suggested something like this:



    A AMSAT
    *
    P @
    *
    C /var/ax25/fbb/sat/amsat.txt     <-- looks familiar to Linux only
    *
    G AMSAT
    *
    --------



  Well, then I copied LinFBB's amsat.sys into /mnt/win/fbb/system/fwd
  directory so it could become functional. As a result, I got two
  amsat.txt files, one of them for each of WinFBB/LinFBB, and of course,
  both files appeared on different locations: the first one was
  /mnt/win/fbb/system/sat/amsat.txt and it was filled by WinFBB; the
  other one was in /var/ax25/fbb/sat/amsat.txt and was filled by LinFBB.
  I didn't like it that way.


  In order to have only one result, regardless of FBB version, the newly
  copied amsat.sys had to be slightly changed:



         A AMSAT
         *
         P @
         *
         *C /var/ax25/fbb/sat/amsat.txt
         C /mnt/win/fbb/system/sat/amsat.txt
         *
         G AMSAT
         *
         --------



  As you can see now, when LinFBB is active, its amsat.sys will not
  forward into its "native" location of amsat.txt.  Instead of that, it
  will go to the location of the WinFBB's amsat.txt and just add some
  new materials into it, ok?


  Well now it's up to you to decide what to do with your growing
  amsat.txt. An old DosFBB manual says that the 'batch' file (I suppose,
  the old good APPEL.BAT) should be adopted in order for SATUPDAT.EXE
  can update sat 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?



  4.  How to install Protus password utility

  Notice: Well, I have been using Protus connection filters 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: m.skoric@eunet.yu.


  Protus offers several interesting features:



    It can send a presentation message to all users, informing about
     possibility to make users' access more safe,



    It can send messages to users who have usual, non-restricted
     access, informing about utility's existence,



    It can send messages to users who have no valid access (before
     disconnecting them),



    It can send messages to new users who have connected the BBS for
     the first time, informing them about the password utility.



    It can send messages to users who have entered wrong password
     (before disconnecting them),



    It can inform sysop about almost everything related to users'
     connections (new user on the system, unsuccessful connections etc),



    Messages mentioned above could be translated into various languages
     and used similarly as various language files that FBB system use,



    Messages mentioned above could be different for different BBS
     ports,



    Protus could be activated/deactivated at various intervals of time
     using CRON.SYS system file,



    Passwords could be managed remotely, using an external server,
     developed by Jose EB5IVB,


    ...



  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,
  c_filter:



    Users of Dos/WinFBB versions of Protus already know that it is
     needed to create a new directory \FBB\PROTUS where several *.PRT
     files should be placed. In addition, the main C_FILT*.DLL files
     should be copied into \FBB\BIN directory, as well as a couple of
     "system", (i.e. config) *.PRT files that are going to be within
     \FBB\SYSTEM directory.



    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: CONFIG.PRT and USERS.PRT 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 usualy don't care much about, because
     my BBS's are so called "open systems". It means they work quite
     normal for all users in the same way as they worked before
     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.



    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: {PROTUS-4.0} 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.  roman }


    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).



    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.



    I have already told you that I have been running here both WinFBB
     under Windows NT and LinFBB under Linux (see also Linux+WinNT mini-
     HOWTO and Lilo mini-HOWTO). That means all Protus stuff has already
     been installed in a way WinFBB has required, except Linux
     executable of c_filter file. I put that one file into /fbb/bin
     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
     /var/ax25/fbb/protus and put *.PRT files there.  I didn't move
     files from \FBB\PROTUS but rather copied 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 also
     copied additional two *.PRT files from \FBB\SYSTEM to the same new
     location (/var/ax25/fbb/protus). After I did that, Protus became
     functional.



    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 /var/ax25/fbb/protus where all *.prt files should
     be placed.  Only c_filter executable should go to /fbb/bin and
     that's it.



    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).



    One of the interesting features of Protus is to log unsuccessful
     connections. Due to the different 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 one complete log of connection errors,
     users make when try to connect your BBS.



    As it was told earlier, if you implemented password protection for
     only some 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 only 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.



    In addition, you may decide to have a "guest" access or a "read-
     only" as default 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!



    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).

     }



  5.  How to install "xfbbd", a daemon version of LinFBB

  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!



    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 before the
     installation of LinFBB itself:



             libax25.rpm
             ax25apps.rpm
             ax25tool.rpm



    Now it is the right time to install fbbsrv.rpm 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 .rpm package, was 7.01f Release 4 (09 December 1999).



    A file called fbb.conf, serving as the replacement for init.srv, is
     placed in the location: /etc/ax25/fbb.conf



    Unless you are going to install daemon-only system, you should make
     a backup of the following existing files:



        dirmes.sys
        etat.sys
        heard.bin
        inf.sys
        statis.dat
        tpstat.sys



    Now you have to edit /etc/ax25/fbb.conf and change some paths in
     case you already have X11 LinFBB installed on a different path.
     Here you have some examples that cover my particular situation...



    Directory of data files, instead of /var/ax25/fbb, should be
     /mnt/win/fbb/system



    Directory of config files, instead of /etc/ax25/fbb, should be
     /mnt/win/fbb/system



    Directory of message files, instead of /var/ax25/fbb/mail, should
     be /mnt/win/fbb/mail



    Directory of compressed files, instead of /var/ax25/fbb/binmail,
     should be /mnt/win/fbb/binmail



    Directory of users, instead of .../home/fbbdos/..., should be
     .../mnt/win/fbb/users... (case you don't mind that both your WinFBB
     and LinFBB users handle the same location for users' files)



    Directory of YAPP files, instead of /home/fbbdos/yapp, should be
     /mnt/win/fbb/users/yapp (the same reason as above)



    Directory of documentation files, instead of /var/ax25/fbb/docs,
     should be /mnt/win/fbb/docs



    Directory of pg programs, instead of /usr/local/pg, should be
     /mnt/win/fbb/pg



    Path and filename for import file, instead of C:\FBB\MAIL.IN should
     be /mnt/win/fbb/mail.in



    Now you have to edit /usr/sbin/xfbb.sh and change some paths in
     case you already have running X11 version of LinFBB on a different
     path. Here you have an example that cover my particular
     situation...



    Base directory of XFBB software, instead of /var/ax25/fbb, should
     be /mnt/win/fbb



    So far - so good. Now it is the time to start LinFBB daemon. The
     command for that is in the location: /usr/sbin/xfbb.sh and it may
     be executed within an xterm. If everything is OK, you should get
     several system messages on your screen, ending with something like:



             xfbbC/X server running ...
             xfbbd ready and running ...



    Well, daemon itself can't be used to access the BBS so it is needed
     to activate a client that is /usr/sbin/xfbbC. It has a couple of
     parameters (a callsign/password pairs that are stored in
     /fbb/passwd.sys). Note that xfbbC can also be activated within
     another xterm.



    If you are like me, you would like to activate one more xterm with
     xfbbC in a way to monitor your radio frequency. If you have enough
     room on your screen, you may place all three xterm windows side by
     side.



    When you finish your xfbbC console session, it is suitable to use
     the same xterm to eventually stop the daemon. First of all, with
     the command ps ax you should locate PIDs of xfbb.sh shell and
     daemon itself, that you may kill after that.



  6.  How to install an upgrade to daemon version of LinFBB


  6.1.  LinFBB v7.02g

  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.



    I also noticed that my version of Protus was newer 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.



    Jose, HI8GN, has offered daemon LinFBB v7.02g as a .rpm package (18
     September 2000). I got it from his site:
     http://hi8gn.dynip.com/indice.html
     <http://hi8gn.dynip.com/indice.html>. But, when I tried to install
     it over the previous version 7.01f, it complained about some
     existing LinFBB files.



    Then I had to uninstall the old package, after what some config
     files remained in their locations, but with new .rpmsave
     extensions. It was nice, so I could use them later to update my
     new-installed config files.



    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 xfbbd and xfbbC
     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 .rpm, in order to install the previous version of
     LinFBB once again - the version that I was satisfied with.



    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...?



    Well, the new daemon is likely to check for some more directories
     than the older version (mostly related to 7plus operations). Next,
     its xfbbC console client looks better than the previous version.
     But, I still miss graphical xfbbX client, that I have found not
     able to become activated. I hope it will be fixed soon. Finally,
     Protus c_filter utility is active too.



    An interesting question might be: is that now a really upgraded
     LinFBB daemon or not? Actually, I haven't changed the "old" script
     xfbbd.sh 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 xfbbd.sh.  After I returned to xfbbd.sh
     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 m_filter has not been found or
     something like that.  The next tasks are to solve these issues.


  6.2.  LinFBB v7.03

  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.



    Well, it was needed to get 7.03 package (09 December 2000) as an
     .rpm package from www.f6fbb.org/versions.html
     <http://www.f6fbb.org/versions.html>, that was suggested by Jean-
     Paul, F6FBB. Anyway, soon after there appeared several mirror
     sites, offering 7.03 too.



    If you use GnomeRPM, it is easy to uninstall your actual LinFBB (If
     you just try to install new .rpm 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 .rpmsave files, so you could use
     them later again.



    Installation of 7.03 package will give you new executables in
     /usr/sbin directory.  Those new executables should be temporary
     given extensions like .703 (for example).



    So far - so good. Now you should *uninstall* the 7.03 package (of
     course, .703 files won't be unistalled automatically). Uninstall?
     Why? You will find out soon, read on ...



    Once again, you should *install* the last one version of LinFBB
     daemon, that works OK with its own xfbb.sh (in my case, that is
     7.01f).



    For sure, many of you might find it odd, but now it is the right
     time for the executables from /usr/sbin (I mean of all fbb
     executables, except those who were renamed to .703) to get their
     new extensions (in my case, that is .701).



    Well, after that is performed, .703 files should *lose* their
     previously attached extensions, in order to become usable.



    Folks, on that point I usually hold my breath, cd to /usr/sbin and
     type: xfbb.sh following with an Enter. If everything is fine,
     several lines should scroll on the screen, ending with something
     like:



        xfbbC/X server running ...
        xfbbd ready and running ...



    If you don't get something similar on your xterm utility), you're
     out of luck, so you might go thru the procedure once again in order
     to be sure you did all what was needed to be done :->



    /usr/sbin/xfbbC 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 not 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.



    Recently, I was informed that xfbbC 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:



             telnet localhost 6300



    ... where 'localhost' and '6300' may vary from BBS to BBS. I was
     pleasantly surprised when discovered that telnet is much more
     suitable for ordinary BBS users than sysops' client xfbbC.



    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 xfbbC
     have to be added into your passwd.sys file. In addition, all of
     these folks who are going to telnet 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 'root'
     capabilities to that one Linux machine itself.


    My next task is to use an old i286/12 MHz box, having only 1 MB of
     RAM, running DOS 5.0, as a 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 also be
     available. It would be nice to offer more than one student-amateur
     the opportunity to 'connect' the BBS simultaneously, using a bunch
     of vintage

  6.3.  LinFBB v7.04

  Notice: Maybe I have already explained that I use Red Hat 6.2 at home.
  That's why I usually look for .rpm 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
  Xwindows application, LinFBB 7.00g (04 August 1998).  When I noticed
  that issue, I returned back to Red Hat 6.2.



    Well, I started by downloading the package xfbb-7.04-2.i386.rpm (07
     August 2001) from www.f6fbb.org/versions.html
     <http://www.f6fbb.org/versions.html>



    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 /etc/fbb.conf), in order to avoid editing
     the same "defaults" once again and again :-)



    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.



    So far - so good. Then, I replaced a couple of "default" files with
     the saved 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 /usr/sbin/fbb start (activated in an xterm) to start
     the server. Although there were no usual lines:



             xfbbC/X server running ...
             xfbbd ready and running ...



  on my screen, TNC's PTT lamp confirmed that a beacon was really
  transmitted.



    Then I wanted to try HI8GN's script /usr/sbin/monitor to see what's
     going on the frequency. Although I got something like:



             Connecting localhost ... Ok
             Authentication in progress ... Ok
             Monitoring channel 0 ...



  there appeared no traffic on the screen. In order to really monitor
  the channel, I had to start another xterm and type:



             telnet localhost 6300



  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, /usr/sbin/monitor window, mentioned above,
  started to copy whatever was going on the telnet xterm 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?



    Well, then I wanted to use /usr/sbin/bbs, in order to connect to
     the client's (or better to say: sysop's) console (xfbbC). Looks
     that there was a line in HI8GN's script:



             xfbbC -c -f -h localhost -i [callsign] -w [password]



  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, xfbbC v3.01 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!



    Although the active xfbbC session can be easily terminated using
     "B" ("Bye") command, a fooled /usr/sbin/monitor can not. The user
     has to find its process number, (PID), using ps ax command and then
     kill that process.



    At the end of the game, daemon itself should be stopped. HI8GN's
     script /usr/sbin/fbb stop returns:



             Shutting down xfbbd:          [OK]



  but /usr/sbin/fbb status reports:


             Checking, the FBB daemon
             xfbbd (pid) is running...



  Looks that /usr/sbin/fbb stop 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 ps ax 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.



    Well, if you are like me, you may also want to experiment with some
     special sysop's commands, from within an xfbbC session. For
     example, "/R" command ("Re-boot PC") shuts down xfbbC and
     /usr/sbin/fbb status reports:



             Checking, the FBB daemon
             xfbbd dead but subsys locked



  while "/A" command ("Stop BBS") returns:



             Stop-request accepted, no connection.



  before shutting down xfbbC client itself.


  Further attempts to re-start either xfbbC client or xfbbd server
  (using /usr/sbin/fbb start) are not successful, unless an additional
  /usr/sbin/fbb stop is executed. The result is:



             Shutting down xfbbd:          [FAILED]



  Now another /usr/sbin/fbb status reports:



             Checking, the FBB daemon
             xfbbd is stopped



  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 twice).


  There are some other commands: "/K" (Re-boot BBS with housekeeping),
  "/M" (Re-boot BBS immediatelly) 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).



    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.



  7.  How to use LinFBB's "xfbbX", a GUI client for Linux

  2002-10-20


  Well, soon after the installation of LinFBB v7.04 .rpm 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".


  It seemed that a mouse click on that "xfbbd X Client" icon was not
  likely to return any response, although xfbbd daemon has been
  successfully running before 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.


  Trying to find a solution, the other day I was browsing the /usr/sbin
  directory. I have noticed something that I have already seen for
  several times. That was xfbbX file. Well, I am sure that I tried to
  use this executable earlier, but without much success. This time, I
  have entered the full path, like this:



            /usr/sbin/xfbbX



  and, finally, the GUI client appeared on the screen.


  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 scrolled traffic.


  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.


  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 xfbbX 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?)


  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.


  But, the big disadvantage of today's version of xfbbX 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 xfbbX 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.


  Besides that, there is no way to activate that nice message editor
  screen, very useful in WinFBB (also existed in an old Xwindows 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.


  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, xfbbW
  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?


  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
  xfbbX GUI environment, in order to avoid using two computers.


  2002-10-30


  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").


  Well, when I tried to click on that icon, I got a KFM Warning message
  box explaining that program /root/.xfbbX 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: /usr/sbin/xfbbX. After that, another click resulted in running
  the GUI client.


  Interestingly, there is some slight difference between xfbbX
  appearance under KDE and Gnome. Actually, each KDE's xfbbX window has
  "FBB" logo in the upper left corner (Gnome's windows haven't that).
  That may indicate that xfbbX 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.


  On the other side, the already mentioned "xfbbd X Client" item (within
  the Start menu, under yhe "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 xfbbX is running here this or that
  way.



  8.  How to use LinFBB's "xfbbW", a GUI client for Windows

  2002-11-17


  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.


  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 eth0
  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).


  What I do know, is that such tools should have add some new lines into
  the existing files, like /etc/conf.modules or, to create some new
  files, like /etc/isapnp*.  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 /sbin/isapnp. 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.


  What I also tried to use, was the old good Linuxconf 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 220
  (for the I/O address), instead of 0x220 that would better fit. The
  result was as one may expect: the interface eth0 continued to report
  that a ne 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).


  Interestingly, Linuxconf added a couple of new lines into
  /etc/conf.modules too. In short, the next time during the system boot,
  the interface eth0 reported a green [OK], so I could establish the
  link. So far - so good.


  The next task was to download the client package from the FBB's main
  site. I did it from the "Newest version" 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 "newest" 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.


  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 message justification 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.


  Another issue with xfbbW client is that seems not to allow a multiple
  click onto more than one BBS callsign within pending forward list,
  comparing to WinFBB's behavior. You know, I am not very fond of
  opening the same pending forward window repeatedly again and again, in
  order to start (or to stop) more than one forwarding action.


  In general, I like xfbbW 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 xfbbW's help system. I mean of a real Windows help,
  because there's not much use of a Help menu, having only Copyright and
  About information :-))



  9.  How to compile LinFBB's executable  files

  2003-01-01


  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 ...



    Well, I have already had the package xfbb-7.04-2.i386.rpm (07
     August 2001), that was running OK under RH 6.2 distro. And not only
     that. Its "packager", 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.



    The other day, I finally decided to abandon that 4-5 year old
     version of X11 LinFBB application that I knew it would not run
     under something newer than RH 6.2 distro. In short, I decided to
     stay with daemon LinFBB's only, so it was 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 above, but it just didn't want to run.



    I had no choice but to browse fbb web sites in order to find a RPM
     package that would fit RH 7.1 distribution. Unfortunately, it
     looked that there were no LinFBB precompiled RPMs for 7.1 version
     of RedHat. The only solution was to try with tarballs.  So, what I
     have downloaded from www.f6fbb.org/versions.html
     <http://www.f6fbb.org/versions.html>, was xd704h-src.tgz archive.



    So far - so good. Well, folks, I am not very good in "deepest"
     secrets of Linux, so I was not sure where might be the best
     location to unpack the archive. According a readme file, it should
     be "fbbsrc" directory, so I considered that /usr/src would be the
     best place to copy archive's fbbsrc.704h directory.



    fbbsrc.704h directory has been made of 12 files and 7
     subdirectories, one of which is src subdirectory. As I said, the
     readme suggests a user to "goto fbbsrc/src" directory, and I
     concluded that /usr/src/fbbsrc.704h/src was the right place.



    The readme also suggests to "update the variables" at the beginning
     of Makefile files, but I did not do that because I was not sure
     what should be replaced there. I have just left the file(s) intact.



    The next task was to run make command from the shell and it took
     half a minute to be finished. The result were few new xfbb
     executable files that I quickly moved to /usr/sbin directory. BTW,
     some people rather suggest to run make install, in order to avoid
     multiple copying of compiled executables, but I found that way as
     not functional.



    Soon after, I tried to activate LinFBB's daemon and it seemed to
     work without visible difficulties (using a temporary home LAN with
     a laptop, I also started fbbW, a LinFBB Windows client.  It
     recognized the daemon in a second and I've only noticed that there
     was no Protus password utility running).



    According the readme, the next task should be to "compile the xfbbC
     client". That operation is to be performed from a place called
     "fbbsrc/client" but the only directory available under
     /usr/src/fbbsrc.704h/src was X11 subdir.



    After clicking on its icon, I recognized the second one file with a
     name Makefile (they have mentioned "updating" of both Makefile
     files, so I hoped to reach the proper place once again, regardless
     of two unknown paths). Besides that, they have suggested to use "at
     least the version 2.1.37b of ax25-utils" and I found not to have
     something like that installed (case they mean of a suit of libax25,
     ax25apps and ax25tool - than it is OK). Anyway, one more time I
     activated make command from the shell and the result was in getting
     xfbbC executable.



    As usual, xfbbC client is invoked from within an xterm (or similar)
     window and it seemed that it was also fully functional. So far - so
     good.



    The next issue is to "compile the xfbbX client", but this time a
     user is requested to have a version of Motif installed. Well, what
     I knew was that I had no Motif in the box, but a couple of Lesstif
     RPM packages were somewhere around. Anyway, I installed them with
     --force and --nodeps options to avoid several dependency obstacles.
     In sum, Lestiff has come to its place on the disk.



    This time, I did make some "updates" related to Makefile paths and
     tried to run make command from the shell (for the 3rd time now).
     Seems that I got no answer, because there appeared neither xfbbX
     nor xfbbX_cl new executable files.  In order to "solve" that issue,
     I just applied the executables from the earlier version I have
     backup-ed on the system.



    Finally, I managed to activate xfbbX client without problems,
     although I knew it was not an updated version (compared to the
     daemon itself). Regardless of that fact, a GUI client works
     properly.



    As I just mentioned, I noticed that the first console connections
     were without familiar {PROTUS-4.1b7} designation. 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
     the yet another system location: /usr/lib/fbb/filter, re-started
     the system and Protus returned back to its function.



    What I have to do in the future, is to check if the procedure
     described in this section was the right one, although most of the
     BBS's main features seem to be active - like they were with RH 6.2
     distribution and mentioned LinFBB packages in RPM format.



  10.  How to make better ham radio rules?

  2002-10-27


  Notice: Folks, here I am going to discuss some rule'n'regulation
  issues that we, radio amateurs, face to every day. These problems are
  big obstacles for this nice way of communication to be more developed
  and widely used.


  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 digital manner, has to learn manual
  analog Morse telegraphy and pass manual 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 requirement without an amateur
  is not allowed to use HF frequencies under 30 MHz, in order to contact
  other Linux and other radio amateurs world-wide. I still have no
  answer, 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
  - without the same (useless) tests!


  You all know, there are so many Linux enthusiasts world-wide
  (including myself) who have been fighting against all types of
  monopols (like a company from Redmond). The Morse obligatory test is
  the same: just another type of a monopoly!


  That's why I have been trying to persuade all relevant factors to
  remove 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 use modern ICT technologies. I hope, all of
  you, readers of this mini-HOWTO, can now understand what does it mean
  to endlessly use outdated rules and regulations. For example, I often
  contact people from the academic world, students and scientists, in
  order to motivate them to join amateur radio wireless activities. They
  mostly refuse to start with amateur (also called "ham") radio, as soon
  as they hear they have to pass the Morse test, as the legal
  requirement before they become allowed to connect to remote packet
  radio users world-wide, using the HF radio bands and devices. I am
  sure, the absence of those high educated people in the ham radio is
  one of the most negative consequences we face to in ICT areas.


  I have been thinking what to do, since early ninetees when I was the
  secretary of YU7 (Vojvodina province in Serbia) amateur radio union.
  It seemed to me that it was a hard job to persuade people who govern
  the amateur radio, just to remove that outdated rule.  So, I have
  decided to suggest the implementation of another regulatory principle:
  To adopt a new type of amateur radio licenses, a Ham Digital Licence
  (the HDL in short). HDL holders would be allowed to use ALL amateur
  radio frequencies, including ALL international HF bands under 30 MHz.
  But, they would be allowed to use ONLY digital types of amateur
  activities, including the use of computers with LinFBB packet radio
  software. HDL holders might use some dedicated radio transmitters,
  without the ability for voice microphone and Morse key connections, in
  order to avoid possible misuse of unwanted amateur activities (like
  voice operations).


  All HDL candidates would have to learn topics like hardware and
  software in general, connecting amateur radio stations to computers,
  building antennas, English language in written exam etc. The Morse
  requirement would not be used anymore, as well as some other obsolete
  tests, like complicated radio circuits, building home-brew radios from
  the scratch (instead of buying modern factory manufactured devices)
  etc.


  Folks, I believe that amateur radio digital activities have their
  future, only if we all do our best to improve the regulatory
  principles that govern this fine hobby. Besides the telegraphy
  requirement, here in Serbia we also have to be members of the national
  amateur radio union, as the legal requirement, before we become
  allowed to use any type of amateur radio activity.  Such a stupid rule
  does not exist elsewhere! Should you want to help us to adopt
  internationally known principles, that do not require to join any type
  of organizational system, i.e. amateur radio society that only wants
  to get your membership money, you are asked to lobby for that. Our
  outdated amateur society leadership has an email address:
  yu0srj@eunet.yu (I suppose they may have more than one email address,
  but you may try to use this one and/or to search for more info related
  to "Savez radio amatera Jugoslavije", "Savez radio amatera Srbije",
  etc). Your valuable help would be appreciated. Case you need more info
  regarding these legal issues, do not hesitate to contact me.


  If you find yourself interested enough in making amateur radio rules
  and regulations better and updated (say to widen the idea of
  liberalize the ICT areas and free them of any kind of monopols), I
  would suggest you to look for your national radio amateur society
  and/or national telecommunication regulatory agency. Lobby to them in
  order to remove the obsolete manual Morse proficiency test.


  Case we all do our best to remove all those obstacles for new people
  who may wish to enjoy amateur radio digital and Linux-related
  operations, 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!



  11.  Bibliography

  2002-11-30

  Notice: Folks, I often visit some (inter)national ICT conferences all
  around the country, submitting papers and having presentations. What I
  want to do is to spread - as wide as possible - the basic idea and the
  useful mission of the amateur radio hobby and, you bet, whenever
  possible 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 that I have written, and the
  papers submitted to the conferences.

             - "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, Belgrade, Serbia, 2002.



  12.  Further information


  12.1.  Copyright

  Copyright (c) 2002 by Miroslav "Misko" Skoric, YT7MPB.

  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
  http://www.fsf.org/licenses/fdl.html.


  12.2.  Disclaimer


  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.


  12.3.  News


  This is not the first release of this mini-HOWTO. I hope to improve it
  whenever possible. Beside 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 FBB
  mini-HOWTO.

  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 Linux Documentation Project <http://www.linuxdoc.org/> homepage.


  12.4.  Credits

  This version of mini-HOWTO can thanks to:



       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 packager of 7.02g package,
       and a variety of helpful radio amateurs world-wide.



  Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my email address:
  m.skoric@eunet.yu.


  12.5.  HOWTO

  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 Bootdisk, Installation,  SCSI and
  UMSDOS.  The main site for these is the LDP archive
  <http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/> at Metalab (formerly known as Sunsite).
  12.6.  Mini-HOWTO

  These are the smaller free text relatives to the HOWTOs.  Some
  relevant mini-HOWTOs are Backup-With-MSDOS, Diskless, LILO, Large
  Disk, Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2, Linux+OS2+DOS, Linux+Win95,
  Linux+WindowsNT, Linux+NT-Loader, NFS-Root, Win95+Win+Linux, ZIP
  Drive, FBB packet-radio BBS etc.  You can find these at the same place
  as the HOWTOs, usually in a sub directory called mini. Note that these
  are scheduled to be converted into SGML and become proper HOWTOs in
  the near future.


  12.7.  Local Resources

  In most distributions of Linux there is a document directory
  installed, have a look in the /usr/doc directory.  where most packages
  store their main documentation and README files etc.  Also you will
  here find the HOWTO archive ( /usr/doc/HOWTO) of ready formatted
  HOWTOs and also the mini-HOWTO archive ( /usr/doc/HOWTO/mini
  <file:///usr/doc/HOWTO/mini>) of plain text documents.

  Many of the configuration files mentioned earlier can be found in the
  /etc directory. In particular you will want to work with the
  /etc/fstab file that sets up the mounting of partitions and possibly
  also /etc/mdtab file that is used for the md system to set up RAID.

  The kernel source in /usr/src/linux <file:///usr/src/linux> is, of
  course, the ultimate documentation. In other words, use the source,
  Luke.  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 documentation directory
  <file:///usr/src/linux/Documentation>.  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 ( /var/log/messages) to see
  what is going on and in particular how the booting went if too much
  scrolled off your screen. Using tail -f /var/log/messages 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 /proc file system that is a window
  into the inner workings of your system.  Use cat rather than more to
  view the files as they are reported as being zero length. Reports are
  that less works well here.


  12.8.  Web Pages

  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 Linux Documentation Project
  <http://www.linuxdoc.org/> home page, 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.



  13.  Getting help



  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 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:


     Hardware

       Processor

       DMA

       IRQ

       Chip set (LX, BX etc)

       Bus (ISA, VESA, PCI etc)

       Expansion cards used (Disk controllers, video, IO etc)


     Software

       BIOS (On motherboard and possibly SCSI host adapters)

       LILO, if used

       Linux kernel version as well as possible modifications and
        patches

       Kernel parameters, if any

       Software that shows the error (with version number or date)


     Peripherals

       Type of disk drives with manufacturer name, version and type

       Other relevant peripherals connected to the same busses


  Remember that booting text is logged to /var/log/messages 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 SHIFT and 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 brief as a complete log file dumped to
  Usenet News is more than a little annoying.



