m.skoric@eunet.yu
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 software for DOS. Versions of FBB packet radio BBS 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 last December, 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.
Two years ago, after I got my new box, Pentium 166 with 32 MB of RAM and VGA color graphics, I switched to a Windows version of FBB (so called WinFBB). Author of the software, an 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 ok under Windows NT 4.0).
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.
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 ...
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 complete 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, so
I still run it here. It has some bugs but I like it.
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 partitions. Well, 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).
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.
Notice: Well, I have been using Protus connection filters for a long time now. At first, it was 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 BBS-to-BBS forwarding protection using MD2 algorythm. One of the reasons I am going to cover Protus in this document is a fact that its author haven't made a manual in english yet. I keep trying to translate the original manuals from spanish into english, but it is a hard process. Any good 'spanish-to-english' translator is welcomed to contact me: m.skoric@eunet.yu.
Protus offers several interesting features:
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:
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 might
be translated because they are originated
in spanish (those files are just textual
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.
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 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 to make a new directory /var/ax25/fbb/protus
and put *.prt files there. I didn't move *.PRT
files from \FBB\PROTUS but copied them into
the new location, because I wanted Protus to
run further under WinFBB as before. The utility
still didn't want to run, unless I copied
also *.PRT files from \FBB\SYSTEM to the
new location (/var/ax25/fbb/protus). After I
did that, Protus became fully functional.
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 LinFBB for X11 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!
libax25.rpm
ax25apps.rpm
ax25tool.rpm
fbbsrv.rpm
package. The archive is composed to make its
own directories, as "base" directories. The last new
daemon version to start with, that I managed to find as
a .rpm
package, was 7.01f Release 4 (09. December
1999).
dirmes.sys
etat.sys
heard.bin
inf.sys
statis.dat
tpstat.sys
xfbbC/X server running ...
xfbbd ready and running ...
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.
.rpm
package (18. September 2000). I got it
from his site:
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.
.rpmsave
extensions. It was nice,
so I could use them later to update my new-installed
config files.
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.
7plus
operations). Next, its xfbbC
console client looks better
than the previous version. But, I still miss
xfbbX
client, that I have found not functional.
I hope it will be fixed soon. Finally, Protus
c_filter
utility is active too.
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.
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 of an older version, then to install a newer version in order to get new executables. After that, a reverse procedure must be put in place.
.rpm
package from
www.f6fbb.org/versions.html,
that was suggested by Jean-Paul, F6FBB. Anyway,
soon after there appeared several mirror sites,
offering 7.03 too.
.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.
.703
(for example).
.703
files won't
be unistalled automatically).
xfbb.sh
(in my case, that is 7.01f).
.703
) to get
their new extensions (in my case, that is .701
).
.703
files
should *lose* their previously attached extensions,
in order to become usable.
xfbbC/X server running ...
xfbbd ready and running ...
telnet localhost 6300
passwd.sys
file. And, all of
those who are going to telnet into
the BBS have to be declared as users with
a 'M' flag (modem users). It is up to your
security precautions, if either of them will
have 'root' abilities to the Linux box.
Copyright is a source of much and continuous debate on the LDP mailing list. For more in depth information please consult the Manifesto at the LinuxDoc site. The purpose of having a license is to allow appropriate distribution. You can use any license that meets the Manifesto. What follows is a boilerplatte license.
Copyright (c) 2000 by Miroslav "Misko" Skoric, YT7MPB.
Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in any format. It is requested that corrections and/or comments be forwarded to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute it provided that you:
If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation, it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer.
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.
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 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 homepage.
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.
Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my email address: m.skoric@eunet.yu.
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
at Metalab (formerly known as Sunsite).
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+WinNT
, Linux+NT-Loader
, NFS-Root
, Win95+Win+Linux
,
ZIP Drive
, FBB packet-radio BBS
.
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.
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) 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 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. 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.
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 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.
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:
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.