112 lines
3.9 KiB
HTML
112 lines
3.9 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="LinuxDoc-Tools 0.9.21">
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<TITLE>FBB Packet-radio BBS mini-HOWTO: Introduction</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="FBB-2.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="FBB.html#toc1" REL=contents>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<A HREF="FBB-2.html">Next</A>
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Previous
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<A HREF="FBB.html#toc1">Contents</A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s1">1.</A> <A HREF="FBB.html#toc1">Introduction</A></H2>
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<P>I have been using FBB amateur radio software since
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early nineties. It was the time of DOS operating
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system, so most of us, system administrators (or, so
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called system operators - sysop's), used various
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packet radio <EM>server</EM> software for DOS.
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Versions of FBB packet radio BBS <EM>server</EM>
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software for DOS, today are known as "DosFBB". </P>
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<P>I still administer one DosFBB database in the SRV
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(Amateur Radio Union of Vojvodina, a part of SRJ).
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It is DosFBB v7.00g23 that runs on a 486DX computer
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with 16 MB of RAM and Hercules b/w graphics. Since
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December 1999, it runs without any re-boot (excepting
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some power failures). Before that, it was a bit
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tricky to set up all memory management properly, in
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order to avoid "frozen" system. Although this server
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runs under DOS, its "radio clients" don't depend
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on that. In fact, users of that DosFBB might run
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their client software under DOS, Windows, Linux
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or any other operating system that offer amateur
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packet radio abilities. </P>
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<P>I have also used DosFBB v5.15c on a 286/12 box at home.
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Five years ago, when I got better box, Pentium I at 166 MHz with
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32 MB of RAM and VGA color graphics, I switched to a Windows
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version of FBB ("WinFBB"). Author of the software, a radio amateur
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from France, Jean-Paul F6FBB, has made many versions of WinFBB,
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including 16 bit variant for Windows 3.x and Windows 9x as well as
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32 bit variant for Windows NT. I have run both variants until now
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(at the moment it is 16 bit WinFBB v7.00g25 that runs great under
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Windows NT 4.0).</P>
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<P>Update: In late 1999, I upgraded my system to
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Celeron 400 MHz, added more 64 MB of RAM and
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switched to bigger hard disk that will have enough room
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to install Linux and try LinFBB ...</P>
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<P>Update: Since Spring 2001, I run WinFBB v7.00i
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(17 March 2001) under Windows 2000 Professional. </P>
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<P>The main
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difference between DosFBB and WinFBB is that the
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second one offers you to do other jobs with your
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computer, while FBB is running as just any other
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application. Besides that, it is always nice to
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copy some text from another application (for example,
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from an Internet email) and to paste it into a
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packet radio message, or vice versa.</P>
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<P>Update: In July 2001, I added more 128 MB of RAM
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so my home system is very confortable now.</P>
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<P>Finally, you should be aware what I want to
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have here:
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<PRE>
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1. WinFBB when I run Windows.
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2. LinFBB when I run Linux. It should be an
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Xwindow application that may be
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started/stopped similarly to WinFBB.
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That's why X11 LinFBB package is used.
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3. LinFBB when I run Linux, but as a daemon
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that runs in the background. In addition,
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an interface for a local user (myself)
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is needed, as well as an interface to
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monitor the radio channel.
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4. All three versions must be capable to
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share the same configuration files, i.e.
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to be able, for example, to begin a new
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session from the exact position where the
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other version has finished its own last
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session.
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5. I am not an expert in Linux, so I am
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only able to install "factory-made"
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packages for Linux (just like to install
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self executing software packages under
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Windows). I mean of RPM packages. So, there
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are no source (re)compilations here at the
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moment, but in the future we will see :-)
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</PRE>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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<HR>
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