Drivers RMS Port Devices

You assign any desired logical device names (LDN) to each device in OPOS configuration utility provided by POS hardware manufacturer. In Abacre Restaurant Point of Sale you assign chosen logical device names (LDN) to devices: bill printers, kitchen and bar printers, pole (line display) and cash drawer.

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Introduction

For most devices, the Ports device setup class and the Serial function driver provide the functionality required to operate serial ports and COM ports. To install serial ports and COM ports using these system-supplied components, do the following: Provide an INF file that specifies the Ports device setup class and the Serial function driver as the service for the port. Open the Device Manager by right clicking “My computer” and selecting control panel. Look under Ports (COM & LPT). You should see an open port named 'USB Serial Port' Right click on the 'USB Serial Port' and choose the 'Update Driver Software' option. Next, choose the 'Browse my computer for Driver software' option. The SuperPro driver appears to be installed and running. However, the hardware key does not appear to be plugged into a parallel port on this system. Verify that the key is plugged securely into the back of the computer and remove any devices, such as Zip drive, printer, or other Sentinel Keys that are plugged into the back of the key. Virtual COM port (VCP) drivers cause the USB device to appear as an additional COM port available to the PC. Application software can access the USB device in the same way as it would access a standard COM port. This software is provided by Future Technology Devices International Limited “as is” and any express or implied warranties.

This document decribes how to set up a basic RMS Gateway using LinBPQ - the Linux version of the BPQ32 Networking package. Although the instructions are slanted toward using a Raspberry PI, which because of the combination of small size and low price and power consumption makes a good choice for a gateway, the software can run on other Linux systems. Familiarity with the Winlink 2000 system is assumed, along with a (very) basic Linux knowledge.

Although there are other ways of providing a Packet RMS Gateway (eg LinuxRMS) LinBPQ has the advantage of supporting a range of Data over Radio protocols (eg Pactor, Robust Packet, WINMOR) as well as ax.25 Packet, allowing it to provide much the same facilites as RMS Trimode. Note that although WINMOR is supported, until a Linux port of the WINMOR TNC is produced, a separate Windows machine is required to run the TNC. LinBPQ can also run a store and forward system which can provide similar facilites to RMS Relay, and Winlink Client facilites similar to Paclink.

BPQ32/LinBPQ is a pretty complex package, with many options. This document describes how to set up a simple, single protocol gateway without having to wade throuugh a lot of irrelevant stuff. Once you have a basic system running if you want to add other options it shouldn't seem so complicated. If you want more information, the full specification of bpq32.cfg is here .

Installation

If you are using a Raspberry Pi and are completely new to the PI, there are intructions on how to do the basic setup of the Pi Linux operating system here. Stop when you get to the 'Installing LinBPQ section and continue here.
I've written a simple script to download, install and configure LinBPQ as a Winlink RMS Gateway. The script can be seen here, and the configuration file bpq32.cfg it installs here

Download the script using wget, set it as executable and run it:

This will create the directory linbpq and download linbpq and other needed files into it. It will prompt for your callsign and edit bpq32.cfg with your call.

Configuration.

LinBPQ configuration is held in file bpq32.cfg. LinBPQ refers to links to the outside world as PORTS. These may be radio links, paths over the Internet, or wire links. For an RMS Gateway you need at least two - one to connect to the CMS over the Internet, and one for your users to connect to over radio. The management interface is Web based and uses the same port as CMS Access. A bpq32.cfg file with a Telnet port for management and connecting to a CMS is installed as by the above installation script. You will need to edit to add your Winlink PASSWORD. Replace CMSPASS with your RMS Gateway password, and user and password in the USER line with something suitable. You can change HTTPPORT, TCPPORT and FBBPORT to other values if they clash with ports you are using for other software. If you set LOCATOR to your Grid Square, the software will send you position to the BPQ32 Node Map.
Various options for radio ports are described below.
At this point if you wish you can start the software, and check that the CMS connection works using the Web Management Interface.

You should see something like

Note that LinBPQ is intended to run in the background, (see later for how to set this up) so you can't interact with it, except to shut it down withctrl/c
Open a Web browser, either on the LinBPQ machine or another on the same network and connect to 127.0.0.1:8080 if using a local browser or ipaddr:8080 if using a remote machine. You should see the node management page:

If you are connecting to 127.0.0.1 you will be logged into the management interface automatically. If not, you need to sign in using the SYSOP Signin link. If you haven't edited the USER line the user and password are 'user' and 'password'

Click on the Teminal Tab, end enter RMS to connect to the Winlink Server. You should see someting like

Type B to close your session to the CMS and click 'Close and Return to Node' to end your terminal session.
If this is ok, you can go on and configure your radio port(s).

Configuring Radio Ports

All radio ports include a WL2KREPORT line, which sets up reporting to the Winlink channels database. Edit this line with the infomation for your station. Fields are

Service, Host, Port, Callsign, Locator, Hours, Freq, Mode, Power, Ant Height, Ant Gain, Ant Direction

See here for more information on reporting to the WL2K staton database.

Packet

Using TNC-Pi

The TNCPi is a version of the TNC-X KISS TNC modified to be the same size as the PI and to connect to it via either its serial port or i2c bus. If you use i2c you can connect more than one TNC, but for simplicity this example uses the serial port. See here for instructions on using i2c.

Using other types of KISS TNC

Normally TNC's will be connected to the pi using USB, and will appear as device /dev/ttyUSB0.

Copy your bpq32.cfg after the Telnet Port config, and if necessary change parameters to suit you local packet network.

Robust Packet

Robust Packet is a protocol developed by SCS using standard ax.25 frames, but with a modulation method similar to Pactor II. It generally is considered to be more effective on HF than normal 300 baud FSK Packet. It normally runs at 600 baud, but can fall back to 300 on poor channels. It is supported by the SCS Tracker and some PTC models. It would be arather a waste to use a PTC just for Robust Packet, but it can also be ocmbined with Pactor - see the Pactor section for details

SCS Tracker.

The Tracker connects to the Pi using USB, and appears as /dev/ttyUSB0. Note that early PI kernels would crash when trying to access the tracker, so make sure your Kernel is up to date (at least Version 3.6.11+ Build 393).

Change MYCALL to your callsign

Pactor

Most stations use one o the SCS range of comtrollers for Pactor, as these are the only ones that support Pactor II and above. However LinBPQ also supports AEA KAM and HAL controllers.

SCS Pactor Cotrollers.

Any of the SCS Pactor controllers can be used. These will normally connect via USB, ether via a USB-Serial converter or a built-in USB Port. You can also use the PI's built in serial port, but this would need a TTL (3.3V) to RS322 converter.

If you have a PTC PRO with Packet modules, these can be used on packet at the same time as the main port is used on Pactor.

If you have a non-PRO module you can use either Pactor or Robust Packet. The software can be set to scan between the two. This is decribed later in the section on scanning.

Alter PSKA and FSKA as requited. if you are using a Dragon, add the following line before ENDPORT. To comply with US regulations, the Dragon will be limited to P3. If your administration permits P4, also add MAXLEVEL=4

If you wish to use any packet ports on a PTC PRO, you will need to set suitable ax.25 params, for example:

These also go before ENDPORT

Scanning

Scanning is supported for most ICOM and Kenwood rigs with a CAT interface. Some Yeasu rigs are also supported, but as Yeasu dont have a standard, not all work.

Scanning is controlled by the RIGCONTROL configuration statement, which goes before ENDPORT. A example configuration is