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1997-02-01
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Praffic with TVision
Release 2.0 DOS and DPMI16
Copyright 1992ñ1995 Savegnago Marco IW3FQG
>>> PRAFFIC IS NOT A TERMINAL PROGRAM <<<
What is Praffic?
----------------
This program was made for my own hobby use only. Praffic is a useful tool to
analyse the traffic on a packet channel using a common TNC running in KISS or
SMACK mode. The program displays communication details in a simple way trough
an user friendly interface (Turbo Vision 2.0X Borland International 1994).
The rest of the program is based on my self-developed library PKLIB, which I'm
going (sooner or later) to distribute freely in binary form to anyone
interested in developing programs for digital communications, with NO
commercial purpose.
Why Praffic?
------------
Praffic his idea and his kernel are the natural evolution of the batch mode
program PraK that I used to study the behaviour of packet broadcasts
independently from the kind of information they carry on the air.
Packet and its high inefficiency annoyed me, so I was induced to write an AX25
implementation. I had to choose between doing something new or being forced to
devote me to better hobbies. Because of the passion (it never dies!), some new
doubts about radio operations in a chaos regime (a bit like car traffic in my
medieval city) and a large amount of data transmitted due to new technologies,
I decided to write a program that helps to analyse the state of a transmission.
This program should be serviceable from anyone interested, even though not
experienced of communication protocols, but capable of developing good ideas.
The name, eventually. Even I don't like it, so if anybody finds another
interesting one I'll arrange to change it, and to give him credit.
New features of this release.
----------------------------
╖ DPMI version;
╖ external MBBIOS or compatible management;
╖ some other minor improvements.
Praffic features
----------------
Fundamental features of the program are the following:
╖ traffic visualisation with TF-like presentation or Praffic
mode (fully configurable) with filtering capability on callsigns
to display, as well as on frame type.
╖ function QsoSpy that allows to filter and to isolate traffic
from a single station in a separate window, with one-to-one or one-
to-many capability - capability of opening concurrent windows
(limited only by available memory) to analyse the same frame from
different points of view
╖ continuous visualisation of the type of frame under
inspection, with possibility of including/excluding some frames or
performing an individual analysis
╖ MHeard function including listening time of first/last and
preceding frame, total bytes transferred, quantity and type of
frames heard from each station - Inspect function on particular
callsigns or frame types, triggering some configurable actions
╖ Frame Watch function on stated frame, with variable trigger
threshold and configurable action to take once or every time that
frame is received
╖ information output on a event driven environment, easy to use,
better if used with a mouse and with an EGA/VGA monitor in 43/50
lines display mode - use of a common TNC running in KISS or SMACK
mode connected to serial line COM (fully user configurable and
capable of using 16550A)
╖ the DOS release runs on a PC with Ms-DOS 3.3 or compatible
with any video card (Hercules, CGA, EGA/VGA), a Ms compatible
mouse and 512 KB RAM - the DPMI release runs on at least an AT
80286 with 1 MB of extended RAM an it can use all available
memory, breaking the 640 KB memory limit
Praffic release
---------------
If program heading shows the label ALFA, BETA or GAMMA the program may be
(it surely will be!) still not completely safe in operation
DPMI16?
-------
Since release 2.0, the program is available also in DPMI protected mode of
Borland C++ DOS extender. The 640 KB limit from the real mode microprocessor
addressable memory is removed by the DOS extender and all free system memory
can be used. For this reason, the program needs RTM.EXE and DPMI16BI.OVL
(freely distributable). They must reside in the program directory or in the
system PATH.
You can use any other DPMI v0.9 compatible extender (as Windows or OS/2)
instead of this. Program options and operations are the same of the real mode
DOS version but you can also set the following variables:
EXTLEAVE [nnnn] forces extended memory amount to be kept free
(default:64 KB)
EXTMAX [nnnn] forces maximum extended memory amount to be
allocated (default: all extended memory)
EXTMIN[nnnn] forces minimum extended memory amount required
for running
REALLEAVE [nnnn] forces real memory (under the first MB) amount
to keep free (default: 64 KB)
REALMAX [nnnn] forces maximum real memory amount to be allocated
(default: all conventional memory)
REALMIN [nnnn] forces minimum extended memory amount required for
running
Note: all amounts are expressed in KB.
[nnnn] can be a decimal number or a hexadecimal one, if preceded by the 'x'
character.
1000 [xABCD]
WARNING! The variables above work using the provided DPMI Borland Server.
If you are using Windows or OS/2 DPMI Server, please refer to the relative
manuals.
Why DOS is still in use?
------------------------
At the actual state of operating systems, DOS is the only one that still
allows good throughputs, speaking of visualisation speed and serial I/O
management on systems not so rich of dedicated hardware or portable computers.
I thought a lot about a different way of representing information from a packet
radio channel (charts, imagery designs, and so on) and after some tries (there
is also a Praffic prototype running under Windows) I decided to implement a
version capable of running on my Attila. If anybody has any good idea or
suggestion I'm ready to listen. Program implementation is based on the PKLib
library, with which I hope to port next release of my program on other
operative systems.
Why use Praffic?
----------------
Praffic basically is intended to be a tool to understand what goes wrong using
the so diffuse and actual AX25 protocol. Praffic should be an easy-to-use
platform for measures and experiments. The heart of Praffic indeed is based on
PKLib 2.0 (Copyright (C) 1991-1995 Marco Savegnago) classes, a collection of
objects written, re-written and modified many times by me with the goal of
making some tools quickly reusable for the creation of digital communication
applications. Additionally, Praffic can be used as a filtering and decoding
tool for SWL stations.
How to use Praffic
------------------
The program works with a common TNC running in KISS or SMACK mode. You can set
the TNC to this mode from the running program (before opening communications
with the device) or at start-up. In case of difficulties managing TNC, the
program pops up a dialogue box with a ôKiss Time-outö warning. If this happens,
try to restart the TNC in Kiss mode. Once started, the program presents itself
in the classical Turbo Vision environment, with which mouse or keyboard
interact. Main program functions are accessible from View menu:
╖ Monitor
╖ QsoSpy
╖ Mheard
╖ Inspect
╖ FrameWatch
MONITOR
The view MONITOR allows to monitor AX25 packet traffic (Level 2 and FRMR,
Netrom 3/4 and Broadcast) choosing what to show and how to display it.
There are 2 kinds of monitor header format: The-Firmware-Like or
Original-Praffic. Using options dialogue boxes you can configure any part of
the frame to be displayed.
QSOSPY
The QSOSPY view is intended for monitoring a conversation among stations.
Using wildcards it is possible to monitor groups of callsigns:
IW3FQG->* = IW3FQG-0 toward all and vice-versa
*->IW3FQG = all toward IW3FQG and vice-versa
IW3F*->I3KUH = any call whose first four characters matching
IW3F toward I3KUH
As for MONITOR, this view is fully user configurable.
MHEARD
MHEARD view displays the list of stations you have been listening since the
beginning of program execution, with information about number of frame received.
For detailed analysis of frame heard, use INSPECTOR function.
INSPECTOR
The INSPECTOR view displays detailed information relative to a call heard in
Mheard list. Available data are:
"Call" -> Callsigns heard
" 1st" -> Time of the first frame heard
"Prev" -> Time of the previous frame heard
"Last" -> Time of the last frame heard
"I #" -> Number of I frames heard
"I" -> Numbers of bytes contained in the I frames heard
"RR#" -> Number of RR frames heard
"REJ#" -> Number of REJ frames heard
"RNR#" -> Number of RNR frames heard
"SREJ#" -> Number of SREJ frames heard (*)
"UI#" -> Number of UI frames heard
"UI" -> Numbers of bytes in UI frames heard
"DM#" -> Number of DM frames heard
"SABM#" -> Number of SABM frames heard
"DISC#" -> Number of DISC frames heard
"UA#" -> Number of UA frames heard
"FRMR#" -> Number of FRMR frames heard
"TOTAL" -> Total number of frames heard
(*) The SREJ frame is not available in the standard AX25 L2.
FRAMEWATCH
FRAMEWATCH enables to schedule an event triggered by the reception of a frame
from a stated station (or multiple ones), or by stated data inside the frame.
Available actions managed by FRAMEWATCH are beyond a simple acoustic and visual
message, ranging from the recording of a message in the log file to the
activation of a Spy view, the activation/deactivation of another FRAMEWATCH
and so on. Intervention threshold is adjustable on the number of received
frames. FRAMEWATCH can be modified runtime or activated/deactivated by hotkey.
Integrated SETKISS
------------------
From version 1.1 IÆve integrated SETKISS function in Praffic main menu.
The selection dialogue box allows to use configuration strings for most used
TNC's.
TAPR TNC2 "KISS ON\rRESTART\ r"
TF 2.X "\ x11\ x18\ x1b@ K\ r"
AEA "CONMODE TRANS ON\rPP ON\rRAW OFF\rHP ON\r KISS ON \rHOST\r"
KANTRONICS 2.X "KISSMODE ON\rRESET\r"
KANTRONICS 3.X "INTFACE KISS\rRESET\r"
The fifth selection sends the "\xC0\xFF\zC0" sequence to exit KISS
mode, while the sixth selection sends a customisable command.
The TVision interface used in Praffic
-------------------------------------
The interface used in Praffic with Tvision is the standard Borland Turbo Vision
interface, available in both C++ and Turbo Pascal programming languages. It
works like the most modern graphical user interfaces in character mode,
offering good performances and a programming environment similar to Windows or
OS/2.
Mouse and Praffic
-----------------
The mouse in Praffic is very important. It is essential in many cases, because
some functions are activable only by a mouse.
Remember to click right button while pointing at a view to activate the
context-sensitive options available.
Praffic command line options
----------------------------
Command line options modify default settings relative to serial I/O, video
display and other.
/ Cc- Set communication port to be used 1|2|3|4
e.g.: / C2= COM2
/ D- Search for the presence of DesqView and in this case forces
the use of its virtual screen pointer
/ K[T|H|T|O|K]- Sends KISS to the TNC on execution using the
parameter compatible with:
T= TAPR TNC2 or clones with EPROM 1.xx
H= TAPR TNC2 or clones with EPROM HOST TheFirmware
T= TNC AEA
O= TNC Kantronics with EPROM 2.XX
K= TNC Kantronics with EPROM 3.XX
/ I Sets interrupt to be used
/ L Sends to TNC the standard string to exit KISS on shutdown.
/ M[I|M]- Specifics the driver I)NTERNAL or M)BBIOS used.
/ N- Avoid 'snow effect' on CGA
/ P- Specifies the address of COM port to be used
/ Ss- Sets the COM speed among one of the followings:
(3)00 (1)200 (2)400 (4)800 (9)600 192(0)0 3(8)400
5(7)600 11(5)200 baud e.g.: / S0= 19200
/ T[C|I]- Tells the program which parameter is in use between COM
and ADDRESS for COM port to be used (only for internal driver).
/?| H- Shows this text
Praffic configuration
---------------------
The program was written to be used by people with a certain knowledge about TNC,
serial ports addresses and interrupts, configuration and use of drivers such as
MBBIOS etc. Surely this program is not foolproof, as almost all commercial
products are, nowadays. With internal driver, the program has the following
default values for COMs:
COM1-> Address= 0x3F8, Irq= 4
COM2-> Address= 0x2F8, Irq= 3
COM3-> Address= 0x3E8, Irq= 4
COM4-> Address= 0x2E8, Irq= 3
Beyond COM4 values are repeated so COM5 is the same as COM1 and so on...
For external driver see its documentation.
The Author of Praffic
---------------------
This text was not written with the intent of providing a detailed manual for
less experienced users. The program is only a tool to analyse packet radio
traffic and it should be used for this purpose. The program comes with no
warranty and its author can decide to modify it at any time or to drop the free
distribution policy at any moment. If anybody finds any bugs or has any
improving ideas or hints (no personal adaptations, please!), he can send me a
letter or anyway a WRITTEN message, NOT a VOCAL one (no radio, telephone,
intercom messages :-) :-) )
My address is:
Marco Savegnago
Stradella Ospedale 87
36100 Vicenza
Italy
Packet-Radio: IW3FQG@I3KUH.IVEN.ITA.EU
Internet: mc2365@mclink.it
Copyright on Praffic
--------------------
The Praffic program and his components can freely be copied and distributed in
any form only for amateur radio purposes, from which no one is entitled to draw
aside profit, however.
Is also forbidden to use the program for demonstrations in private and public
commercial business, institutional, town, regional, statal and government
organization. Any type of commercial exploitation not expressly authorized by
the author is to be considered forbidden!
No responsibility is taken by the author if, during execution, the program
causes blocks that could result in loss of data or computer malfunctioning.
Copyright (c) 1995 Marco Savegnago. All right reserved.
Personal considerations on the program
--------------------------------------
A program like this may apper completely useless to many people.
Yet, many others wrote or phoned me to say they have appreciated it, and to
suggest me some new ideas. They proposed me traffic simulation to test a link
or random frames generation, or packet cracking function. These features are
included only in my private version of the program, and I'm not going to freely
distribute this one. I do this to avoid that some guys act in strange ways...
with good or bad intentions they could misuse and disturb any connection,
without being discovered and prosecuted. The freely distributed copy doesn't
contain all the functions available in the original version to avoid that
anyone could be the unintentional or intentional cause of trouble.
Possible features added to next releases
----------------------------------------
╖ Management of HDLC modem directly connected to the COM port
(BAYCOM like) to see really ALL is on the air, flags txdelay
axdelay fcs error...
╖ Limited Traffic simulation!
╖ Limited Random Generation of frames
╖ Terminal
╖ Decoding of other protocols
╖ Multiport
Fonts and bibliographic references
---------------------------------
- Implementation of AX25 in the NOS program of KA9Q
- Implementation of AX25 of the TheFirmware program of the group German
NORTH><LINK
- Tanenbaum, Andrew S., "Networks Computer" pp. 288-292.
Prentice-Hall 1981.
- X.25 MADE EASY Nicolas M.Thrope, Derek Ross
Prentice-Hall 1992.
Special Thanks
--------------
This correct english text was made by:
Mauro Furin IW3FWK
Packet: IW3FWK@I3KUH.IVEN.ITA.EU
email: yoda@maya.dei.unipd.it
Vicenza (Italy) Agosto 1995
Marco Savegnago
Ciao!