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whatsnew.112
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1991-09-23
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Whats New MSYS112 *** NOTE that doc file is now on disk2! ***
Home BBS replacement occurs only if @BBS is blank or the call of
your bbs.
Screen blanking: The F8 key can be used to blank the screen.
Pressing any other key will unblank the screen. A new sysop
command is also added that allows you to specify the number of
minutes after last keystroke to blank the screen automatically:
SCreensave #
If the number given is zero (which is the default) the screen
will not be blanked automatically. The method used to blank the
screen will work with all display cards (the screen content is
saved and then blanks are written to the screen). When you press
a key to unblank the screen you will always get to screen 1 (the
one you get with the F1 key).
MEXpert [On/Off]
If on, the message of the day will be displayed to all non-bbs
marked stations. If off, it will only be displayed to non-ex-
pert, non-bbs stations.
If MAXBullage is set to a negative number, bulletins older than
the number given (in days) will be held rather than discarded.
BBSTimeout #
Number of seconds of inactivity on bbs to disconnect user, de-
fault 300 seconds.
Note that when version 2 of the ax.25 protocol is enabled that no
activity for CHEck time no longer causes a disconnect.
NODETimeout #
Number of seconds of inactivity on network node or K node at
command prompt to disconnect user. Default is 300 seconds (5
minutes).
TRetries has been changed to TREtries.
TRUncate filename
Adds CR/LF to files as needed to make lines no longer than 80
characters so it can be editted with ED command.
Alt-F1 Alt-F2 Alt-F3 keys work like DOS F1 F2 and F3 commands to
retrieve/edit last sysop command typed.
FMsg pattern-string
Searches all messages in MAIL.BAK directory for given pattern
string. For example, to find messages that refer to hurricanes
you might type FM hurricane
Automatic password reply:
If your system receives the password prompt (the Usage state: ..
line) from a system that you connected to during forwarding or
from the Connect commands, MSYS will now automatically supply the
1
correct response. You must have a file called PASSWORD.RMT in
your FWD directory that is the same as the MSYS.RMT file on the
other system.
New form of Connect command:
In addition to the usual C# form (like C0 ...) there is now a
connect command in which you do not specify a port number with
the C, nor do you give the call of the station to which you want
to connect, but rather give the name of a file that contains a
connect script to reach that station. The files must be in the
FWD directory and can have any name. The connect script is the
same format used in the forward file except that the first line
begins with C rather the other letters used in the forward file.
You can thus use the command
C HOME in which case in the FWD directory you would have a file
called HOME. An example of the contents of this file is
c0 wa8bxn
@olvgn
#120
+to
#180
+to
#300
+to
This example can be interpreted as follows. In the first line the
C means this is a connect script, port 0 is to be used for the
initial connect, and the ultimate destination is WA8BXN. The
second line says to make a connect to OLVGN (which is a network
node). The following . lines are commands sent to the node, the #
lines are times to wait for responses, and the +to lines indicate
the responses to look for that indicate success. See the descrip-
tions for forwarding scripts for more information on these var-
ious option.
Another simple example of what you could put in a connect script
file is
C0 WA8BXN
@WA8BXN V TOMSYS
That's the entire file; it is a simple way to put the digipeater
(TOMSYS) needed to reach the destination station (WA8BXN).
AX.25 version 2 protocol:
AX25L2v2 [port#] [On/Off]
Version 2 can be enabled for all ports or specified ports. Ver-
sion 1, the default, may be better for HF opertion.
TCP/IP FTP function has been modified to give an estimate on the
number of bytes transfered during GET and PUT commands. A number
of bugs in timing have also been corrected (hopefully!).
2
MSYS DX Node
General Description
The MSYS DX Node is a subset of and compatible with the
PacketCluster (trademark of Pavillion Software, PO Box 803,
Hudson, MA 01749). The DX Node provides services of interest to
DXers, such as DX station spotting and WWV reports, in addition
to a conference function. The DX Node may be used in stand-alone
mode or connected to a PacketCluster node. Currently MSYS does
not support connects from other MSYS DX Nodes or PacketCluster
nodes.
User Interface
The DX Node may be entered from the BBS through use of
the C (for Conference) command or by connecting directly to the
DX Node callsign (see DXCall command). When in the BBS itself,
the SH/ family of DX Node commands may be used without leaving
the BBS (SH/DX for example). The command syntax used once in the
DX Node is patterened after the commands familiar to PacketClus-
ter users. The H command gives a list of the user commands and a
brief description of each. Its output is similar to that shown
below:
DX Node commands
Bye Disconnects from DX Node
BBS Returns to BBS
Conference Enters local conference
DX freq dxcall comments Enters given data as DX spot
SH/CL Lists basic stats about DX network
SH/COnfig Lists DX nodes in network and users
on each
SH/Dx Lists last 5 DX spots
SH/Dx/# Lists given number of DX spots
SH/Users Lists local DX node users
SH/WWV Lists WWV reports (up to 5)
Talk callsign Sends following lines to given user
call
Talk callsign msg Sends single line msg to given user
call
WWV SFI=# A=# K=# comments Enters given data as WWV report
Bye Disconnects from DX Node. A regular disconnect also
works.
BBS Leave DX Node and go to BBS (even if original connect was
into DX node call directly)
Conference Enters local conference. Following lines typed will
be sent to all stations in the local conference. Control-Z (^Z)
is used to exit the conference. When a station enters or exits
the conference a message noting the event is sent to the stations
in the conference. When in the conference the various forms of
the SHow/ command can be used by preceeding it with an asterisk
3
(example: *sh/dx).
DX freq dxcall comments Enters given data as DX spot which is
sent to all station in the DX node locally (and the DX network if
connected to a PacketCluster station). Some examples:
dx 14026.1 zp6cw
dx 3795 KP2A/KP5 Listening 3805 - 3810
SH/CL Lists basic stats about DX network. Output looks like
this:
Cluster: 20 nodes, 1 local / 30 total users Max users 75
The Max users value is the highest number of users in the network
at one time. This value is reset each time MSYS is started.
SH/COnfig Lists DX nodes in network and users on each.
Output might look like this:
NODE USERS
N8HTT KB8VN WX8T W8NR W8XYX
N8BLD WA8VPN KC8FS
N4RR
AD8J K3UA KA3JWJ N3BPB
In the sample above, N8HTT, N4RR and AD8J are DX nodes (or
PacketClusters). The other stations listed are connected to the
given nodes. N4RR shows no users connected.
SH/Dx or SH/Dx/# Lists previously broadcast DX spotting infor-
mation as shown below. By default 5 lines are sent. The SH/DX/#
form may be used to specify more or less than 5 (up to the limit
set with the DXSTart command). Examples of this command:
sh/dx
SH/dx/10
Sample output from this command:
14214.5 CE0LJI 28-Aug-1991 0206Z Easter Is NO9Z
14151.0 A41KJ 28-Aug-1991 0207Z AJ9C
14020.3 3B8FG 28-Aug-1991 0353Z QSY'd WB3KKX
7116.1 WB9FIU 28-Aug-1991 0351Z GREAT SIGNAL! N8LSQ
7006.6 FO4DL 28-Aug-1991 0350Z N9SW
SH/Users Lists local DX node users
SH/WWV Lists WWV reports (up to 5). Sample output:
Date Hour SFI A K Forcast
27-Aug-1991 07 210 10 3 N24=M-H/UNS ONKD2YP
27-Aug-1991 21 196 18 5 SA=L GF=U-A > SA=M GF=A. K8IP
28-Aug-1991 00 196 20 4 mod mostly active SPE PCA K8DD
4
Talk callsign All typing until ^Z is typed is sent to the given
station. The station may be a local user or connected to some
other node in a DX network. The ^Z must be the only content on
the line used to exit talk mode.
Talk callsign msg Sends single line msg to given user call. Use
of ^Z is not required (nor allowed) with this command. Example:
t kq8m Anybody there?
WWV SFI=# A=# K=# comments Enters given data as WWV report.
Example:
wwv sfi=210 a=10 k=3 N24=M-H/UNS
Sysop Interface
The following commands controlling the DX Node are available as
Sysop commands:
DXCall callsign
DXDiddle #seconds
DXNconnect scriptfilename
DXPorts portmask
DXRestore
DXSAve
DXSTart #nodes #users #dxspots #wwv
SHow/...
DXCall callsign
where callsign is the call, with ssid, that will be used by the
DXNconnect command to connect to a PacketCluster station. If a
connect is made to this callsign, it will take the user directly
into the DX Node.
DXDiddle #
where # is the number of seconds of inactivity before a 'diddle'
packet is sent to connected dx node to keep connection estab-
lished.
DXNconnect scriptfilename
where scriptfilename is a connect script file found in the FWD
directory using the same format as the keyboard C scriptfile
command. Note that connection to only a single PacketCluster
station is allowed. Your DXCallsign must be enabled as a Packet-
Cluster node by the sysop of the node to which you will be con-
necting. The PacketCluster command that is used for this is the
SET/NODE command (not supported in MSYS DX Node).
DXPorts portmask
One bits enable use of the DX node on that port. Rightmost bit is
Port 0.
DXRestore
Reads the last recorded DX spotting and WWV information. If the
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current maximum number of DX spots or WWV reports (as set by the
DXSTart command) differs from the values in effect when the info
was last stored this command will have no effect. This command
should probably be put in MSYS.DO after the DXSTart command if
the DXNode is to be enabled.
DXSAve
Records the current DX Spotting and WWV information in a file
called DXNODE.DAT. This function is done automatically when a
QUIT command is issued if the DX Node has been started.
DXSTart #nodes #users #dxspots #wwv
where
#nodes is max nodes in DX network (default 25)
#users is max users in DX network (default 100)
#dxspots is number of DX spots to be recorded (default 20)
#wwv is number of WWV reports to be recorded (default 5)
SHow/...
The various SHow commands listed above as user commands can be
used as sysop commands
Installation
To activate the DX Node, at least two commands are needed
(DXCall and DXSTart). The DXCall defines the callsign with SSID
that users can use to connect directly into the DX Node as well
as the callsign that will be used if the DXNconnect command is
used to connect to a PacketCluster node. A DXRestore command
should probably also be used to recover the DX Spotting and WWV
information saved at the last time QUIT was used.
These commands can conveniently be placed in the MSYS.DO
file to automatically start the DX Node each time MSYS is start-
ed. An example of the commands is
DXConnect WA8BXN-6
DXSTart
DXRestore
DXNconnect DX
An example of the contents of the file DX (found in the FWD
directory) is given below. It has the same format as the connect
scripts used in the forward file except that the first line
begins with the letter C. The file below first connects to a
network node CLE220 using port 0, then a connect command is
issued to CLE220 to connect to network node #CLEDX and finally
#CLEDX is told to connect to PacketCluster station KQ8M.
C0 KQ8M
@CLE220
+to
+to
When connected to a PacketCluster station there is the possibili-
ty that the connection will be lost for some reason. Automatic
reconnection may be accomplished by using the automatic timed
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sysop command facility in MSYS (the TO DO facility). For example,
the following line could be placed in MSYSTODO.DAT to attempt to
connect every 10 minutes. The command will fail (by design) if
the connection still exists.
???????0 DXN DX
The interpretation of this line is to do the command DXN DX
whenever the time in minutes has a right digit of 0, namely at
00, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 minutes after each hour.
7
MSYS AMTOR Interface
Introduction
------------
NOTE: The AMTOR interface is still undergoing develop-
ment. Additional features (in particular forwarding) will be
added in later releases. Currently only Kantronics KAM tncs with
Host Mode are supported. When used for AMTOR, the VHF portion of
the KAM cannot be used (this limitation will probably never be
removed unless Kantronics allows simultaneous use of KISS and
Host Mode).
The AMTOR interface in MSYS allows AMTOR stations to
connect to the normal MSYS BBS. From there the DX Node may be
accessed if enabled. The connect commands may also be used to
make outgoing keyboard connects to other AMTOR stations.
AMTOR has some major differences when compared to packet
operation. The two most important is that when AMTOR is used only
two stations can be connected together at one time on a given
frequency and secondly that AMTOR uses a greatly reduced charac-
ter set when compared to ASCII used with packet.
Another difference is that AMTOR will probably work
better than packet in marginal signal situations. AMTOR is also
much slower (around 100 bits per second) that packet operation.
This combined with the fact that only 3 bytes of text are sent
before an acknowledgement is obtained account for the improved
performance on HF.
AMTOR operates in a half duplex mode; only one of the two
connected stations can send data at a time. Thus there is a
sending and receiving station at any given time unlike packet
which is more full duplex in nature. This description of course
ignores that fact that at any given instant usually only one
packet station can transmit at a time. With AMTOR an explicit
action must be taken to reverse data flow direction. This is usu-
ally done by sending +? at the end of a group of text lines.
Think of the +? sequence as the "go ahead, its your turn now"
signal. IMPORTANT NOTE: There can be no space between the plus
and the question mark. Also note that if you happened to send
data that contained the sequence the direction of data flow would
be changed when you might not have expected it.
MSYS handles the direction of data flow control for the
most part. When an AMTOR station connects to MSYS either the +?
sequence or CR LF can be used to indicate when MSYS should begin
transmitting. If MSYS does not have anything to send (as would be
the case if you are in the process of entering a multi-line
message) MSYS will again reverse the direction of data flow to
allow the station to continue sending.
Much more can be said about AMTOR. Refer to your TNC
manual for more information.
8
Setting up an AMTOR port
------------------------
AMTOR ports are identified by the port name beginning
with the ~ character.
An example of a PORT statement in MSYS.OPT for an AMTOR port is
PORT 0 AT $3F8 INT 4 SPEED 4800 NAME ~20M RADIOSPEED 300
The use of RADIOSPEED 300 will shorten some of the messages sent
by the bbs to the user. The TNCTYPE parameter should not be used.
Before starting MSYS with the AMTOR port for the first
time, be sure that the SELCAL parameter in your TNC is porperly
set.
Note that the AX.25 parameters (such as FRACK) can be
issued for an AMTOR port but they are ignored in operation. For-
warding should not be attempted on an AMTOR port. Reverse for-
warding will be attempted but probably won't work if a connecting
station requests it.
Turning an AMTOR port off will not prevent stations from
connecting to it; turn the radio off instead! You cannot monitor
general activity on AMTOR ports on the F2 screen. Only the infor-
mation exchanged with a station connected to your system is shown
(along with various status messages the TNC sends to the comput-
er).
AMTOR Users and the BBS
-----------------------
Due to the character set limitations of AMTOR, the famil-
iar > prompt character is replaced by the +? sequence which also
allows the user station to enter their reply.
Most of the normal BBS commands should work without
modification from the way they would be used on packet. A notable
exception are the various S commands used to send messages. In
place of the @ character the word AT (with blanks around it) must
be used. Since the $ character is not in the AMTOR character set
(if used it may have strange results), BIDS cannot be explicitly
entered. The < character is also invalid in AMTOR so it can't be
used to indicate the originating station. Here are some examples
of S commands:
SP WA8BXN AT WA8BXN.#NEOH.OH.USA {valid}
SP WA8BXN@WA8BXN {invalid because of @}
SP WA8BXN < WB8ZZS {invalid because of <}
ST 44026 AT NTSOH {valid}
SB ALL AT NEOH $SOMEBID {invalid because of $}
SB ALL AT ALLOH {valid}
SB ALL ATALLUS {invalid, no space after AT}
The Talk command will work. You will have to use the +?
sequence to turn it over to the user station as needed. The user
will also have to use the +? to turn it back to you.
9