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Text File | 1995-07-01 | 25.3 KB | 604 lines

Riscy TNC ======== RiscyTNC is a multi tasking terminal program for driving AX25 Terminal Node Controllers. In order to use the program to the full, before setting up you should be able to do some simple editing of files in !Edit, and possibly be able to copy (and even better create!) sprites contained in a sprite file with !Paint. Both !Edit and !Paint should have been supplied with your computer. The Topics covered in this manual are Main Features : Tells you how good the program is Connecting your TNC : Advice on the DCD problem suffered by Archmedes! Getting Started : What to do with those files in the TNC sub-directory. Checking Communication with your TNC : Proving that your Arc can talk to the TNC and if it won't, some words of probably useless advice. Using the Terminal : How to talk to your TNC without some dumb smart program getting in the way. Other modes: Got a multimode? Fed up with the packet racket ? - Try this section Contacting the author: When all else fails ! -------------------------- Main Features ============= The program is multi-tasking, with its control icon sitting on the icon bar. RiscyTNC can be configured to sit patiently "asleep" whilst another task usesa serial port, or be immediately active once installed. Support has been added for the Hugo Fiennes block drivers, which means that the program can be used with the Serial Port's Dual serial card for example. RiscyTNC is also able to automatically determine which type of TNC is in use, and will load the appropriate configuration file. Alternatively, TNC configuration files may be loaded manually. Once a configuration file has been loaded, it is possible for the computer to set the TNC's real-time clock. Output from the TNC can be saved to a file, or sent to a printer. Files can be sent to the TNC. The program can drive multi_mode TNC's (e.g. KAM) in modes other than packet. -------------------------- Connecting your TNC to your Computer ==================================== Use a lead supplied or make up your own lead to connect the TNC to your Archimedes' serial port. The manual supplied with your TNC should tell you how to wire the pins. Note that the Riscy TNC program uses hardware (CTS / RTS) handshaking in order to give you maximum flexibility. The program has been tested with the serial lead wired in `PC' configuration i.e. CTS-CTS DTR-DTR RXD-RXD etc. rather than the `archimedes fiddle' wiring. A known problem area is in the use of the DCD line. With older machines using GTE and CMD serial chips this line must be asserted at all times. On all machines if this line is not asserted, characters travelling between the TNC and computer may be lost, but with newer Acorn machines you may be able to get round this problem by use of the 'Ignore DCD' feature in the Config file. Some TNCs use the DCD line to signal that the currently selected stream is connected, others may tie this line permanently asserted. With an older Archimedes it is worth tying pin8(DCD) of the serial port lead to pin 4(DTR) at the Archimedes end. If you do this, make sure that pin8 is disconnected from the TNC. Getting Started =============== Before using RiscyTNC, shift and double click on the Riscy TNC icon in its filer window and then load the file called 'Config' into !Edit. This file is used to set up the serial port and permit RiscyTNC to automatically detect the type of TNC in use. Please note that if you wish to use the auto-recognition facility, your TNC should be set to the same baud rate and data format as that used by the program. Comments in the Config file are preceeded with the '|' character. IMPORTANT: If you need to weedle a control character into a command, precede it with the character ^ then denote the character in lower case letters. e.g. to get the character 03 (control-c) into a command, position the caret if it's not in the right place- hold down an ALT key whilst dialling 94 on the keypad, release ALT, then type a little c. The end result should look like ^c Two ^ characters (^^) is the equivlalent of carriage return. This allows multiple commands to be sent to the TNC. e.g. Kiss On^^Restart <ret> is the same as Kiss On <ret> Restart <ret> If you are using an expansion serial card, make sure that the configuration file contains the name of the driver and the port you wish to use. The program first looks to see if the drivers are looked after by !SerialDev. If you have !SerialDev, and it contains drivers that RiscyTNC does not contain, click on it first. -------------------------- Explanation of Config file parameters ===================================== Version : Purely for the programs internal use. If a later version of Riscy TNC emerges that requires a larger list of parameters in it's Config file, the program can alert you to the fact that a supplied config file is 'out of date'. Language : Should be English, for use at a later date if foreign language versions are made available. Driver : Serial port to be used by RiscyTNC. The name is that of a Directory in the `modules' subdirectory of RiscyTNC appropriate to the port in use. For the normal archimedes serial port this should be `InternalPC' Driver : The port number of the serial port to be used on your Arc. port For the normal Archimedes serial port this should be `0' Streamca : This is the character used by your TNC for changing Input streams. The standard default is '|'. TNC Type : List the type(s) of your TNC here. The TNC listed in position 1 becomes the default. It's best not to use more than eight characters to describe your TNC, as this name will be the name also given to sprites and files. Sign on : List a unique set of characters that appear in your TNC's power-on message to allow Riscy TNC to identify your TNC. Auto-init : A 'Y' here will allow the program to automatically identify your TNC, and set the Archimedes to the baud rates and data formats given in the following serial port parameters. If you only have one TNC, a 'D' character after the colon will set the baud rate and data format described below, and then select the default TNC (that in position 1) without waiting to see characters from the TNC. (For the following serial port parameters, if you are in any doubt as to which values to use, check in the manual supplied with your TNC) Baud Rate : Place the Baud rate here that you wish to use if the program auto initialises. The program will tell you if it cannot cope with the value given. Bits : The number of data bits chosen on initialisation. Stop Bits : Stop bits on initialisation Parity : Use 0 for no parity, 1 for Odd, 2 for Even parity. Ignore DCD : A 'Y' here will mean that the program will ignore the setting of the DCD line from the TNC upon initialisation. be warned though that ignoring DCD may give problems on older Archimedes machines! The value 'N' may mean that characters are lost if the DCD pin on the serial port is not correctly asserted. The stream outputs can appear in a window, and as new lines appear, the previous text scrolls up the screen. The smoothness of the scrolling action depends on the value of the Scroll parameter. Scroll : Must be 2,4 or 8. Other values will give a warning message upon program initialisation, and defaults to 4. A value of 2 gives the smoothest scrolling of received text in a window, 8 the coarsest. Note that value 2 should only be used with VGA modes Default spool : The filename that is offered in the dialogue box when you wish to spool the incoming text or data to a file. Getting Started (Continued) =========================== In the TNC subdirectory, are some files with the same names as types of TNC. These files have the same names as the TNC types described in the Config file that you should have looked at recently. The purpose of these files is to describe the commands that the TNC would like to receive from the program. If you cannot see the name of your TNC on a file in the TNC directory, copy a file (e.g. tnc-320) giving it the same name as you used to describe your TNC in the Config file Load the appropriate TNC file into !Edit, and make any adjustments you wish. You may well need the manual supplied with your TNC by you. You might also like to load the file '!Sprites' into !Paint and make a sprite with the same name that your tnc was given in the config file. If you can't be bothered to make up a sprite with a picture of your TNC, copy one of the others, and re-name it. Sprites and setup files are already provided for the following TNC's: Pac-Comm TNC-320 Kantronics KAM Explanation of TNC file parameters: =================================== Auto clock set : 'Y' means that the Archimedes will feed its current time and date setting to your TNC upon initialisation. This setting should be set to 'N' if you keep your Archimedes on a wierd time setting, or your TNC has a battery backed clock. N.B. If your Archimedes clock is on BST, your TNC clock will be set to BST also Please note that RISC-PC users might find that the auto clock set doesn't work, and a manual set option has been provided from the icon-bar menu. Clock digits : Check your TNC manual to see if the time is set as HH:MM (use the value '4') or HH:MM:SS (use the value '6') A good place to look is under the DAYTIME command on most TNC's Command mode : The command that your TNC needs to get into command mode. Usually control-c or (^c) as it should appear one space to the right of the colon. If you have a TNC that can make use of the serial port break facility - and it is enabled, use the word 'Break' (case-sensitive). This will ensure that you don't have to type any lengthy and complicated sequences to get out of transparent mode if you have to. Converse mode : The command that your TNC needs to get into converse mode, typically 'Convers' or K . Transparent : Usually something like 'Trans' Enter Kiss : This command is provided for users of advanced programs utilising KISS protocol Use the sequence to enter Kiss mode. This program does not support KISS ! Exit Kiss : The escape sequence from Kiss (usually 192,255,192) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The entries against these commands may be left blank if you have a packet only TNC. Packet : Enter the sequence you need to use to return to packet from another mode. RTTY - NAVTEX : Against each description, enter the appropriate command that your TNC requires. If your TNC does not implement a command - leave it blank --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Port descrip'ns: Against each port, place a short written description as to its use. (Not more than ten characters) Commands needed to use ports. Stream Prefix : Place here the stream prefix that your tnc uses. It is often described as the Stream switch character in makers manuals. If you have a TNC (like the KAM) which has different streamswitch characters depending on the port in use, place the word PORT here. First stream : The character used by the first stream, your tnc's manual usually refers to this character under a chapter titled multiple connects, or similar. On most TNC's this is the character A, but on PK232's it can be 0 After first stream there is another list of ports against which you enter the command that the tnc needs to change to that port. On TNC's which use their streamswitch character to switch ports, please enter that character here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sequences needed to drive modes such as RTTY etc. You can leave this section of commands blank if you do not have a multimode TNC. Against each description enter the command which you would have needed to enter from the command line in order to carry out the required action. Reference to your controllers manual is essential. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Checking Communication with your TNC: ===================================== Once you have set the configuration and tnc files as described above, make sure that your TNC is plugged into your Archimedes and switched off. Double click on the RiscyTNC icon in your filer window, and a RiscyTNC icon of some description should appear on the Icon Bar. The icon and it's message will depend on your setting of Auto-init in the Config file If you have a setting of 'Y', the text on the Icon bar should be 'Await'- the TNC is waiting for the TNC to send it's startup message so that it can identify it. If you chose 'N', RiscyTNC will be asleep, waiting for you to command it into life. With the D option RiscyTNC should state that it is in Idle mode, and will have already initialised. +Switch on your TNC If you chose Option 'Y', with all being well, the bar icon should change to idle. Swipe another window across the icon and 'idle' to make sure that the icon doesn't disappear, if it does, you do not have a correctly named sprite in the !Sprites file. If the icon still says 'Await' after a few seconds, then you may not have set the sign-on parameter correctly in the config file, or you've got mega problems (see the no sensible response section below). Option 'N' choosers should now menu on the RiscyTNC icon on the Icon bar. Click on 'Initialise'. An initialisation window should appear. Click on the blue arrow until you see the name of your TNC. If you don't after seven or eight tries, go back to editing your config file and make sure that you have correctly described your tnc. When you have seen the name of your TNC, (or something similar if you want to experiment), click on OK. The program should now initialise your TNC. +Click select (The left button) on the RiscyTNC icon on the icon bar. A window called Riscy TNC should appear. +Click select on the left hand 'Terminal' Icon If you get an initialisation window pop-up, the program has not initialised see the section above for Auto-init option 'N' A large window called 'Terminal' should appear with possibly (if all is well) your TNC's command prompt. Make sure that the right hand scroll bar is dragged right to the bottom of its travel, and the bottom scroll bar is at its furthest left limit. Now click select at the very bottom of the grey area just above the bottom scroll bar. A little green cursor will appear and the terminal bar at the top will change to yellow. Try typing in something that your TNC manual says it might understand followed by Return. With luck a reply from the TNC should appear just above the dotted lines. If it doesn't, see the trouble section below. If all seems well, go onto the section called 'Using Terminal' If you do not get a sensible response ===================================== 1) Is the TNC switched on and powered ? Seems silly, but there's one born every day 2) Check your serial lead from the Arc to the TNC is plugged in. AT BOTH ENDS! 3) Is the serial lead correctly made ? Especially if you made it yourself! 4) Is the handshaking working correctly ? If you get no response at all, then it looks like a handshaking problem, I've thought of this one. Click menu (middle button) on the RiscyTNC icon on the icon bar Take the pointer to 'Serial Port' and move right until you get a second menu alongside. Click select (LHS button) on Handshaking A window called serial port handshking should appear: Lets go through the coloured icons. For those who are red/green colour blind, the `off' condition is signalled by black letters on a red background, `on' has white letters on green. The warning lamps in the errors section are normally `unlit' and turn red to indicate trouble. XON/XOFF : If green the arc is expecting to use software flow control Click on the icon to make it red RTS/CTS : Should be green. Hardware flow control may be disabled by clicking on this icon and turning it red. DTR : When green, your arc is signalling to the tnc that it exists. You may click on DTR to turn it red and shatter the TNC's hopes that it is connected to a terminal RTS : Signals to the TNC that it is cleared to send data. you can manually toggle this line with the icon. CTS : Should be green if the terminal is `clear to send' data to the tnc. DSR : Hopefully green. If red your serial cable is not correctly wired, or your TNC is not activating the DSR line (probably for an even more obscure purpose than the Ring Line!) (N.B. Some TNC's feed the DTR line from the Arc back on this line, so check that one too!) Ring : Denotes state of ring line. Some TNC's use this for obscure purposes. Don't worry just yet. DCD : If Red your DCD line input to the arc is not asserted, which will be generally true using a PC wired lead. This icon will be red even if you have chosen to ignore the DCD line on the internal port See the section called 'Connecting your TNC to your Computer' above. 5) Are the baud rate and data formats correctly set between the TNC and Arc? If you are getting characters in the terminal window, but they don't make much sense, then you'll need to check the baud rate and data format in the manual supplied with your TNC. If you put the correct parameters into the config file, then your TNC may have gone walkabout, or more likely, the Eprom inside your TNC was supplied with different parameters to the manual. You can change the baud rate and data format from the program. Click menu (the middle button) on the RiscyTNC icon on the Icon bar. Take the pointer up to 'Serial Port' then slowly right until you get a second menu. Click select (Left button) on 'Data Format'. The Serial Port window which appears doesn't need much explanation, click on the blue arrows to change things, then on OK when you've done. If you do manage to find the correct values, put them into your config file. Most TNC's these days are either a) 1200 Baud, 7 bit, 2 Stop bit, Even Parity b) 9600 Baud, 8 bit, 1 Stop bit, No parity. Try to avoid the settings called 'Wierd Parity'. And yes, although it can do 50 baud 5 bit 1½ stop bit, it won't do 45.45, and it won't convert into murray either. If you have an older Arc, and are intent on feeding an ST5 directly, look up timer 2's role in the IOC chapter in the VLSI book. A5000 users will need to know about fiddling an 82C710 chip instead. -------------------------- Using the Terminal ================== The terminal is a simple dumbish terminal for those times when you need to talk to your TNC in the language it understands, and not let a so-called smart terminal get in the way with its interpretation of what it thinks you mean. The terminal is started by clicking select on the RiscyTNC icon on the icon bar, and then select on the terminal icon on the Riscy TNC window. The receive screen is the area above the dotted line, the send part is at the very bottom of the work area. To write to your TNC, make sure that the scroll bar on the right hand side is fully down, and the bottom scroll bar is fully left. Click near the bottom of the screen just above the scroll bar. This is also the place you will need to click on if you go off to do work on another screen, and then wish to return to typing on the terminal. A green cursor should appear, the window get's the input focus and the title bar at the top should turn yellow. You can edit the input using the left/right cursor, and delete keys. A press on Return sends your line to the TNC. Characters from the TNC appear above the dotted line. Incoming data from the TNC can be spooled to a file. Menu on the terminal window, and go for Spool to file. The section below explains. Note that the file will contain a true representation of the bytes received if the Data option is selected. The text option 'fiddles' the incoming data stream so that the file (when complete) may be loaded into !Edit. To send a file of data to the TNC, drag its icon to the terminal window and drop it. Line feed bytes in the file are converted to carriage returns if the file has its filetype set to text (&FFF). Other filetypes are treated as data, and are not corrupted. By clicking Menu on the window, you will get a choice of options 1) Command : Not yet implemented 2) Mode : See the section on other modes 3) Print Click on print to send incoming characters to the printer. If this option is ticked, clicking on it will stop output from the TNC going to the printer. 4) Send to file / End file This option controls the saving of characters coming from the TNC to a file. Spool to file leads onto a spool as window. The name of the file appears in the white icon and is changeable. The default directory is the directory called 'Files' inside the RiscyTNC directory. The default filename is alterable in the Config file. You can change both the directory and filename by use of the cursor and delete keys, and of course, the alpha-numeric keys on the keyboard. Normally, when you have time, you would delete the filename to the right of the last full stop, and substitute a meaningful filename. The default filename is provided for spooling to a file in a hurry - Don't forget to change the name of any files spooled as default as soon as you have closed them! If you do not like the choice of default directory for spool files, and would regularly like to use another directory (e.g. RamFS) then you might like to change the argument for <RiscyTNCfiles$Dir> located in the !Run file. Clicking on the blue arrow changes the type of file that is created A choice of data, will result in all characters coming from the TNC being saved exactly as they are. A choice of Text will change carriage returns to Line feeds, in order that you can save text coming from the TNC into a file which will look correct in !Edit Click on OK, or press return, when you are happy with the name of the file, and its type. If a file is being spooled to, this option reads End file. Click on this option to stop sending data to the file. Note that the spool to file option does not make use of an icon that you drag to a filer window. This is because the file being created is not a complete file, and might give Risc-OS and applications headaches if you entrusted them with the icon. 5) Abort output. This icon only becomes active if a file is being sent to the TNC. Click here if you wish to stop sending the file 6) Close Stream Click here when you have finished using the terminal. Other modes =========== If you have a multi-mode TNC like a KAM, the program can drive TNCs in the following modes (providing your TNC can cope). Note that other modes are only available from the terminal window. RTTY, ASCII, AMTOR, FEC, NAVTEX and PACTOR You will need to have set up the commands your TNC requires for these operations, in its TNC file. CW is not presently supported, cos I prefer ears and keys!! HARGHH HARGHH !! Enter terminal mode, then menu on the terminal window. Follow the modes arrow, then the other modes arrow, click select on the mode you require. If it is a mode where a selcall may be needed, a window will appear inviting you to enter a selcall. Should you not wish to enter a selcall, just click on OK anyway leaving the writeable box blank. With luck, you should enter the correct mode. In order to drive such unimportant items such as PTT lines etc. Click select on the terminal window. An suitable command window should appear. If the command you want is not readily visible, pull down the scroll bar, and see if it's there. Present commands (subject to proper setting up in the TNC file) are: Transmit : Very important if you have a licence Rx after : Return to receive when your TX buffer is exhausted Rx immediate : Go back to receive NOW! (e.g. if YL notices severe patterning on `Neighbours' etc.) Invert : Invert characters Shift : Alter shift To escape back to packet, menu on the terminal window, follow other modes, then select the packet option at the top. Contacting the author ===================== By AX25 Packet mail : G4HIP@GB7BBC.GB7HSN.#32.GBR.EU Amateur IP mail : g4hip@gb7bbc.ampr.org. Internet e-mail : gareth@lightfox.demon.co.uk V0.20 16/04/95