NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/comp/sys/amiga/datacomm/5853

Internet Message Format | 1992-08-22 | 10.1 KB

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From: [e-mail]
Subject: [comp.sys.amiga.datacomm]: AmigaNOS Frequently asked questions
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Sender: [e-mail] (Michael Richardson)
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Organization: Sandelman Software Works, Debugging Department, Ottawa, ON
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 03:49:58 GMT
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Archive-Name: AmigaNOS-faq
Version: $Id: nos-faq,v 1.2 92/07/01 14:27:20 mcr Exp Locker: mcr $



        Frequently asked questions about AmigaNOS.
        ******************************************
           Michael Richardson
        [e-mail]
    Last edited: Fri Mar 20 19:48:08 EST 1992

  I think I see at least a question about AmigaNOS every week. I'm
going to try and compile a frequently asked questions on it. I think
at least the following questions must be answered:

  1.*) general questions
  1.1) what is AmigaNOS
  1.2) what is it used for?
  1.3) how do I get it to dial?
  1.4) where can I get documentation/source/binary?
  1.5) can I do dialup X? NFS? SMTP?
  1.6) What about PPP?
  1.7) where I find out more?
  1.8) How do I install it?

  2.*) questions of a more technical nature
  2.1) Does it come with a library gives you socket calls?

  If you mail me other questions (or answers) I'll include them, and
find answers for them. If you have better responses, please send them.
I'm taking this stuff from postings that are still around my system.
  This is formatted as a digest, you can go to the next section with
many news readers with ^G.

--------
Subject: 1.1 -  What is AmigaNOS

From: [e-mail] (Steve McKinty - Sun ICNC)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 11 Feb 92 13:11:05 GMT

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Only the BEST!!) writes:
   > Guys, pardon my ignorance, but what is AmigaNOS really used for??  I thought
   > it was a terminal program, but it apparantly is some kind of a networking fo
   > software.  So what is it used for, and how could I take advantage of it.

NOS was originally written for PCs by Phil Karn, a radio ham whose callsign
is KA9Q (the software is often referred to as the KA9Q software). It was
designed to allow hams to run AX25 (a modified version of X.25 for amateur
radio) and TCP/IP over their packet radio modems. It now also supports
TCP/IP over ethernet lines and serial lines, and as far as I know also
has support for other protocols like Net/ROM (ham radio) and PPP.

AmigaNOS is an Amiga port of it, currently maintained by John Heaton, a UK
radio amateur. Its not exclusively for hams, it works very well as a
general network package for PCs, Amigas, Macs etc. I've used it to
connect PCs to Suns, and intend to do the same with an Amiga/Sun connection.

Steve

--------
Subject: 1.2 -  What is AmigaNOS used for?

  A great deal of people use AmigaNOS over serial lines (with or
without modems) for file transfers and telnet connections. The other
facilities are of limited use unless you are a ham radio operator.
  I (<[e-mail]>) use it to connect my Amiga and Sun 3/60.
I have an ftp login that connects me to the MSH: device. This lets me
stick 720k MSDOS disks in my Amiga and transfer things (usually things
I've ftp'ed at school) directly to the Sun.

  In order to make use of AmigaNOS' SLIP capabilities you need a host
to connect to that is willing to do SLIP. Just having AmigaNOS doesn't
get you on the Internet.

--------
Subject: 1.3 - How do you get AmigaNOS to dial?

From: [e-mail] (Roy A Sutton)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Brian Mcbee) writes:
>So, my understanding is that AmigaNOS doesn't have the ability to let you dial
>your modem.  Those of you using it for dial up SLIP, what terminal program
>are you using to dial with, and where did you get it?  I have a small
>collection of terminal programs that I have been using, but they all drop
>the connection when I exit from the program.  Any ideas?
>
>
>--
>Brian McBee   [e-mail]  or  [e-mail]

If you have a Hayse compatible modem, it can be programmed
to (or not to) drop the line when DTR is dropped. Since all
terminal programs release the serial device when they are existed,
the DTR is droped. What you can doe is issure the command to
your modem, if supported, to not drop the line when DTR is dropped.

I hope this helps,

Roy Sutton
PVAMU

From: [e-mail] (Duane)

The reason that your carrier is dropped when you leave a terminal program,
is that your modem is not set so that "DTR ALWAYS ON", refer to the
manuals, but I imagine its a dipswitch setting...

From: [e-mail] (JOHN HEATON)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

>6.  Dialer Subcommands
>    Each dialer command may (should) have a different diler file.
>    The file resides in the configuration directory, as specified in the
>    Installation section (see chapter 1). etc.

I have NOT put these into AmigaNOS, because I have no need for them on
Packet Radio.

=+=+=+=+=

  PC versions of NOS have a `tip' command that lets you talk to the
device directly. The code is #ifdef'd out in the Amiga version, but
could probably be enabled with a little work - mcr.

--------
Subject: 1.4 - Where can I get documentation/source/binary?

  If you can ftp, look on ucsd.edu under /hamradio/packet. Look for
the PC documentation, as there is little that is fundamentally
changed.
  /hamradio/packet/tcpip/amiga will usually have the latest binaries
and source.
  John Heaton also has source and binary kit available for anon-ftp
available from jh.mcc.ac.uk (130.88.202.27). Unless you are on John's
side of the big sink, you would be better advised to try ucsd.edu.

--------
Subject: 1.5 -  Can I do dialup X? NFS?

From: [e-mail] (Randy M. Roberts)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.packet,comp.sys.amiga.datacomm
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John Heaton) writes:
}I Use AmigaNOS on my 2000 to send/receive files to/from my 386/40 PC running
}NOS.EXE at 19200baud at about 5k/sec using SLIP.
}
    Does this mean that I should have no problem (hee, hee) using
    AmigaNos to connect to the SLIP system at school over a modem?

    Does this also mean that I can buy GfxBase's X server and use
    it over said line?

    Inquiring minds want to know!

}Cheers, John.
}                  JANET : [e-mail]
}  Packet: [e-mail]7NWP.#16.GBR.EU                        (QTHR)
}* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *
}|                      NRS Central Administrator                      |
}| MCC Network Unit, The University, Oxford Road, Manchester,  M13-9PL |
}|           Phone: [phone], FAX: [phone]          |
}* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *


  As said above, yes, AmigaNOS will let you do SLIP. How usefull this
is uncertain. It does let you have multiple sessions, and you can do
background file transfers.

  No. GfxBase will not run with AmigaNOS.
  There is no NFS server or client in AmigaNOS. See question 2.1.

--------
Subject: 1.6 - Can I do PPP?

In article <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> writes:
>I am currently using the AmigaNOS with PPP, which was done by Marc Boucher.
>The version information indicates: KA9Q NOS 900418 (PPP.15).

--------
Subject: 1.7 - Where do I find out more?

  A mailing list has been in existance for the past year or so. It is
named [e-mail]. To have yourself added to the
list, please send mail to [e-mail].
  Messages from the past several months are being collected in
alfred.ccs.carleton.ca:/pub/amiga-net/amiga-slip

--------
Subject: 1.8 - How do I install it?

From: [e-mail] (JOHN HEATON)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

All the files relating to AmigaNOS, are normally under the device TCPIP:
i.e,

directories:
    TCPIP:Finger
    TCPIP:Spool/HELP
    TCPIP:Spool/MAIL
    TCPIP:Spool/MQUEUE
    TCPIP:Spool/NEWS
files:
    TCPIP:Spool/areas
    TCPIP:Spool/forward.bbs
    TCPIP:AmigaNOS
    TCPIP:ftpusers
    TCPIP:Domain.txt
    TCPIP:alias
    TCPIP:nos.rc
etc....

If you want a full list then let me know.

Cheers, John.
                  JANET : [e-mail]
  Packet: [e-mail]7NWP.#16.GBR.EU                        (QTHR)
* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *
|                      NRS Central Administrator                      |
| MCC Network Unit, The University, Oxford Road, Manchester,  M13-9PL |
|           Phone: [phone], FAX: [phone]          |
* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *

--------
Subject: 2.1 - Does it come with a library gives you socket calls?

  You can't interface GfxBase's X server because AmigaNOS does not
provide any kind of standard TCP/IP library interface. Commodore
hasn't really released one yet. Although they do have TCP/IP software
for their network board, I don't think it does socket.library yet, and
AmigaNOS doesn't talk to socket.library anyway.

  AmigaNOS is one binary and multitasks internally (but not with
AmigaDOS' help). You have to remember that NOS stands for Network
Operating System. On NOS' native PC environment when you remove NOS
all you have is a sophisticated program loader, NOS provides
everything else.

  To add a new client or server to NOS, one must recompile the whole
program. On PCs, the NOS people are currently hitting the 640k crunch
very hard. Fortunately, we don't have this problem.





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