MARS Packet

Compiling Notes for MARS Packet Project. My goal is to build a transportable node, which uses VHF to extend a HF based node. Since I will eventually use an embedded computer, such as the beagleboard, this is a linux based project.

MARS Packet Path - Path Analysis for local nodes

Linux Based Node using FBB

Basic flow is configure the soundmodem (soft TNC), Netrom, ax25d, telnet (inetd) and FBB. A great reference is located here: http://www.febo.com/packet/linux-ax25/ax25-config.html

Here are the main pieces...

Soundmodem - Using the soundcard as a TNC

Netrom - Notes on Netrom setup, including SSID table.

ax25d - handles incoming connections.

Node - this program is called from ax25d and inetd. Setting up inetd correctly will allow telnet to the node.

FBB - Notes on configuring FBB, including how to log in directly and send mail using standard e-mail client via postfix

Commands to start everything

# start sound modem using realtime scheduler, lock memory down, log verbose
soundmodem -RM -v5
# create nrX devices, use same IP address as sm0
nrattach -i 44.128.1.1 -m 512 netrom
nrattach -i 44.128.1.1 -m 512 netbbs
nrattach -i 44.128.1.1 -m 512 netnod
# fire up the netrom daemon, ident immediately, log and ident every 10 minutes
netromd -i -l -t 10
# start ax25 daemon to direct incoming calls, do not include FBB stuff in ax25d.conf
ax25d -l
# start FBB
fbb start

Zeroconf

Install avahi-daemon and avahi-autoipd to make it easier for the server to be found on the local net. For example, if the node's name is 'radio', you can ping 'radio.local' without knowing the IP address. IPv6 can be turned on in /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf. Also, edit nsswitch.conf and change the hosts: line to read:

hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns

Other Notes

Install sysv-rc-conf to control the start up files. Edit the runlevels in the /etc/init/*.conf files to control the upstart jobs.