XRpi interfacing with LinFBB

Software is available on this link

Wow, found great software. Yes I know, it has been around for a while. I thought it would be nice to keep me busy on a rainy Saturday. So let’s interface it with LinFBB.

It actually works a bit like BPQ32 and LinFBB with WA8DED emulation. But for XRouter and LinFBB we need a virtual comport. We can make these easily with socat.

sudo apt install socat

Now lets create some comports

# Create pty pair
socat -d -d -ly PTY,link=/home/pi/xrpi/ttyq1 PTY,link=/home/pi/xrpi/ptyq1 &
sleep 2

I have chosen to create this as a normal user and put it in the directory /home/pi/xrpi/. Now as a normal user I can access and use them. I am never much of a fan of doing everything as a Root user.

Now lets configure XRouter.

INTERFACE=5
	TYPE=ASYNC
	COM=/home/pi/xrpi/ttyq1
	PROTOCOL=DEDHOST
	APPLNUM=1
	CHANNELS=4
	SPEED=57600
	FLOW=0
	MTU=256
ENDINTERFACE

APPL=1
	APPLNAME=FBB
	APPLCALL=PI8LAP-1
	APPLALIAS=LAPFBB
	APPLQUAL=254
	APPLFLAGS=4
ENDAPPL

Next is LinFBB… port.sys

# FBB7.0.8-beta8
#
#Ports TNCs
 1     1
#
#Com Interface Adress (Hex)       Baud
1  	 9        /home/pi/xrpi/ptyq1    57600
 
#TNC NbCh Com MultCh Pacln Maxfr NbFwd MxBloc M/P-Fwd Mode  Freq
 0   0    0   0      0     0     0     0      00/01   ----  File-fwd.
1   4    1   1      236   4     1     10     00/15 DUWYL XRpi

Now fist create a start file for XRpi

# First kill running process of socat
sudo kill $(ps aux | grep '[s]ocat' | awk '{print $2}')
# Create pty pair
socat -d -d -ly PTY,link=/home/pi/xrpi/ttyq1 PTY,link=/home/pi/xrpi/ptyq1 &
sleep 2
# Start XRpi(1)
sudo setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_bind_service=pe xrpi
./xrpi

1. As Normal user, it will need CAP_NET_RAW capability in order to use TCP/IP via the LAN, WiFi or localhost. And it will need CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE if you wish to open any “service ports” on the linux TCP/IP stack whose numbers are below 1024.

First we have to start XRpi because of course the virtual comports have to be created. After this it is LinFBB’s turn. Now is the time to test.

The link with BPQ32 is also online. Also with virtual comports.

And yes, there is the old trusted LinFBB.

The possibilities are endless with this software. So there goes me free Saturday again.

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