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3.  Taking NET for a Test Drive

For the quick introduction to NET provided in this section, we assume that
you are using the MS-DOS version on an IBM PC or clone and you have
configured your files as suggested in Chapter 2.  Also, we assume a TNC
has been set up as interface 'ax0'.

Start by typing 'net' to get the program up and running.  You should be
presented with a banner including revision information and copyright
statements, followed by a prompt of 'NET>'.  You may get some "Note:",
"Warning:", or "Error:" messages if some of the expected files or
directories are missing or incorrect.  Notes relate to files that a normal
NET installation would have to be complete.  Warnings relate to files that
are necessary for NET to operate as you would expect.  Errors relate to
required directories and will stop NET's execution so you can correct
them.  If NET doesn't start in this manner, something is horribly wrong.
Go back and check the installation instructions in Chapter 2 or find a
friend and ask for help.

If you set up the files and environmental variables as recommended in
Chapter 2, you can run NET from any directory or drive on your computer.
You can also use an alternative startup file instead of autoexec.net.  If
you have a file called "auto1" with special startup commands, and it is
located in the NETHOME directory, you can use it with the NET startup
command, "net auto1".

If you are adventuresome, try any of the NET commands, or part of a NET
command.  Normally if you make a mistake the correct syntax will be
returned so you can get it right.  Making a deliberate mistake like "arp
crap" is a good way to get a reminder of what the command needs.  When you
figure out what you need help on you can make up a file, help.net, put it
in the NET home directory, and ask for help when you need it.  There is a
sample in samples.com.

Many of the commands, ftp, telnet, finger, etc. can be issued at your
console to your own station as though you were remote.  Some examples are
given below.

3.1.  Trying out the AX.25 Support

Once you have the program going at all, the first thing you'll probably
want to do is to figure out if the TNC is hooked up correctly, and whether
you're getting out at all.  To get connected, you do basically the same
thing you'd do with a raw TNC.  Type 'connect ax0 <callsign>', where
<callsign> is someone's callsign who is known to be on the air.  You can
also specify a digipeater string.  For example, you could type one of:

 connect ax0 n3eua (connect using the ax0 TNC to N3EUA)
 connect ax0 n3eua n1fed n0ccz (conn to N3EUA via N1FED and N0CCZ)

If all is well, you should get "Conn Pending" and then "Connected" mes-
sages.  At this point, you're connected just like using a plain old TNC.
Kind of boring, huh? It'll get more exciting soon!

There are some line editing commands you can use when typing a command
line, or while in an active session.  Use Ctrl-R to re-display the current
line, Ctrl-H (backspace) to delete the previous character, Ctrl-W to
delete the previous word, and Ctrl-Y or Ctrl-U to delete the whole line.
You can redisplay the previous line typed with a Ctrl-E.  (Current line is
lost.)  When editing a previous line, you can use the non-destructive
cursor movement keys: Ctrl-S, one character backward; Ctrl-A, one word
backward, Ctrl-D, one character forward, and Ctrl-F, one word forward.
NET executes or sends the that portion of the line that is left of the
cursor when you hit the RTN or ENTER key.  If you want to send one of
these editing control characters, preface it with a Ctrl-V.

If you want to save what you receive to a disk file you can use the record
command.  Record only works after you have established a session and you
use it by specifying a file name, e.g. "record story".  To stop recording
without closing the session, type "record off".  Record works in any
session except FTP (File Transfer Protocol).  See Chapter 6.

When you're ready to disconnect, use the <F10> key to escape from the
session back to the 'NET>' prompt, and then type 'disconnect'.  You will
discover that all commands can be abbreviated, and you can type a "d" to
get the same results as "disconnect".

If things don't work, watch the lights on the TNC to see if you're
transmitting at all, then go read up on the "trace" command so you can see
what the program thinks it's doing.  Even easier, if there's someone else
using TCP in your area, ask for help!

3.2.  Trying out the NET/ROM Support

If you have configured to attach NET/ROM (See Chapters 5 and 6) you can
try a NET/ROM connect.  You will have to wait until your neighbor NET/ROM
has broadcast a routing table before you can make a NET/ROM connection
beyond your neighbor NET/ROM (or you created an explicit NET/ROM route, in
which case you have progressed beyond the advise contained here).  If the
netrom route command (n ro for short) yields a list of NET/ROM stations,
try:

 netrom connect okc (connect using the NET/ROM protocol to OKC NET/ROM
 node.)

or for short, and showing an alternative destination:

  n c wd5hjl-1 (connect to the OKC NET/ROM using its amateur call)

After you are finished playing NET/ROM you can either disconnect the AX.25
link or issue the close command (this is a session).  In either case, hit
the F-10 key to get the prompt and type disc, or close.

3.3.  Trying out the Finger Command

If you have installed any "finger" files in your finger sub-directory, you
can try "putting the finger" on the call sign associated with that file.
If your host name was w1aw and you had a file called, k5jb.txt, you would
use the command:

 finger k5jb@w1aw

And it would return the contents of that file.  From this perspective you
can see the results at both the requesting and the target stations, since
you are both.  You can find more on finger in Chapters 5 and 6.

3.4.  The Telnet Command

If there's someone else on the air in your area already using TCP/IP, then
the next most easy thing to do is to try a keyboard connection using the
Telnet protocol.  The end result will be the same as doing an AX.25
connect in most cases, but you'll be taking advantage of a couple of neat
attributes of having more protocol horsepower to help you out.

First, you need to either know the numeric IP address of your friend's
system, or you need to have updated HOSTS.NET to include the system name
and the numeric address.  Then all you have to do is call your friend on
the phone and get him to go to his console (an incoming telnet session
otherwise falls on deaf ears), and type:

 telnet n3eua (talk to N3EUA, address in HOSTS.NET), or,
 telnet [44.32.0.4] (use the numeric address directly)

Now you can type back and forth just as if you were connected with a
normal TNC.  When you're done, use the <F10> key to escape back to command
mode, and then type 'close' to close the connection gracefully, or 'reset'
if you're really in a hurry.

If you are using Unix, use the escape character you defined in
startup.net.  If you didn't define one, the default is Ctrl-].

The reason for the remark about phoning first is that most telnet
implementations fall on deaf ears unless the party on the other end is
there to open a session on the incoming connect.  What you send during a
telnet session to an unattended computer goes into a bitbucket.  If there
is no one else to play telnet with, do a telnet to your own host name and
you can see the results coming and going.  (If the other party is using
NET, version K28 or later, the incoming telnet automatically makes the
session active and typed data is sent to the screen.)

When you are in a telnet session, you can use the same line editing, and
session recording as described in 3.1. above.

3.5.  The FTP Command

So far, all we've done is to use more software and work harder to do the
same things we can do with a plain old TNC.  The FTP command isn't like
that!  To get a file from your friends' machine, you can type the command:

 ftp n3eua

to start a file transfer session to the N3EUA machine.  When the connec-
tion is opened, you'll get a banner from the remote machine, followed by a
prompt for your user name.  If you've negotiated with your friend to have
a special username and password set up for you in his FTPUSERS file, use
that.  If not, many machines allow arbitrary users to get limited access
to the files available with a special username 'anonymous.  If you want to
use the 'anonymous' login, when you're prompted for a password enter your
callsign or something else recognizable, as many folks keep a log of FTPs
so they know what files people care about, and being able to associate
your activities with you sometimes helps.

If you guess the user or pass words wrong, your program will loop and
continue to ask for these two things until you either get them right, or
escape back to the command prompt and close the session.  In MS-DOS,
escape with F-10 key.  In Unix use your defined escape key.

Note:  It is undesirable to escape to the command prompt while at the
password prompt because your keystrokes aren't echoed.  If you do this,
they won't resume echoing until you complete an FTP to yourself, or stop
and restart NET.

Try ftp with yourself as host, and when you get logged in, try,

  get /net/autoexec.net con

The file, autoexec.net will go to your screen!  (CON is the standard
output device in MS-DOS.  In Unix send the output to your connected tty
port.)

3.6.  The Mail System

The mail system is a subject unto itself.  It is also one of the truly
nifty things about running TCP/IP.  Look in Chapter 4 for a complete run-
down on how to install and operate the BM mailer, and the portions of NET
related to it.  Enter a mail message to yourself with BM.  For example, m
k5jb@k5jb.  Quit BM, and to hurry things along, at the NET prompt, type
smtp kick.  You will see a message that mail arrived.  Restart BM and you
will be able to read that message.  It is not immediately intuitive, but
if you have more than one message, you can read a particular message by
just typing its number in the list.

3.7.  Tracing and Status Commands

The tracing and status commands provide a great deal of information about
what is going on in the system.  All we'll attempt to do here is raise
your interest level.

If you want to find out what sessions are active to and from your machine,
you can type 'sessions' and you'll get a list.  If you want to get
information about all of the TCP connections open to and from your
machine, including mail transfers and other things that don't directly
interact with your keyboard and screen, you can type "tcp status" and
you'll get a list of connections.

It is a good idea to do a tcp stat command and then an ax25 stat command
to make sure someone is not using NET before you exit.

If you're not sure what's happening on an interface, or you'd like to
"read the mail" (watch what other folks are doing on the channel), then
use the "trace" command.  The form is described in the command reference
in Chapter 6.  For example:

     trace ax0 111 (activity on ax0, including ASCII dump)
     trace ax0 211 (activity on ax0, including hex dump)
     trace ax0 11 (activity on ax0, printing only the headers)

Note that you also have control over whether tracing can bother you in a
session, see the trace command summary in Chapter 6 for more details.

3.8. Unix and shell layers

If you are running this under Unix, there are provisions to run it in the
background either with the shell escape (!) or with the shell layer
manager.  This enables you to run NET, run BM, or send a letter to your
grandmother, from one terminal without interrupting NET.  To use the
shell, just enter a ! or the shell command.  When you shell out of NET a
child process is created to wait for you to return from the shell and the
parent process continues to run.   When you "exit" or do Ctrl-D to return
to NET, the child process is killed.

To use the shell layer manager invoke shl.  At the >>> prompt, create a
shell with "c".  It will return with the first layer prompt, "(1)" and you
can start NET.

With shl, before you put NET in the background you must first disable its
keyboard input by issuing a Ctrl-\ (Ctrl-backslash) and NET will respond
that it is OK to go in background.  Use Ctrl-Z (or the "swtch" character
defined in your environment) to get the shl prompt, >>>.  Now you can
create another shell with the "c" command or switch to an already running
one.  NET is still running and if you left trace on, or someone fingers
you, NET's output will appear on your screen even if you are in another
shell layer.  Don't tell shl to block this or NET will suspend when it has
output.

When you are ready to send commands to NET, go to that shell layer and
issue another Ctrl-\ which will signal NET to restart scanning for input.
Operation is normal until you use Ctrl-\ again.  Refer to the Unix shl(1)
instructions for more on shl.

Coherent users have no need to user the Ctrl-\ (quit) switch on NET if
they are using virtual terminals.  NET runs fine when its window is not
active.  In fact, using the quit signal removes one of the two places
where the CPU is released to do other tasks.  If you start NET with no
serial ports attached (like if you have no startup.net file), and issue a
quit signal to ignore keyboard input, NET will become a CPU hog, consuming
an enormous amount of the machine's resources.