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<!doctype linuxdoc system>
<article>
<title>FBB Packet-radio BBS mini-HOWTO
<author>Miroslav "Misko" Skoric, YT7MPB,
<tt/m.skoric@eunet.yu/
<date>v1.0, 19 September 2000
<abstract>
<nidx>linux windows nt amateur packet radio</nidx>
This mini-HOWTO covers the installation and use of
the most popular amateur packet-radio BBS
software FBB. That software works under Linux, DOS
and Windows operating systems. It serves as a
bulletin board system (BBS), a mailbox for
personal messages, a database for various texts,
documents and binary files, a server for small
useful calculations etc. Packet radio is a way of
connecting computers via amateur radio stations.
</abstract>
<sect>INTRODUCTION
<p>
I have been using FBB amateur radio software since
early nineties. It was the time of DOS operating
system, so most of us, system administrators (so
called system operators - sysop's) used various
packet radio software for DOS. Versions of FBB
packet radio BBS software for DOS, today are
known as DosFBB.
<p>
I still administer one DosFBB
database in the SRV (Amateur Radio Union of
Vojvodina, a part of SRJ). It is DosFBB v7.00g23
that runs on a 486DX computer with 16 MB of RAM
and Hercules b/w graphics. Since last December,
it runs without any re-boot (excepting some power
failures). Before that, it was a bit tricky to
set up all memory management properly, in order
to avoid "frozen" system. Although this server
runs under DOS, its "radio clients" don't depend
on that. In fact, users of that DosFBB might run
their client software under DOS, Windows, Linux
or any other operating system that offer amateur
packet radio abilities.
<p>Two years ago, after I got my new Pentium 166
box with 32 MB of RAM and VGA color graphics, I
switched to a Windows version of FBB (so called
WinFBB). Author of the software, an radio amateur
from France, Jean-Paul F6FBB, made several
versions of WinFBB, including 16 bit and 32 bit
versions for Windows 3.x and Windows 9x and NT.
<p>I have run both versions until now (WinFBB
v7.00g25 under Windows NT 4.0). The main
difference between DosFBB and WinFBB is that the
second one offers you to do other jobs with your
computer while FBB runs as just one of several
applications. Beside that, it is always nice to
copy a text from another application (for example
from an Internet email) and to paste it into a
packet radio message.
<p>In the mean time, I upgraded my system to the
Celeron 400 MHz with 96 MB of RAM and a big hard
disk that has enough room to try Linux...
<sect>INSTALLATION
<p>
<sect1>How to install X11 version of LinFBB
<p>
<itemize>
<item>First of all, you should have running Linux
with a GUI installed. I am fully satisfied
with Gnome GUI but I suppose that KDE will
be ok too (or any other GUI available).
<p>
<item>Download or copy LinFBB (the main ftp site
is ftp.f6fbb.org but there are many mirror
sites too). For example, if you get a file
like x700e_full.tgz it means that it is X11
version 7.00e and it contains all you need
in tgz archive to install the BBS. On the
other hand, name like xd700g_full.tgz means
that it is not X11 but daemon version 7.00g
and it is also complete to unpack. Further,
x700f01.tgz and x700g.tgz are "upgrades" to
any previous "full" package.
<p>
<item>Copy the archive file in /tmp directory.
<p>
<item>You have to make a "base" directory where
your FBB will be installed. For example you
may type: mkdir /usr/local/fbb if you want
FBB to be there. You have to be logged as
'root' or 'superuser' to install FBB.
<p>
<item>Then, you should locate yourself in that
directory: cd /usr/local/fbb.
<p>
<item>Now, you should unpack the archive:
tar xvzf /tmp/x700b25.tgz (<-- use the right
name of the archive here).
<p>
<item>When you finished unpacking the archive,
you may continue installing the software:
./install.sh is the command for that. The
setup will ask you for the 'base' directory
where FBB will be installed. If you chose
/usr/local/fbb again, you will be told that
such directory already exists and all files
will be overwritten. It is ok, so you should
answer yes. If everything is ok, you should
see on the screen that fbb system
directories are created. At the beginning
of that procedure, program will ask you for
bbs's callsign, name of the city, QTH
locator, your name etc. That details will
become a part of /usr/local/fbb/init.srv
file.
<p>
<item>Beside that, you MUST check this file
again manualy and fix other details if
needed (because installation script does
not fix all parts of init.srv).
<p>
<item>Well, so far - so good. After you checked
all configuration files, you may start the
software: ./xfbb.sh (<-- type this within
an xterm or something similar). When you
start FBB for the first time, it will ask
you to create some files it needs, so you
should answer yes to the questions.
</itemize>
<p>
<sect1>How to install LinFBB beside WinFBB
<p>
<em>Notice: Folks, you see, at my place, I have a
dual-boot system, consisting of Windows NT and
Linux (each of them having their own partition(s)
and file system). I wanted to have 'independent'
operating systems that won't see each other. So I
made two NT's partitions as NTFS partitions and
rest of the space used Linux as ext2 partitions.
Well, first I have installed WinFBB under NT and
LinFBB under Linux. Both of them worked, but there
was a big "problem": I could not share their
system files. You might say: So, what a big deal.
But, my FBB's should serve as packet forwarding
stations, so it would be very useful for LinFBB
to know the point where WinFBB stopped the mail
exchange last time (and vice versa). </em>
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Well, in order to allow both WinFBB under
Windows NT and LinFBB under Linux to use
some common files, it is needed to put these
files in a place both operating systems can
"see" them. So I do that by re-installing
WinFBB onto a FAT (FAT16) partition that is
seen by NT and Linux. The best way to do
that is to install a fresh copy of WinFBB on
a FAT partition and to copy complete old
WinFBB from NTFS partition over the fresh
installation (whenever you are asked to
rewrite existing files, you should answer
yes).
<p>
<item>When it is finished, you should have a clone
of the existing old WinFBB, but this time on
the FAT partition that is visible from under
Linux. Anyway, you should check if
everything is running ok like before.
<p>
<item>It is also recommended to check the file
tree of WinFBB in order to become more
familiar with that. The file tree of LinFBB
is a bit different so it is advisable to
note those details.
<p>
<item>Some files can't be used as such under both
operating systems (without some neccesary
changes). That's why some file names should
be renamed:
<p>
init.srv -> init_w.srv
forward.sys -> forw_w.sys
port.sys -> port_w.sys
protect.sys -> prot_w.sys
<p>
FBB is able to recognize those changes.
<p>
<item>Make a backup of the new WinFBB (I make this
by copying the whole file structure into
another Windows partition that won't be
shared with Linux, like NTFS one).
<p>
<item>Now you should restart your machine and boot
Linux. Log on as 'root' or make 'su' from a
user's account.
<p>
<item>Mount a shared FAT directory:
mount vfat /dev/hda2 /mnt/win
<p>
<item>Copy LinFBB archive to /tmp directory.
<p>
<item>Locate yourself to a 'base' directory:
cd /usr/local/fbb (for example).
<p>
<item>Unpack the archive: tar xvzf /tmp/filename.
<p>
<item>Start the installation script ./install.sh
and, after asked for the 'base' installation
directory, chose /usr/local/fbb. Doesn't
matter if the program warns you that such
directory already exists so existing files
will be overwritten (by the way, if you
choose a mounted directory shared with NT,
many original WinFBB files would be over-
written by LinFBB files, so after returning
to Windows, WinFBB might not be functional
like before).
<p>
<item>Copy /usr/local/fbb to /mnt/win/fbb but do
not over-write existing files with files
with same names.
<p>
<item>Copy /mnt/win/fbb/init_w.srv to a file
/mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv
<p>
<item>Edit /mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv to what is
needed for Linux. You may use the existing
file /mnt/win/fbb/init.srv as an example.
<p>
<item>Copy newly edited /mnt/win/fbb/init_l.srv
over the /mnt/win/fbb/init.srv (if you do
not do that, maybe you can't start LinFBB
using ./xfbb.sh , like me).
<p>
<item>Copy /mnt/win/fbb/system/port_w.sys to
/mnt/win/fbb/system/port_l.sys file.
<p>
<item>Edit /mnt/win/fbb/system/port_l.sys to
what is needed for Linux. You may use the
existing file /mnt/win/fbb/system/port.sys
as an example.
<p>
<item>Edit /mnt/win/fbb/xfbb.sh in order to fix
the right path.
<p>
<item>Start the script ./xfbb.sh to run LinFBB.
If everything is ok, LinFBB under Linux
should run with the same parameters as
WinFBB do under Windows.
</itemize>
<sect>FURTHER INFORMATION
<p>
<sect1>Copyright
<p>
<em>Copyright is a source of much and continuous
debate on the LDP mailing list. For more in depth
information please consult the Manifesto at the
</em> <url url="http://www.LinuxDoc.org/"
name="LinuxDoc"> site.
<em>The purpose of having a license is to allow
appropriate distribution. You can use any license
that meets the Manifesto. What follows is a
boilerplatte license.
</em>
<p>
Copyright (c) 2000 by Miroslav Skoric, YT7MPB.
<P>
Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give
away) this document in any format. It is
requested that corrections and/or comments be
forwarded to the document maintainer. You may
create a derivative work and distribute it
provided that you:
<itemize>
<item>
Send your derivative work (in the most suitable
format such as sgml) to the LDP (Linux
Documentation Project) or the like for posting
on the Internet. If not the LDP, then let the LDP
know where it is available.
<item>
License the derivative work with this same
license or use GPL. Include a copyright notice
and at least a pointer to the license used.
<item>
Give due credit to previous authors and major
contributors.
</itemize>
<p>
If you're considering making a derived work other
than a translation, it's requested that you
discuss your plans with the current maintainer.
<sect1>Disclaimer
<p>
Use the information in this document at your own
risk. I disavow any potential liability of this
document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or
other content of this document is entirely at
your own risk.
All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless
specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in
this document should not be regarded as
affecting the validity of any trademark or service
mark.
Naming of particular products or brands should not
be seen as endorsements.
You are strongly recommended to take a backup of
your system before major installation and backups
at regular intervals.
<sect1>News
<p>
This is the first release of this mini-HOWTO. I
hope to improve it whenever possible. Beside that,
there are other documents that may help you to
use amateur radio stuff on your computer. You may
look for AX.25 (mini-)HOWTO at the same location
where you get FBB mini-HOWTO
<em>This mini-HOWTO would be improved from time
to time. If you think that the HOWTO on your
Linux installation CD is some out-of-date, you
may check for newest release on the Internet. It
could be found within the main <url
url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/"
name="Linux Documentation Project">
homepage.
</em>
<sect1>Credits
<p>
<em>This version of mini-HOWTO can thanks to:</em>
<tscreen><verb>
Jean-Paul Roubelat, F6FBB, the author of FBB.
Per Olsen, LA6CU, the author of FBB documentation.
</verb></tscreen>
Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my
email address:
<htmlurl url="mailto:m.skoric@eunet.yu"
name="m.skoric@eunet.yu">.
</article>