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RATS Open Systems Environment (ROSE) ROSE X.25 Packet Switch System Manager Manual by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY Distributed by Thomas A. Moulton 150 William Street Clifton, NJ 07014 United States of America Introduction 1 Use Guidelines 1 Notational Syntax 1 Addressing 1 Routing 2 Network Definition 3 Network Configuration 4 Configuration of Default Parameters 5 Configuration of This Switch 6 Configuration of This Switch 7 Configuration of Local Switches 9 Configuration of Routing Information 11 Additional Configuration Commands 13 Special Characters to the Configuration Program 13 ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Applications 13 LOADER Application 14 LOADABLE APPLICATIONS 16 BOOTER Application 17 CONFIG Application 17 HEARD Application 19 INFO Applications 19 MHEARD Application 20 MEMSIZ Application 20 USERS Application 20 Running ROSEPWD 21 Running the Configuration Program 22 Configuration Program Command Summary and Error Messages 22 Programming the EPROM 22 Permanent Configuration of the Switch 25 Power ON Indications for TNC-2 26 Configuring a switch for the first time 27 Configuring a switch for the second time 30 Configuring a Remote Switch 30 Loading a Switch after a Power Failure 31 Hardware Installation - TNC-2 or Clone 31 Hardware Installation - PacComm DR-100/DR-200 32 Hardware Modifications - TNC-2 or Clone 33 Hardware Modifications - DR-100/DR-200 33 Asynchronous Communications 35 Asynchronous Radio Port Cables 37 Wiring two TNCs for Back-to-Back Operation 37 Differences between ROSE and Net/ROM Back-to-Back Cable 38 Wiring many TNCs for Back-to-Back Operation 38 Conclusion 39 Appendix 1 - Files Supplied in archive 1 Appendix 2 - ROSE X.25 Packet Switch User's Manual 1 Appendix 3 - Network Configuration Example 1 Appendix 4 - Terminology 1 Appendix 5 - Shifted ASCII Table 2 1 Introduction The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch is an advanced replacement for the common digipeater or other node switching EPROM. The ROSE Switch represents the state of the art in packet switching technology using international standard protocols. It is based on the CCITT X.25 Network Layer, and the ARRL AX.25 Link Layer Protocols. The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch is the best solution for Amateur Packet Radio Networking. A ROSE Switch can be accessed by standard AX.25 TNCs supporting the AX.25 Link Layer protocol. The AX.25 Link Layer protocol is also used on paths between backbone switches. The X.25 Network Layer protocol is used by the switches to transfer the users' data through the network. See Appendix 2 (Users Manual) for a complete list of features. Use Guidelines The ROSE switch is a shareware product within the Amateur Radio Community. The executable firmware is available from many sources, including many land-line BBSs, as well directly from the author. The switch firmware may be used free of charge for amateur radio purposes. Shareware registration will entitle the user to notification of updates, information about new applications as well as assistance with network coordination. Informational mailings will be sent bimonthly. See Appendix 6, ROSE Registration Form. Answers to questions, special help, such as customized EPROMs, assistance with configurations, can be arranged by contacting the author. Commercial use of the ROSE X.25 Packet Switch is expressly forbidden. Contact the author for commercial licensing information. Notational Syntax Words that have the first character capitalized are being emphasized and are defined in Appendix 4 Terminology. In examples of interactions with the Switch commands you typed are underlined and replies from the Switch are bold. Addressing The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch supports the global addressing plan adopted by CCITT and ISO. This plan includes a country code and a national network number. The ROSE Switch follows the numbering plan in use in the national X.25 packet switching network, most packet networks follow the telephone numbering plan used in that country. North America uses the telephone Area Code and Exchange. 2 This system will allow a user to request a connection with another station without any concern given to the exact path the data will follow. This is in sharp contrast to the explicitly specified approach used by digipeaters. The motivation for this is that the general user population doesn't care to, or have time to, keep abreast of the networking changes over time. The routing is under your complete control, so users can't clog the network with retries on obsolete RF paths. Users only need to know the Network Address of the destination, which is like a telephone number. The ROSE Switch may be configured with several paths to remote Area Codes or countries. Each of the specified links will be tried in the order they were specified to find an operational route. This is an improvement on several existing amateur systems which can only provide implicit destination routing to switches known by the source switch. The telephone exchanges are allocated based on the population density of each area. A single ROSE X.25 Switch can provide RF coverage of many different exchanges. A full list of exchanges that the switch should handle as its own can be specified. The addressing also needs to support routing to different countries, the X.121 standard handles this with a prefix country code. In data networks the country code is called the Data Network Identification Code (DNIC), the ROSE Switch supports up to 8 different DNICS, and will be expanded as the networks grow. The user can specify the DNIC in the TNC connect command by adding an extra four digit digipeater field between the switch callsign and the network address, for example to connect to VE7APU in Canada you could enter the following command: C VE7APU V N2DSY-3,3020,617385 The ROSE Switch would see the four digit group and the fact that another digit field followed it and merge the numbers, resulting in an address of 3020617385. If you get a call from a station that is in a different DNIC than the ROSE Switch you use, it will insert the correct DNIC in the digipeater field preceding the network address in the connect request. This insures that you know how to reach the user at a later date, as well as providing identification of international contacts which sometimes require special considerations by the users in the contact. Routing The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch supports a very flexible static routing scheme. The routing is static in that the the routing tables are not automatically updated in any way. The normal method of having automatically updated tables is through the use 3 of various broadcasts for routing updates, ROSE does not do this. Instead the system manager should configure the switch with all the reasonable paths for a given address. This avoids the problem of short band openings that provide routing information but no useful data transfer. When attempting to route a call request the switch will obtain the alternative list for the address specified from the routing table. The list contains a sequence of which local switches can handle the call in order of the preference of the path. The most preferred switch that is not listed as "Out of Order" will be sent the call request. If that switch responds with a network level error, such as "No Path" or "Out of Order" the next path in the alternative list will be tried. If it runs out of alternatives the call will be cleared with a cause of "Out of Order". A switch will mark a local switch as "Out of Order" if it can not establish network level communications with the switch. The switch will be considered as "Out of Order" for a configurable period of time. A routing loop can occur when a switch receives a call request that it has already routed to another switch. This is detected by the switch by examining the following information from the call request packet; Source Network Address, Source Call Sign, Destination Call Sign and a random number. The random number is comprised of an 8 bit call sequence number and an 8 bit random number. The call sequence number is incremented for each new call request a switch handles. If a loop is detected the second call request is cleared with a network level error and the preceding switch will then try the next alternative. Network Definition Designing local network topology can be an art in itself. The following is a good template that can be used to determine a first best guess as to how the various paths should be used. Once you have a network operational you should try various paths to optimize the traffic flow. In many cases gut feelings should be tried as there are things we all know about RF paths that I haven't been able to put into words. In order to define a network of ROSE X.25 Packet Switches, perform the following steps: 1) Draw a network layout consisting of switches and the usable RF paths between each adjacent switch. 4 2) Assign each switch a callsign and address consisting of the telephone Area Code and Exchange of the location of the switch. 3) Prioritize the reliability of each switch's outbound links. Preferred paths should have many of the following characteristics; Solid paths, low volume paths; high speed channels; and low contention. In general the number of emitters on a given frequency should kept low. Hidden transmitters should be eliminated. All the emitters should hear each other well enough to cause the carrier to be detected by the modem. The shortest path between two points is the path with the most available band width, not the shortest distance! 4) For each link list the switches within your network that can be reached. If a switch shows up more than once decide the order that they should be used, usually "shortest" to "longest". Inter-switch traffic on a user channel should be avoided. 5) Next decide the best path for traffic from switches outside your control should follow. These can be thought of general directions, such as North, South, etc. Usually the inter- LAN boundary is obvious, all you have to do is decide what route through your switches you want this foreign traffic to follow. This route is a good candidate for a backbone channel on a different band. When each of these items is defined, you will have completed a basic network design. The method is minimal, but it will assist you in understanding the workings of the network when you start the deployment phase. It will also be helpful when trying to debug network problems. Network Configuration In a ROSE X.25 Network each switch has a description of what the network looks like from it's point of view. This consists of a list of switches that it talks to directly and routing information. The routing information describes what network addresses each of the switches in the list can handle. When a connect request is received by a switch it must be able to decide where the request should be sent next. Connection requests can be from either a local user or from another switch. The configuration of a switch is stored in a file that contains four sections. These are: 1) Default Parameters 2) Information about the switch being configured 3) A list of switches local to the switch being configured 4) Routing information, who should handle what addresses Appendix 4 contains a list of terms that should be reviewed to aid in clarity of the descriptions. 5 Default Parameters There are four switch parameters that can be defaulted, the form of the default command is: DEFAULT par Value Where the "par" is one of the following and the value is as described. L3W 1..7 This configures the Level 3 Packet Window, much like MAXFRAME for TNC Links. As noted valid values are 1 through 7. TimeOut 0..65535 When a network Link is not operational due to a radio failure or interference a timer is started to keep the switch from continuously trying to bring up the link. This is done to reduce the time required to route around a malfunctioning switch or path. The suggested value is 900 seconds (15 Minutes), but other values can be used from 0 to 65535 seconds (18 Hours). A realistic minimum value is 3-5 minutes. A lower value could cause the call router to try a bad link more than once with the same call request. MaxVC 0..254 This parameter sets the number of VCs, or simultaneous connections, that will be allowed on a Link to another switch. The recommended value for this is 20. A special case occurs when this statement appears in a USER block statement. Port 0..4 This defines which serial port on the switch the Node or User is said to be listening. On a TNC-2 the radio is Port 0 and the RS-232 connector is Port 1. The recommended values for these defaults are: DEFAULT PORT 0 DEFAULT TIMEOUT 900 DEFAULT L3W 4 DEFAULT MAXVC 20 Include This default parameter defines a directory that the configuration program will check for include files (*<). This directory is only checked if the included file is not found in the current directory. 6 DEFAULT Include C:\ROSENET\ Password Protection To protect the switch from being accessed by unauthorized users the application loader has password protection. The password is contained in an external file that is in the current directory or the Default Include directory. The password file has two parts, first is a decimal number indicating how long the correct reply should be and the second part is the password key. For Example: 1 ROSEISBESTABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ When you connect to LOADER you will be presented with a series of 16 hex numbers. Example: cmd:C LOADER Via ROSE-3,000000 *** CONNECTED TO LOADER VIA ROSE-3,000000 Call being setup Call Completed to LOADER @ 3100000000 ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Version 901026 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY 03 04 1D 22 05 10 19 08 1A 11 18 02 09 01 20 1F E OK Since the reply length is one, you only need to reply to the first number. It is important to note that the first character (the "R" of ROSE in this case) is counted as 00. Therefore the correct reply is "E". If the reply length is configured as zero (0) then no password is required. The default is to have No password. The supplied file (PASSWORD.RS) has the example given above as a sample. A password will also be configurable in the EPROM in future releases of MAKEPROM.EXE. A handy utility to print a table for reply key look up can be made using ROSEPWD.EXE. See the description of it for details. 7 Information about the switch being configured The first thing that must be done is a declaration of what country this switch is in. This is done with the DNIC command, which has the form: THIS DNIC 3100 United States of America The THIS command is used on the beginning of a statement to identify that the rest of the line is for the switch that is being configured. The 3100 is the country code for the USA within the data networks. A complete list of DNICs can be found in Appendix C of the ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Users Manual, which is in Appendix 2 of this manual. Once this is done you can define the internal information about the switch being configured. Again we use the THIS prefix to identify we are talking about the switch being configured. THIS NODE Clifton The NODE statement is a Block Statement that is terminated with an END statement. Note: The location name, Clifton in this case, is only used within the configuration file, not on the air. This name must not have any spaces or commas in it. Little Falls, NJ is listed as LittleFalls. Each switch must have a Network Address, this is what is used to reference the switch as the destination of a Call Request from anywhere in the network. ADDRESS 201478 The address can be from 1 to 6 digits long and must follow the national numbering plan in use for the X.25 network. In the United States of America this must be the Area Code and local Exchange of the location of the switch. In order for users and other switches to establish Links to this switch it must have an Amateur callsign. CALL W2VY-3 CALL is short for CALLSIGN in this case. The EPROM default for the callsign is ROSE-3. When this callsign is used for switching requests, all network level messages will be displayed. These messages include connection setup status, and notification reset conditions that could have lost some information. 8 Each switch also has a callsign that can be used for digipeating, this may be the same as the CALL. The default digipeat callsign is ROSE-2. If the CALL and DIGI are the same they both still need to be specified. If a switching request uses this callsign there will be no additional messages inserted by the network during data transfer, if there is a chance that data was lost due to a reset the connection will be cleared. It is strongly suggested that BBS forwarding use this method of establishing connections. If the CALL and DIGI are the same callsign, the messages will always be disabled. DIGI W2VY-2 If a switch has a RF coverage that crosses more than one telephone exchange then these extra exchanges can be specified in the COVERAGE statement. This is a Block Statement and is terminated with an END. This is an example of a nested block statement, we are still in the "This Node Clifton" Block. COVERAGE 201472 201473 201777 201779 201470 201478 201778 201772 END Each of the Network Addresses listed above will be treated as if they were the switch Network Address, 201478 in this case. When a Call Request is received that has this switch as the destination, address 201478 or one in the Coverage list, the switch will attempt to establish a Link with the specified user. If the switch is running on multi-port hardware, such as a PacComm DR-200 there are times when you need to specify which Port the users are resident on. The USERPORT statement specifies which Port should be used to establish Links to users. On a TNC-2 the Radio port is port 0. On a PacComm DR-100 the radio port is port 1. USERPORT 0 A user can connect to the switch and get information about how to use the network, or other information of general interest. This is specified in a TEXT block, which is ended with "$EOF". A blank line is inserted by having a "$" on a line by itself. TEXT $ While Disconnected From THIS X.25 Switch issue a command like: $ C CALLSIGN-SSID V W2VY-3,201256 $ Switches Available for User Access are: Address Callsign Location User Port Freq 201256 W2VY-3 Montclair 221.11 Mhz 201744 N2DSY-3 LittleFalls,NJ 145.07 Mhz 9 609426 KA2VLP-3 Hightstown,NJ 145.07 Mhz 609261 WA3YRI-3 MtHolly,NJ 145.07 Mhz 212456 KD6TH-6 Manhattan,NY 145.07 Mhz 609530 N2EVW-9 Ewing,NJ 221.01 Mhz 609883 N2EVW-8 Trenton,NJ 221.11 Mhz 201663 N2ELC-3 Lake Hopatcong,NJ 145.09 Mhz $ Possible connect paths available to access BBS User ports. C KB1BD-4 V W2VY-3,609426 : C WA2VXT-4 v W2VY-3,609426 C KD6TH-4 V W2VY-3,201744 : C N2ELC-4 v W2VY-3,201663 $ Connect Paths Available to KA-Nodes or TheNET Facilities: C WB2DRD-3 V W2VY-3,609426 : C WB2MNF-3 V W2VY-3,609530 $ When connecting to TheNet Nodes act as if you have connected direct to it. Type C NODENAME, after you have connected to either of the TheNet nodes listed above, to connect to the next desired node. Type NODES to get a node list after your connect or type Info to get information about the particular TheNet node you are connected to. Example: To connect to ELK TheNet node use the following sequence: C WB2DRD-3 V W2VY-3,6o9530 C ELK $ You will shortly be Disconnected from this switch. If you are currently connected via either TheNET or KA-Node RECONNECT to THAT node and then issue a connect as shown above. Note: It has come to our attention that those systems using old TNC1 code will not accept all digit fields, substitute o for 0 and i for 1 in the all digit field and you will be successful. Disconnect codes can be found on the KB1BD-4 PBBS, filename is DISCO.COD. Please address questions to KB1BD@KB1BD or W2VY@KD6TH. This switch brought to you courtesy of RATS. Enjoy 73 Tom W2VY $EOF This connect TEXT can be up to 2048 bytes long. To terminate the definition of the Clifton Node the END statement is used, completing the block statement. END Local Switches The next section describes the switches that this switch communicates with directly. NODE Manhattan ADDRESS 212456 PATH KD6TH-3 END This defines a local switch that has the callsign KD6TH-3 and network address 212456 and is located in Manhattan. Based on 10 the current defaults it is also on PORT 0 with a link timeout of 15 Minutes and can support up to 20 calls. Each call will operate with a level 3 packet window of 4. For the purposes of this description we will also define three other local switches. NODE LittleFalls ADDRESS 201744 PATH N2DSY-3 END NODE Clifton2 ADDRESS 201779 PATH W2VY-9 PORT 1 END NODE Montclair ADDRESS 201256 PATH W2VY-12 Via KB1BD-2 END Each of these are pretty standard with the following exceptions. Clifton2 is on PORT 1, which would be the asynchronous port if we are running on a TNC-2 and that port could be connected to either a modem and radio or a back to back cable to another TNC. Montclair has a digipeater specified, the path to a switch can include up to ONE digipeater. If you have a special device that is not on the USERPORT channel you can configure it in the switch as a USER. If this USER is not an X.25 Pad (ie it's a TNC or TheNet/NetROM) you must specify MAXVC 0. USER KD6THbbs PATH KD6TH-4 PORT 1 MAXVC 0 END If a call came in for KD6TH-4 with a switch address of 201478 the switch would attempt to establish the link on Port 1, as was specified. This can be done for any AX25L2 device, such as a TheNet or NetROM, as well as a BBS. Users are not encouraged to be placed on the backbone. If using a TNC-2 you would just specify the address of the switch that had the radio port on the backbone. This feature is used mostly when the switch is running a PacComm DR-200, or other multi-port synchronous device. 11 Routing Information The route statements specify what local switches should be given calls for which network addresses. This is usually divided into two parts, first specifying the routing needed for the switches within the local network (the switches you control) and the second specifying the routing for out of area network addresses. The general form of the ROUTE statement is: ROUTE TO NODES node-list CALLS FOR network-address-list END Where "node-list" is a sequence of switches; and "network- address-list" is a list of Network Addresses. The network address is composed of the current DNIC followed by the address specified. If the command "DNIC 0" is entered then there is no DNIC added to the address, this is useful to route an entire country or continent. If a Call Request is received for one of the addresses in the list the switch will use this routing information to pass the Call to the next switch. The switches are tried in the order they are listed, so the best route should be listed first, worse last. It has been done this way because by and large there are a limited number of ways to get from this switch to a remote region. From the Clifton switch I can route calls for New England to Manhattan or Little Falls, so the following statement would set up the required routing entries. Route to Nodes Manhattan LittleFalls Calls for 207 802 617 508 413 203 401 518 607 212 718 716 516 914 315 end I also included the Area Codes for New York. We also need to include the routes for the local switches. The routing information here should include the address of each switch as well as the addresses in it's coverage. Route to Node Manhattan Calls for 212456 end Route to Node LittleFalls Calls for 201744 end 12 As well as addresses to the south and west: Route to Node LittleFalls Calls for 609 215 717 202 end There are files included with the distribution diskette that have the Area Codes for the entire USA, broken down by state and call district, see NPA.ARC. These files can be placed in a separate directory and included in the configuration with the *< command. To include routing information for other countries you will need to add routing information for their DNIC's. To facilitate this you can have a command such as; DNIC 0 Which will allow routing statements to include the DNIC; Route to Nodes LittleFalls Manhattan Calls for 3020 7 end This will add routing information for all calls to Canada, which is DNIC 3020, as well as South America, where all DNICs start with a 7. Now that we have defined the configuration of a switch we need to create, and save to disk, the file that the switch can understand. The WRITE statement is used to create this file. WRITE w2vy-3.tbl The file naming conventions that we use here in NJ are the statements that were used in the example are stored in a file with the name CallSign.CNF and the output is stored in the file CallSign.TBL. (".CNF" Configuration; ".TBL" Table) The last statement of each .CNF file should be a QUIT to tell the configuration program to terminate and return to the operating system. 13 Additional Configuration Commands If you are having problems figuring out an error, it can be helpful to see the commands that the program is reading. You can cause the configuration program to print each statement as it reads it in by including a VERIFY statement. VERIFY ... statements causing problems... NOVERIFY The NOVERIFY statement turns this feature off, there can be any number of VERIFY/NOVERIFY statements in a configuration file. Special Characters to the Configuration Program Any line in the configuration file (.CNF) that starts with an asterisk (*) is treated as a comment, which can be useful to indicate extra information about a switch, such as equipment at the location, access rules, failure history, etc. There is one exception, if a line starts with "*<" the configuration program will treat the text on the rest of the line as a file name. The program will expect the file to be in the current directory or the directory specified in the Default Include statement. The contents of the file will be read in as if it had been in the main file. If the file is not found an error message will be printed. The file that is being read in can not have another "*<" in it, this may be revised in later versions of the configuration program. Route to Nodes Manhattan LittleFalls Calls for *<w1.npa *<ny.npa end This would be the same as the previous example of routing the calls for New England and New York, using the supplied files in NPA.ARC. ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Applications A Switch Application is a special type of network destination, like a BBS is a special callsign that you connect to. Once connected to it you can issue commands and get replies. The following sections describe the existing applications and list any commands and example replies. To connect to a switch application you would follow the same procedure that you would to connect to a user, but instead of entering a user's callsign you enter the name of the application. 14 If your local switch is W2VY-3 and you want to interact with the MEMSIZ application at network address 201478, you would issue the following connect command: C MEMSIZ Via W2VY-3,201478 This is a standard ROSE X.25 Packet Switch connect request. The local switch would route the Call Request to the switch with the network address 201478. When a switch receives a Call Request it first checks to see if the destination "callsign" matches any of the currently loaded applications. If the application is found the switch would set up connection with the application. If the application was not loaded it would assume that it was a local user and attempt a connect on the userport. Once connected to the MEMSIZ application you would get the ROSE banner: ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY This would indicate that the connection is complete and you could start interacting with that switch. The applications that accept commands currently use an obscure format that has the general form: :ccoollll[dd]xx Where: cc is a command number 00 is an object number llll is the length of any optional data dd is the data if the length is non-zero xx is the checksum of the data field The only applications that support data fields are LOADER and CONFIG. The commands for these are generally stored in files created by programs such as the configuration compiler (CONFIGUR.EXE). All other commands are simply single commands that end with six zeros. These will be listed with the description of each application. In future releases these commands will be replaced with easier to remember plain language commands. LOADER Application The LOADER application is resident in the EPROM, this means it is always present. As you may be able to guess from the name, it is used to load other programs into the switch. This will allow you to chose which switches will have what functions. The files with the filename extension ".LOD" are files that can be sent to this application, which will cause the specific 15 application to be loaded into memory. The file "CONFIG.LOD" when sent (ASCII/TEXT upload) to LOADER would cause the CONFIG application to be loaded into memory. When loading a .LOD file you should get three "OK"'s back, the only other message you could get would be "Error n" where N is a numeric value indicating what type of error occurred, the following table lists the possible error numbers. Error # Meaning 01 Invalid command 02 Invalid Object 03 Unable to allocate memory for program 04 Incorrect checksum 09 Length mismatch of code segment in .LOD file 0C Can't delete non-existent application 0D Need to load code segment before relocation info 0E To many applications loaded, max is 15 0F Unsupported object 10 Unsupported command LOADER also supports two other commands: List Applications ":0000000000" This command will cause the switch to list all the applications that are currently loaded into the memory. When the switch is first powered on the list will look like this: Entry #0 LOADER - Application Boot interface OK If the switch has all the applications loaded into memory then the list might look like this: Entry #0 LOADER - Application Boot interface Entry #1 CONFIG - ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Configuration Interf... Entry #2 USERS - ROSE Switch User List Display, Version 1.0 Entry #3 MEMSIZ - ROSE Memory Utilization Display OK The entry # is just the position in the list that the application is listed, this number is only important when you are using the Delete command. Delete Application ":02ee000000" This command will remove an application from memory, thus freeing the memory to be used for other things such as data buffers or additional connections. The "ee" is the entry number the application is in the list. 16 Lets say you want to delete the CONFIG application from a switch, first you would connect to the LOADER and then list the applications: :0000000000 Entry #0 LOADER - Application Boot interface Entry #1 CONFIG - ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Configuration Interf... Entry #2 USERS - ROSE Switch User List Display, Version 1.0 Entry #3 MEMSIZ - ROSE Memory Utilization Display OK Notice that the CONFIG application is in entry #1 this time, you would enter the following command, replacing the "ee" with "01". :0201000000 OK You could then verify that it was done by entering the list command again. The "OK" does tell you that it was in fact done, but we'll check anyway, you don't have to check. :0000000000 Entry #0 LOADER - Application Boot interface Entry #1 USERS - ROSE Switch User List Display, Version 1.0 Entry #2 MEMSIZ - ROSE Memory Utilization Display OK Note that all other applications moved up in the application list. When you are done interacting with the LOADER you just disconnect. In addition to accepting the commands described and the ".LOD" files, the LOADER will also accept a ".TBL" file. When a .TBL file is sent to the LOADER the only item that will get updated is the INFO Text (Connect TEXT). You will receive 10 "Error 000F" messages and one OK, this is the correct response to a .TBL file and the Error's will not cause any problems. If you do not like getting the "Error 000F" messages you can edit the ".TBL" file and just send the text load command. To do this just take from the ":0100" to the end of the file and store it in a separate file. This was done because the Connect Text is the only configurable information that is not saved in battery backed up memory and allows easy restoration of that information. LOADABLE APPLICATIONS The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch EPROM has been designed to maintain all functions necessary for packet switching within the ROSE EPROM. In order to provide for the various User and Network Manager interfaces and functions the EPROM can accept programs loaded through the network. A description of the existing applications can be found in the following sections. 17 BOOTER Application The BOOTER Application can be used to fake a power failure on a remote switch. The switch will be initialized immediately upon receiving the BOOTER.LOD file. When the file has been loaded into the switch you will get a "*** Disconnect *** 00E9" or some other abnormal termination. This action will indicate that the switch was re-initialize, it should maintain all the configuration information. It should act as if the power had been removed. CONFIG Application The CONFIG application is not designed to be used directly by the switch manager. It is just an interface that processes the file created by the Network Configuration Program (CONFIGUR.EXE). This section will describe the interface for completeness, and there may be times when you might want to check some of the settings. All replies are in hexadecimal and are not easy to interpret. As with the LOADER interface every command will generate either an "OK" or "Error n" when the processing of the command is complete, the meaning of each of the errors are as follows: Error # Meaning 01 Invalid command 02 Invalid Object specified 03 No working memory! 04 Bad checksum! 05 Unsupported Command 06 Odd number of data bytes for type 07 Item is Read-Only For 0D object only: 01 No working memory 02 Invalid DNIC The commands have the same format as the LOADER commands. The following commands are currently supported: # Function 01* Write new information for object 02 Read current value of object NOTE: IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED THAT USERS USE THE 01 COMMAND! The following data objects are supported: 00 This object contains the TEXT that a user can access if they connect directly to the switch and hit return. 01 This is the list of callsigns of other switches and special users configured via the PATH statement Node and User 18 configuration blocks. It also contains the CALL of this switch. 02 These are digipeater callsigns that optionally appeared in the "via" field of the PATH statement of Node and User configuration blocks. It also contains the DIGI callsign of this switch. 03 These are the PORT numbers of the Node and User configuration blocks. 04 These are the MAXVC limits specified in the Node and User configuration blocks. This limits the number of simultaneous network connections that can occur between the this switch and the switch of the Node configuration block. This is also used in the User configuration block to indicate that it is a local AX25L2 user, and when found in a User block must be 0. 05 These set the L3W for the connections going through a network link, valid values are 1-7. 06 These set the TIMEOUT value for a failed network link. This is the time it will be considered Out of Order when it fails, ie it gets a "Retry count exceeded". 07 This sets the USERPORT which is used for connecting to AX25L2 users, this can be overridden by User configuration blocks. 08 This contains the node address of this switch. 09* This contains the default level 2 parameters for AX25L2 connections. (Maxframe, Paclen, Resptime, Frack, Retry) 0A* This contains the default level 2 parameters for X.25 Network links. * - In some versions it produces a pointer to the structure. 0B This object is used in conjunction with the routing tables. This contains a compressed set of routing alternatives, since by and large the various routes and back-up routes are common for getting out of the local network. 0C This contains the routing tables for all the DNICs. 19 HEARD Application The HEARD application gives a very complete summary of the activity within the network. It started out as a simple listing of stations heard and then developed into an important tool in monitoring network activity. It provides the following information: * Source and Destination Callsigns * Full AX.25 Path * Count of valid frames heard * Frame Type of last frame heard * Time since the last frame was heard * Time since the station was first heard A typical display: ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Version 901026 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY Heard List for W2VY-9 3100813989 Last First (How long ago) Port Station Destination Heard Heard RXCnt FType Path 0 W2VY HEARD 00:00 00:00 4 I W2VY-9,813989 0 K0ZXF TPALAN 00:00 28:38 117 UI USF* 0 W4DPH MAIL 00:03 05:55 17 UI 0 W4DPH-4 NODES 00:04 03:59 5 UI 0 KC2FF-7 ID 00:07 73:25 443 UI 0 KC2FF-7 NODES 00:09 03:07 24 UI 0 W4DPH-15 W2VY 00:09 01:09 16 SABM 0 W4DPH-4 ID 00:13 74:48 345 UI 0 W8DUW TPALAN 00:16 03:39 14 UI USF* 0 N4OJU-6 K0ZXF 00:36 03:35 24 DISC 0 CLW5 KB4VHS-15 00:58 01:23 17 UA 0 KB4VHS DABQSO 00:59 01:00 5 SABM N4EEB-5,904677 0 KB4VHS KB4T 01:01 01:03 5 SABM N4EEB5,904677 0 N4HKA WA1GUD 01:03 02:08 100 UA 0 WA1GUD N4HKA 01:03 02:08 109 DISC END> Once connected to HEARD just hit return and it will provide a screen full of heard stations. For a longer display enter "*" followed by return and it will list 32 entries. INFO Applications The INFO Application can be used to display the connect text of a remote switch. The text is the same that would be displayed if you were to connect directly to the switch and hit return. This application also adds text messages to the *** Reset *** and *** Disconnect *** network messages that give an english description of the reason for the message. 20 There are also other versions of the INFO Application to provide Reset and Disconnect messages from other languages. The ".LOD" files will have names in the following format: INFO??.LOD Where the ?? denoted the language SP - Spanish DE - German FR - French* RU - Russian* * - In progress - Not yet supplied in the ZIP archive. MHEARD Application The MHEARD Application is a stripped down version of HEARD. It just shows the callsigns of the heard stations. MEMSIZ Application The MEMSIZ application was just a test program for me to verify correct operation of the loader. It turns out that it can be useful to monitor the amount of memory that is being used by the switch from time to time. This information is also included in the USERS application display. The values are listed in hexadecimal. Memory Size is: 7578 Memory Used is: 4155 USERS Application The USERS application is used to list the users that are currently using the switch; connected to a local user/bbs; passing through to another switch; or interacting with an application that has been loaded. Once you are connected just hit return to view the current status of the connections. ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY [You Press Return] User List for N2DSY-3 3100201744 W2VY AX25L2 User Linked to USERS @ 3100201744 W2VY AX25L2 User Linked to LOADER @ 3100201744 W2VY-3 X.25 Trunk (R1) with the following connections: KD6TH-4 @ 3100201256 ( 20 P4 D1) <-- KB1BD-5 @ 3100609443 WB2JQR-3 X.25 Trunk (R1) with the following connections: KB1BD-5 @ 3100609443 ( 20 P4 D1) --> KD6TH-4 @ 3100201256 There are no calls Pending. 21 The Following X.25 Trunks are listed as Out of Order: <None> - All Links Operational The first line identifies the callsign and address of the switch that the display is for. The second section shows all active connections. The first connection is my station connected to the USERS application (its how I generated the above display). The second connection is my station connected to the LOADER application. Note that a connection that is listed as "AX25L2 User" is a user directly connected to that switch. Now things start to get interesting, W2VY-3 is another ROSE X.25 Packet Switch and it has one VC. The VC is between KB1BD-5 at address 609443 and KD6TH-4 at 201256, these are two BBSs doing forwarding. In this case neither BBS is local so the call also shows up on a second X.25 Trunk. The arrow indicates the direction that the connect request went in, ie. KB1BD-5 called KD6TH-4. Note that this connection shows up twice, once to enter the switch and once to leave. If a user was using the switching function to connect to a station on the same switch there would be two entries listed as AX25L2 Users. A pending call is a connect request that came in while the trunk, or link, to the required switch was not ready. A Call is left in the pending state while the Switch attempts to bring the link into the ready state (R1). If a link to a switch is not operational then it is marked as being Out of Order for a specified time (HH:MM:SS). Running ROSEPWD The ROSEPWD.EXE program can be used to create a table for looking up the correct reply for the password to LOADER. Where file is the name of the password file. To direct the output to the printer: C>ROSEPWD /H file >prn 22 Running the Configuration Program You should run this program after you have created or modified the configuration file (.CNF) for a switch. It is used the generate the file that gets uploaded (TEXT/ASCII) to the switch CONFIG application, which is described elsewhere. To invoke the program you insure the program (CONFIGUR.EXE) is in the current directory, or is in the MS-DOS path. C>CONFIGUR w2vy-3.CNF ROSE Interactive Network Monitor by W2VY Largest displacement used = 48 Done! C> The message "Largest Displacement Used" is a reference on the size of the routing table and as the routing table grows this number will change. Any errors will be distinctive by starting with "***" with an arrow (^) pointing to the line with the error. If you do not specify the input filename (W2VY-3.CNF in this case) or if the file you specified did not exist, you will be prompted for the file name. C>CONFIGUR ROSE Interactive Network Monitor by W2VY Node data file name? w2vy-3.cnf Largest displacement used = 48 Done! C> Configuration Program Command Summary and Error Messages Please ask me for this, I really need to fill this in. Programming the EPROM The files distributed that contain Z80 executable have the file extension ".OVR". The file "ROSEZSW.OVR" contains the ROSE X.25 Packet Switch code and the other files are initialization routines for the various packet controllers. The MS-DOS program "MAKEPROM.EXE" can be used to create a binary image or Intel Hex file for a specific TNC. If you need to burn an EPROM and do not have access to a MS- DOS machine see the note at the end of this section as well as the following section. 23 The machine models currently supported are: TNC2.OVR TAPR TNC-2, PacComm TNC-200, Tiny-2, Micropower-2 AEA PK-80, MFJ 1270, 1278 and any TNC-2 Clone DR200.OVR PacComm DR-200 Dual/DR-100 Single Port Repeater TNC320.OVR PacComm TNC-320 HF Packet Controller PK88.OVR AEA PK-88 VHF Packet Controller If you do not have access to a programmer you can obtain a pre-programmed EPROM from the author. Use the MAKEPROM.EXE program to create the file to be programmed into the EPROM. This program will allow modification of all default parameters, Callsigns, and addresses. Each of the parameters is listed on the display and can be modified by entering the command followed by the new value. The screen will then be updated to insure that the desired action was taken. C>MAKEPROM ROSE Z80 X.25 Packet Switch EPROM Creation Program TNC type TNC2.OVR SWitch ROSEZSW.OVR OUTput ROSEZSW.BIN output MODE BINary (BINary | HEX) CALLsign = ROSE-3 DIGIpeat call = ROSE-2 ADDress = 3100000000 L2FRack 5 L2RESptime 3 L2CHeck 300 L2RETry 8 L2MAXframe 4 L3FRack 5 L3RESptime 2 L3CHeck 600 L3RETry 8 L3MAXframe 3 PORT 0 (5 Pin Din) PORT 1 (DB25/DE9) TX Delay (0TXDelay) 400 ms. (1TXDelay) 400 ms. DWait (0DWait) 0 ms. (1DWait) 0 ms. FULLdup (0FULL) OFF (1FULL) OFF Type OK to accept the current settings or, QUIT (all CAPS) to exit to DOS To make changes, type the command followed by the new value Type the portion of the command that is in CAPS. EPROM> 24 All of the parameters can be specified on the command line, as identified in the following list: C>MAKEPROM /HELP usage: C:\X25\LEVEL3\MAKEPROM.EXE [options] Options are as follows: /HELP - PRINT THIS LIST! /NODISPLAY - Supress menu selection screen /MODE=BIN - Format of OUTput file. See /HEX and /BIN /HEX - Output file in Intel Hex format /BINary - Output file in Binary Image format /SWitch=name - Switch Overlay from file name /CALL=ROSE-3 - EPROM Callsign of Switch /DIGI=ROSE-2 - EPROM Digi Callsign /ADDress=3100000000 - X.121 Address of switch /TNC=TNC2 - Machine type, TNC2 | TNC320 | DR200 | PK88 /OUTput=name - Put output in file name /0TXDelay=ms - TXDelay (in MS) for Port 0 (Radio) /1TXDelay=ms - TXDelay (in MS) for Port 1 (Terminal) /0DWait=ms - DWait (in MS) for Port 0 /1DWait=ms - DWait (in MS) for Port 1 /0FULL - Set Port 0 for Full Duplex operation /1FULL - Set Port 1 for Full Duplex operation /L2FRack - FRack (T1) for Level 2 Users /L2RESptime - RESptime (T2) for Level 2 Users /L2CHeck - CHeck (T3) for Level 2 Users /L2RETry - RETry (N2) for Level 2 Users /L2MAXframe - MAXframe (W) for Level 2 Users /L3FRack - FRack (T1) for X.25 Networking Trunks /L3RESptime - RESptime (T2) for X.25 Networking Trunks /L3CHeck - CHeck (T3) for X.25 Networking Trunks /L3RETry - RETry (N2) for X.25 Networking Trunks /L3MAXframe - MAXframe (W) for X.25 Networking Trunks IF TNC=TNC320 or TNC=PK88 then the following are valid: /CPU=4915200 - CPU Clock frequency in HERTZ /TICK=1200 - Frequency of clock on SYNCB or CTSB /0BAUD=1200 - Radio Baud Rate /1BAUD=9600 - Terminal Baud Rate /LEDS=4 - Initial LED bit pattern IF TNC=TNC320 /MODEM=HF | VHF - Specify which modem should be used. NOTE: It is important to include the DNIC in the /ADDRESS. The DNIC for USA is 3100, so an address of 201779 would be entered as /ADDRESS=3100201779. 25 For example to create a Binary file for a TNC-320 for use on HF at 300 baud with an output file of TNC320HF.BIN enter the following command: C>MAKEPROM /TNC=TNC320 /MODEM=HF /0BAUD=300 /OUT=TNC320HF.BIN This will still bring up the display for inspection, you may also specify /NODISPLAY to skip the verification screen. NOTE: If you can not run MAKEPROM.EXE then you will have to perform the following steps. Load the ROSEZSW.OVR into the EPROM burner in BINARY mode (Will fill locations 0000 to 7FFF) and then load the .OVR file for the machine you are using (TNC2.OVR or DR200.OVR or TNC320.OVR or PK88.OVR...). This will fill locations 0000 to 0150. To make sure everything is OK, you should see FF's at some locations below 0150H as well as below 7FFF. If you want to modify the default parameters see the following section. Permanent Configuration of the Switch Using the MAKEPROM program you can modify many of the EPROM default parameters. See the preceding section for information on using it. If you can not use it then you will have to combine the ".OVR" files by hand and use the following information to modify the defaults. The distribution includes a ".MAP" file that contains the EPROM address of all entry points and important variables. Using this information you can modify the default parameters in the EPROM. The format of the data falls into four forms. A byte, a word, a callsign and a network address. A byte is simply a single location in the EPROM which can hold a value from 00 to FF (that is 0 to 255 decimal). A word is a two byte value with the low order byte of the word stored at the lower EPROM address. A word can contain a value from 0000 to FFFF (that is 0 to 65535 decimal). Since it is stored low byte at low address the value 01 00 is 1 decimal, and 00 01 is 256 decimal, or 0100 hexadecimal. A callsign is stored in AX.25 format, the same way it appears in packets sent over the air. Each callsign is a six byte shifted ASCII callsign followed by a single byte SSID, for example in the EPROM the callsign ROSE-3 would have the following format: A4 9E A6 8A 40 40 06 Appendix 5 contains a table for conversion from and to shifted ASCII as used in AX.25. A network address is stored in CCITT X.25 address format, which is a length byte followed by a BCD representation of the 26 address, for example the address 3100201779 would have the following format: 0A 31 00 20 17 79 Note that the length (0A, 10 decimal) is the number of BCD digits, ie "31" is two digits. If you are outside the USA the numbering plan may use something other than six digit codes, if the length is ODD then just pad the last byte with an extra 0, but leave the length ODD. I know Australia uses a variable length numbering plan, the format for node address 50502 (which is the region code for Sydney) would be: 05 50 50 20 Note that the length is 5 (50502) and the last digit is ignored and should be 0. The following ".MAP" file labels identify the location of the following EPROM defaults: "myaddr" - Network address of this switch "mycall" - Callsign of this switch "mydigi" - Callsign this switch recognized for digipeating Power ON Indications for TNC-2 Ensure that the power switch is off. Insert the power connector and then turn the power on. The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch has a two phase initialization sequence. In the first phase you should see the PWR, CON and STA lights come on for TWO (2) seconds while the Switch tests RAM and verifies the battery backed up RAM. The second phase the CON and STA LEDs are used to indicate what was going on when the switch was powered off. This indication is displayed for THREE (3) seconds (they both normally stay on). If they both go out, then the switch was processing data when the power was removed. When powering a unit as a ROSE Switch for the first time, this display is meaningless. At this point the CON and STA lights should alternately turn on and off once a second, this indicates that the switch is operating correctly. 27 Configuring a switch for the first time This section will take you step by step through configuring a switch for the first time. It is assumed that the ROSE X.25 Packet Switch has been installed and you are using a standard TNC on the air to connect to the switch. When a switch is being installed for the first time it is a good idea to run the following tests. First you should verify that the switch can digipeat frames. Since the default callsign is ROSE-2, set UNPROTO as follows: cmd:unproto test via rose-2 cmd:conv Test W2VY>TEST,ROSE-2*:Test The test frame was digipeated successfully, indicating that the connections to the radio should be ok. Now we should verify that the switching callsign is correct, return to command mode (usually by typing Control-C) and enter: cmd:c rose-3 *** CONNECTED to ROSE-3 [Hit return or wait 60 Seconds] ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY *** DISCONNECTED cmd: This is the default information message and so all is working correctly. The preceding steps could have been skipped, but these are strongly suggested for any packet boards that have undergone any hardware modifications to install the switch. Now we can start the configuration process. At this point it is assumed that you have created the configuration file for this switch (.CNF file) and have run it through the CONFIGUR program, to create the .TBL file. See Network Configuration and Running the Configuration Program. The .TBL file needs to be uploaded to the CONFIG Application, See Switching Applications, first we must verify that the CONFIG program is loaded in the switch. This is done by connecting to the application LOADER with the following command: cmd:c loader via rose-3,000000 *** CONNECTED to LOADER VIA ROSE-3,000000 ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY :0000000000 28 Entry #0 LOADER - Application Boot interface OK This display shows that none of the optional applications are loaded. In order to upload the .TBL file the CONFIG application must be resident in memory. To load the CONFIG application into memory you need to upload the file CONFIG.LOD to the Loader. This file is an ASCII TEXT file, no special protocol should be used to send the file. You should receive 3 OK's back from the loader. At this point you can verify that the CONFIG application was successfully loaded by entering the following command: :0000000000 Entry #0 LOADER - Application Boot interface Entry #1 CONFIG - ROSE X.25 Packet Switch Configuration... OK We are now done loading the CONFIG application and can disconnect from the LOADER and connect to CONFIG to complete the configuration process. cmd:disc cmd:*** DISCONNECTED cmd:c config v rose-3,000000 *** CONNECTED to CONFIG VIA ROSE-3,000000 ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY We are now connected to the CONFIG application, and can send the .TBL file to it. This file is also an ASCII TEXT file, upload with no special protocol. The CONFIG application will return 11 OK's through the course of processing the file. Later versions will include a message stating that the configuration is complete. When you have gotten all the OK's you can disconnect. cmd:disc cmd:*** DISCONNECTED The configuration process is now complete! At this point I usually like to verify that the connect text was uploaded correctly, since it is the last portion of the .TBL file. 29 Since the switch is now configured you now use the switches' callsign, instead of ROSE-3, which is in this case W2VY-3 cmd:c w2vy-3 *** CONNECTED to W2VY-3 [Hit Return or wait 60 Seconds] ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY While Disconnected From THIS X.25 Switch issue a command like: C CALLSIGN-SSID V W2VY-3,201256 Switches Available for User Access are: Address Callsign Location User Port Freq 201256 W2VY-3 Montclair 221.11 Mhz 201744 N2DSY-3 LittleFalls,NJ 145.07 Mhz 609426 KA2VLP-3 Hightstown,NJ 145.07 Mhz 609261 WA3YRI-3 MtHolly,NJ 145.07 Mhz 212456 KD6TH-6 Manhattan,NY 145.07 Mhz 609530 N2EVW-9 Ewing,NJ 221.01 Mhz 609883 N2EVW-8 Trenton,NJ 221.11 Mhz 201663 N2ELC-3 Lake Hopatcong,NJ 145.09 Mhz Possible connect paths available to access BBS User ports. C KB1BD-4 V W2VY-3,609426 C WA2VXT-4 v W2VY-3,609426 C KD6TH-4 V W2VY-3,201744 C N2ELC-4 v W2VY-3,201663 Connect Paths Available to KA-Nodes or NETROM Facilities: C WB2DRD-3 V W2VY-3,609426 C WB2MNF-3 V W2VY-3,609530 When connecting to NETROM Nodes act as if you have connected direct to it. Type C NODENAME, after you have connected to either of the netrom nodes listed above, to connect to the next desired node. Type NODES to get a node list after your connect or type Info to get information about the particular netrom node you are connected to. Example: To connect to ELK netrom node use the following sequence: C WB2DRD-3 V W2VY-3,6o9530 C ELK You will shortly be Disconnected from this switch. If you are currently connected via either NETROM or KA-Node RECONNECT to THAT node and then issue a connect as shown above. Note: It has come to our attention that those systems using old TNC1 code will not accept all digit fields, substitute o for 0 and i for 1 in the all digit field and you will be successful. Disconnect codes can be found on the KB1BD-4 PBBS, filename is DISCO.COD. Please address questions to KB1BD@KB1BD or W2VY@KD6TH. This switch brought to you courtesy of RATS. Enjoy 73 Tom W2VY *** DISCONNECTED cmd: The configuration process is now complete. It is strongly suggested that you do Not leave CONFIG loaded in the switch. This 30 is because it will help avoid unauthorized access to update the configuration and the memory can better be used for data buffers for connections. Configuring a switch for the second time The following example shows how to configure a switch that knows it's callsign, but otherwise it is identical to the preceding example. This will only need to be done if the switch's configuration needs to be changed, since all the routing and network information is retained in battery backed up RAM. Since we normally do not keep CONFIG loaded we need to reload the CONFIG application. cmd:c loader v w2vy-3,201478 *** CONNECTED to LOADER VIA W2VY-3,201478 ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY :0000000000 Entry #0 LOADER - Application Boot interface OK The CONFIG application is NOT loaded, so now you would send the file CONFIG.LOD, it is an ASCII TEXT file. You then get the 3 OK's and disconnect. cmd:d cmd:*** DISCONNECTED cmd:c config v w2vy-3,201478 *** CONNECTED to CONFIG VIA W2VY-3,201478 ROSE X.25 Switch Version 890820 by Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY Now send the .TBL file and receive 11 OK's, when done disconnect. cmd:d cmd:*** DISCONNECTED cmd: The switch is now reconfigured. Configuring a Remote Switch In an operational network any switch can be loaded from any point within the network. You just need to issue a connect command to your TNC that had the callsign of the local switch, followed by the network address of the switch you wish to interact with. When accessing a completely unconfigured switch remember the default callsign is ROSE-3 and the default address is 000000. This should only happen the first time you bring up a switch, see 31 the section Configuring a Switch for the first time for a step by step example. If you notice that the switch fails to remember it's callsign after the power has been removed for a short time, that may indicate that the battery needs replacing. Lithium batteries are usually good for 3 Years - TAPR TNC-2's should be needing new batteries soon! You can also use MAKEPROM to program different callsign and address defaults. Loading a Switch after a Power Failure When a switch or site undergoes a power failure the connect text and any loadable applications are lost. The switch can still perform network routing and switching. You will need to connect to LOADER and send the applications that you normally use (INFO.LOD, HEARD.LOD, etc). The process is the same as loading CONFIG, as shown in the proceeding examples. You may also send the ".TBL" file to reload the connect text. See the description of the LOADER for additional information. Hardware Installation - TNC-2 or Clone Tools Required: Small Philips screwdriver and small standard screwdriver. Remove power and all external connections to the TNC. Remove the two philips screws on the front panel and remove the screw in the heat sink. There is no screw on TNC-2 Rev 1 boards. If the unit is an MFJ remove two standard screws on sides of cabinet and remove the lid. Locate the program EPROM, this is normally U23, towards the front of the packet controller, next to the Z80 (big 40 pin chip that is 2" long). The EPROM is along side the Z80 and RAMs. The EPROM should be a labeled with something like 1.1.6 (1.1.1 up to 1.1.6). It should NOT say "STATE 1.09", that EPROM is part of the modem. The program EPROM is U23. When you have located the EPROM note the direction the end with a small notch is pointing. This designates which end pin #1 located on. If you install an EPROM backwards you can damage it, either destroying the program or making the EPROM completely unusable. Use the small standard screwdriver to lift the EPROM a little above the socket. WARNING: Make SURE you are not lifting the socket off the board. Just put the corner of the screwdriver under the EPROM for now. 32 Once the EPROM is above the surface of the socket you can insert the screwdriver a bit further. Try to lift the EPROM straight up, insert the screwdriver as far as it will easily go and lift the EPROM a little more. Repeat until the screwdriver is completely under the EPROM. If you bend any of the pins it might be a good idea to leave them alone until it is reused. (The person erasing/re-programming the EPROM will very likely have experience with bent pins!) Make sure the socket is flat and not lifted on either end from the board. When pressing the EPROM into the socket it is best to press from the bottom of the board as well as the on EPROM. If the EPROM is new the pins will be spread much wider than the pin rows in the socket. To better align the pins you can place the EPROM on each edge (pins on a table) and apply firm pressure while raising the chip portion to the vertical position. Do this for both rows of pins. Don't go to far! It is easier to do it again then it is to unbend the pins. Take the ROSEZSW (ROSE Z80 SWitch) EPROM and install in the vacated socket. Ensure the notch is pointed in the same direction as the old EPROM, as well as the silhouette on the board. Align both rows of pins and let the EPROM slide in a little, then check for stuck pins. Slight pressure on the side of each pin will insure it is started into the socket straight. Go little by little watching for bending pins. After the EPROM is installed, check for bent pins by looking under and along the sides for an unusual seating. Make sure the notch in the new EPROM has the same orientation as the original EPROM. Re-assemble the unit. Hardware Installation - PacComm DR-100/DR-200 Read the installation instructions for the TNC-2, above for some precautions on EPROM handling, removal and insertion. The program EPROM is located at position U2, in the center of the board, near the Z80. See also Hardware Modifications - DR-100/DR-200 for some required changes to the board. The port that is next to the RESET pin is SCC Port B, and is called Port 0 by the ROSE Switch. 33 DR-100 Note: You will need to change the USERPORT statement in the configuration file to be "USERPORT 1" as the DR-100 only has one port and it is set up at the same address as the DR-200 Port 1. The daughter board is not currently supported. (It has a TNC-2 style modem disconnect so it's the simplest way to attach the NB- 9600 High Speed modem) Hardware Modifications - TNC-2 or Clone There are no modifications that are required to set up a single port switch, there are a couple of things that would be desirable for a busy switch. These are: 1) 32K RAM upgrade 2) Change the CPU clock to 4.9 MHz (JMP2 on TNC-2) The following modifications are required if you intend to use the asynchronous port on a radio or tied back to back with another TNC: Note: ALL MODIFICATIONS ARE TO THE BOTTOM (FOIL SIDE)! 1) Add a jumper from J1 pin 23 to JMP 9 pin 3, note that JMP 9 has pins 1, 2 and 3 tied together. 2) If you want to run the asynchronous port at 4800 baud or above U3 (LM324) should be changed to a TL084. 3) If running back to back with other TNCs add jumper from J1 Pin 10 to J1 Pin 20, this should be done in the cable. If connecting to a Radio do not add this jumper, see Wiring TNCs for Back-to- Back Mode for a complete description. Hardware Modifications - DR-100/DR-200 There are two types of modifications listed for the DR-200, required and optional. The required changes are to supply the Transmit and Receive Clocks to the Zilog Serial Communication Controller (Z8530) chip, which sets the baud rate for each port, and removal of the "Processor WatchDog Timer" which was found to be ineffective. The optional changes are modifications to the modem circuit that have, in some cases increased performance dramatically. Note: Ux/n means chip marked Ux pin n, on IC's the end with the notch has pin #1. When viewed from the top, pin #1 is just to the left of the notch. 34 Note: All wires should be added to the solder side of the board, do not attach wires to the chip pins!! Required: U14 = 7910 Port A; U15 = 8530 SCC; U16 = 7910 Port B Jumper U14/25 to U15/19 Jumper U16/25 to U15/21 This connects the DCD outputs of the 7910's to the SCC. The baud rate generator is U12, which is located next to the 7910 (U14) on the same side as the Z80. A jumper is required for both the TX and RX clock of each port, FOUR (4) jumpers should be installed. This allows different baud rates for each port. To select the correct clocks use the following table: U12 Pin RXClock TXClock 7 9600 5 4800 4 2400 6 1200 13 600 12 300 9600 14 4800 15 2400 1 1200 2 600 3 300 The SCC Pins are defined as follows: Port # RXClock TXClock 0 U15 28 U15 26 1 U15 12 U15 14 For dual port operation with both ports running at 1200 baud install the following jumpers: U15/28 and U15/12 to U12/6 (RXClock) U15/26 and U15/14 to U12/1 (TXClock) For Port 0 at 1200 Baud and Port 1 at 300 Baud U15/28 to U12/6 (RXClock Port 0) U15/26 to U12/1 (TXClock Port 0) U15/12 to U12/12 (RXClock Port 1) U15/14 to U12/3 (TXClock Port 1) Note: ALL MODIFICATIONS ARE TO THE BOTTOM (FOIL SIDE)! A Processor Watchdog Timer is a circuit that is designed to ensure the CPU does not get hung (dead) due to a power glitch 35 (normally a programmer's bug). The Processor Watchdog circuit is not compatible with the normal operation of a ROSE Switch and if it is not removed the ROSE Switch will operate in an erratic fashion. Remove U19 located next to one of the audio lines, opposite edge of board from EPROM. Also remove C32 and install U7 (74HC132) with pins 3, 12 and 13 uninserted and add a jumper from U7/3 to U7/12, this cleans up the reset line since the watchdog is now out of the circuit. Optional: Remove the RX Audio filtering (U17 and U20), the modem will work better on it's own. I removed U17, R21, R23, Diodes at C24 and installed a 0.1 uf at C24 and Jumper JP-FA. And the same for the other port (Remove U20, R34, R33, Diodes at C45 and installed 0.1 uf at C45 and Jumper JP-FB). If you use the modem on HF remember the tones are 425 hz higher (.5 khz on dial should be ok) and you need to reduce the RF Gain so the background static is below 10mv (audio). Might want to use the R33/R30 voltage divider and add jumper from their junction to the other side of JP-FB and remove C41 and leave JP-FB uninstalled. Note: ALL MODIFICATIONS ARE TO THE BOTTOM (FOIL SIDE)! Asynchronous Communications The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch supports the asynchronous port of a TNC-2 or Clone as just another radio port. The goal is to allow connection to any standard RS-232 device, such as a modem. The RS-232 signals operate in a normal fashion which allows connection to conventional land line modem, multiplexers or any other communications equipment that is available to provide backbone linking. The immediate application is connection of a Bell 202 modem and a radio to provide a local backbone for a given area. This type of set up requires half as many TNC's! Two or more switches may also be tied together on the RS-232 ports to provide multiple synchronous ports from a single site. 36 TNC-2 Asynchronous Port Definition All connections are to J1 (DB 25) Pin # Direction/EIA Pin Designation/Usage 1 NA/Frame Ground 2 In/TXD/Data On 3 Out/RXD/Data Out 5 Out/CTS/Request To Send (Async PTT) 7 NA/Ground 9 Out/HI/Pull Up Signal (+12 VDC) 10 Out/LO/Pull Down signal (-12 VDC) 20 In/DTR/If LO wired to a diode matrix cable . /If not LO wired to a standard RS-232 device 23 In/SEL/Carrier Detect PacComm Asynchronous Port Definition All connections are to RS-232 Connector (DE 9) Pin # Direction/EIA Pin Designation/Usage 2 Out/RXD/Data Out 3 In/TXD/Data On 5 NA/Frame Ground 6 Out/DSR/Pull Up Signal (+12 VDC) 7 In/DTR/If LO wired to a diode matrix cable . /If not LO wired to a standard RS-232 device 8 Out/CTS/Request To Send (Async PTT) 9 In/SEL/Carrier Detect AEA Asynchronous Port Definition All connections are to J1 (DB 25) Pin # Direction/EIA Pin Designation/Usage 1 NA/Frame Ground 2 In/TXD/Data On 3 Out/RXD/Data Out 4 In/DTR/If LO wired to a diode matrix cable . /If not LO wired to a standard RS-232 device 5 Out/CTS/Request To Send (Async PTT) 6 Out/DSR/Pull Up Signal (+12 VDC) 7 NA/Ground 8* Out/LO/Pull Down signal (-12 VDC) 23* In/SEL/Carrier Detect Note: JP-3 Must be in position B (Toward Front of board) and JP-9 must be soldered ON 37 Asynchronous Radio Port Cables TNC-2 to Radio Port Cable CAPS mean TNC, lower means Modem DB25 GND PIN 1 - gnd pin 1 TXD PIN 2 - rxd pin 3 RXD PIN 3 - txd pin 2 CTS PIN 5 - rts pin 4 (Radio keying circuit/PTT) DSR PIN 6 - dtr pin 20 (depending on Modem) GND PIN 7 - gnd pin 7 (Optional) DTR PIN 20 - HI PIN 9 (Use RS-232 Signaling) SEL PIN 23 - dcd pin 8 (Tie Modem DCD to sio dcdb) PacComm Packet Controller to Radio Port Cable CAPS mean TNC, lower means Modem DB25 RXD PIN 2 - txd pin 2 TXD PIN 3 - rxd pin 3 GND PIN 5 - gnd pin 1 DSR PIN 6 - dtr pin 20 (depending on Modem) DTR PIN 7 - DSR PIN 6 (RS-232 Interface) CTS PIN 8 - rts pin 4 (Radio keying circuit/PTT) SEL PIN 9 - dcd pin 8 (Tie Modem DCD to sio dcdb) AEA TNC to Radio Port Cable CAPS mean TNC, lower means Modem DB25 GND PIN 1 - gnd pin 1 TXD PIN 2 - rxd pin 3 RXD PIN 3 - txd pin 2 DTR PIN 4 - DSR PIN 6 (Use RS-232 Signaling) CTS PIN 5 - rts pin 4 (Radio keying circuit/PTT) DSR PIN 6 - dtr pin 20 (depending on Modem) GND PIN 7 - gnd pin 7 (Optional) SEL PIN 23*- dcd pin 8 (Tie Modem DCD to sio dcdb) Note: JP-3 Must be in position B (Toward Front of board) and JP-9 must be soldered ON Wiring two TNCs for Back-to-Back Operation Each of the following will describe a single end of the cable. 38 TNC-2 End of a Dual Back to Back Cable CAPS mean this TNC, lower means the other TNC GND PIN 1 ------ gnd TXD PIN 2 ------ rxd RXD PIN 3 ------ txd CTS PIN 5 ------ sel GND PIN 7 ------ gnd DTR PIN 20 ------ (open) SEL PIN 23 ------ cts PacComm Packet Controller End of a Dual Back to Back Cable CAPS mean this TNC, lower means the other TNC RXD PIN 2 ------ txd TXD PIN 3 ------ rxd GND PIN 5 ------ gnd DTR PIN 7 ------ (open) CTS PIN 8 ------ sel SEL PIN 9 ------ cts AEA PK-88 End of a Dual Back to Back Cable CAPS mean this TNC, lower means the other TNC GND PIN 1 ------ gnd TXD PIN 2 ------ rxd RXD PIN 3 ------ txd DTR PIN 4 ------ (open) CTS PIN 5 ------ sel GND PIN 7 ------ gnd SEL PIN 23*------ cts Note: JP-3 Must be in position B (Toward Front of board) and JP-9 must be soldered ON Differences between ROSE and Net/ROM Back-to-Back Cable The ROSE Switch now also supports usage of the Net/ROM style of diode matrix cable/board. Follow the normal construction but swap the wires going to Pin 20 and Pin 23. Wiring many TNCs for Back-to-Back Operation There are two methods for connecting more than two switches back to back. The diode matrix cable previously used for Net/ROM can be used with a simple change, see above. To use standard RS-232 signals you will need the PacComm RS- 232 LAN card. The advantage of this board is that RS-232 will be more reliable over long cable runs and it can interface to standard devices such as Landline Modems or multiplexers. This 39 can be useful for attaching to "WormHoles" we can find at or near our offices! Conclusion The ROSE X.25 Packet Switch is the most advanced packet switch for amateur packet networking. The growing collection of features and use of state of the art protocols enable it to play a key role in the growing Global Amateur Packet Network. This is just the first tool for the RATS Open System Environment. Other projects have been identified and will be supported by or supportive of the ROSE X.25 Packet Switch. The Radio Amateur Telecommunications Society is committed to development of state of the art networking for the amateur service. Appendix 1 - Files Supplied in archive The following files are included in the archive RZSWmmdd.ZIP: (Where mm is the month and dd is the day of the release) PKZIP (tm) Version 1.01 07-21-89 Searching ZIP: RZSW1130.ZIP Length Method Date Time CRC-32 Attr Name ------ ------ ---- ---- ------ ---- ---- 4644 Implode 12-07-89 19:00 5ee71ccd --w CONFIG.LOD 26700 Implode 10-28-89 17:44 6df18d49 --w CONFIGUR.EXE 994 Implode 12-02-89 14:12 7ce9c027 --w MEMSIZ.LOD 4495 Implode 06-05-89 12:16 c935b21f --w NPA.ARC 1450 Implode 04-11-89 00:29 346f00b7 --w RATSINFO.TXT 1015 Implode 04-11-89 00:28 24745c65 --w RATSMBR.TXT 9995 Implode 12-03-89 14:50 b20201eb --w READZSW.ME 3869 Implode 07-24-89 10:40 c28f67ce --w REGISTER.TXT 13298 Implode 12-01-89 10:14 10b63da8 --w ROSEZSW.LST 11612 Implode 12-01-89 10:16 eda5bfdd --w ROSEZSW.MAP 6397 Implode 12-07-89 19:19 8070a669 --w USERS.LOD 1578 Implode 09-12-89 22:13 5c6ff455 --w W2VY-3.CNF 1364 Implode 10-01-89 11:09 d56805df --w LOCALNET.TXT 230 Shrunk 12-02-89 13:11 f97b7011 --w BOOTER.LOD 32749 Implode 12-01-89 10:16 c12e4e64 --w ROSEZSW.OVR 258 Shrunk 12-02-89 21:44 010ab958 --w TNC2.OVR 3768 Implode 12-02-89 13:12 e0b5e234 --w INFO.LOD 257 Shrunk 12-02-89 21:45 9324d93c --w DR200.OVR 301 Shrunk 12-02-89 21:46 fe70954d --w TNC320.OVR 287 Shrunk 12-02-89 21:46 9352a622 --w PK88.OVR 23262 Implode 12-03-89 09:24 165e2ecc --w MAKEPROM.EXE 7166 Implode 12-07-89 18:21 8302ace5 --w HEARD.LOD ------ ------- 155689 22 READZSW.ME - Boot strap information as well as changes from the previous release. ROSESYS.DOC - SYSOP Information on installation and configuration (THIS FILE). ROSEUSER.DOC - User manual for the Switch. CONFIGUR.EXE - IBM PC executable that converts the network description file (xyz.CNF) to a file that is loadable into a switch CONFIG application (xyz.TBL). CONFIG.LOD - The configuration interface that is executed on the switch while uploading the ".TBL" file. MEMSIZ.LOD - Simple test application, gives you the amount of memory used. USERS.LOD - Application that provides the user with a list of all active connections to or through a switch. INFO.LOD - Application to access TEXT of remote switch and also provides text messages for Reset and Disconnect messages. HEARD.LOD - Application that keeps track of what stations the switch has heard. Keeps track of how long ago they were heard, the first time heard, number of frames heard and frame type of the last frame heard. NPA.ARC - Archive that contains all the Area Codes in the USA and Canada broken down by state/province and by call area. ROSEZSW.BIN - Binary image suitable for EPROM programming. ROSEZSW.HEX - Intel HEX format file suitable for EPROM programming. ROSEZSW.LST - Assembly listing to aid the custom modification of some of the default parameters. ROSEZSW.MAP - Address map of all entry points and global variables, useful in custom modification of default parameters. TNC2.OVR, TNC320.OVR, PK88.OVR, DR200.OVR and ROSEZSW.OVR - Overlay files used by MAKEPROM.EXE to create the EPROM for a specific machine. MAKEPROM.EXE - MS-DOS Program used to create EPROM Image to be burned into an EPROM. Appendix 2 - ROSE X.25 Packet Switch User's Manual Appendix 3 - Network Configuration Example DEFAULT PORT 0 DEFAULT TIMEOUT 900 DEFAULT L3W 4 DEFAULT MAXVC 20 THIS DNIC 3100 United States of America THIS NODE Clifton ADDRESS 201478 CALL W2VY-3 DIGI W2VY-2 COVERAGE 201472 201473 201777 201779 201470 201478 201778 201772 END USERPORT 0 TEXT $ While Disconnected From THIS X.25 Switch issue a command like: $ C CALLSIGN-SSID V W2VY-3,201256 $ Switches Available for User Access are: Address Callsign Location User Port Freq 201256 W2VY-3 Montclair 221.11 Mhz 201744 N2DSY-3 LittleFalls,NJ 145.07 Mhz 609426 KA2VLP-3 Hightstown,NJ 145.07 Mhz 609261 WA3YRI-3 MtHolly,NJ 145.07 Mhz 212456 KD6TH-6 Manhattan,NY 145.07 Mhz 609530 N2EVW-9 Ewing,NJ 221.01 Mhz 609883 N2EVW-8 Trenton,NJ 221.11 Mhz 201663 N2ELC-3 Lake Hopatcong,NJ 145.09 Mhz $ Possible connect paths available to access BBS User ports. C KB1BD-4 V W2VY-3,609426 C WA2VXT-4 v W2VY-3,609426 C KD6TH-4 V W2VY-3,201744 C N2ELC-4 v W2VY-3,201663 $ Connect Paths Available to KA-Nodes or NETROM Facilities: C WB2DRD-3 V W2VY-3,609426 C WB2MNF-3 V W2VY-3,609530 $ When connecting to TheNet Nodes act as if you have connected direct to it. Type C NODENAME, after you have connected to either of the TheNet nodes listed above, to connect to the next desired node. Type NODES to get a node list after your connect or type Info to get information about the particular TheNet node you are connected to. Example: To connect to ELK TheNet node use the following sequence: C WB2DRD-3 V W2VY-3,6o9530 C ELK $ You will shortly be Disconnected from this switch. If you are currently connected via either TheNET or KA-Node RECONNECT to THAT node and then issue a connect as shown above. Note: It has come to our attention that those systems using old TNC1 code will not accept all digit fields, substitute o for 0 and i for 1 in the all digit field and you will be successful. Disconnect codes can be found on the KB1BD-4 PBBS, filename is DISCO.COD. Please address questions to KB1BD@KB1BD or W2VY@KD6TH. This switch brought to you courtesy of RATS. Enjoy 73 Tom W2VY $EOF END NODE Manhattan ADDRESS 212456 PATH KD6TH-3 END NODE LittleFalls ADDRESS 201744 PATH N2DSY-3 END NODE Clifton2 ADDRESS 201779 PATH W2VY-9 PORT 1 END NODE Montclair ADDRESS 201256 PATH W2VY-12 Via KB1BD-2 END USER KD6THbbs PATH KD6TH-4 PORT 1 MAXVC 0 END Route to Nodes Manhattan LittleFalls Calls for 207 802 617 508 413 203 401 518 607 212 718 716 516 914 315 end Route to Node Manhattan Calls for 212456 end Route to Node LittleFalls Calls for 201744 end Route to Node LittleFalls Calls for 609 215 717 202 end DNIC 0 Route to Node LittleFalls Calls for 3020 end WRITE w2vy-3.tbl QUIT Appendix 4 - Terminology A Link is a connection between two stations, either two users, two switches or a user and a switch. A Virtual Circuit, or VC is a connection for data transfer between two users, in a multi-switch networking environment this may involve more than one Link. A Network Address is a number that identifies an entry and/or exit point of the network. A Call or Call Request is what a user or switch sends to another switch to attempt to set up a VC to the specified Network Address. A Clear is an indication that a Call or VC is being disconnected, a clearing cause is supplied to indicate the reason for the disconnection. A Routing Alternative is the list of switches that will be tried when a Call Request is received for a specific Network Address. A Block Statement is a collection of commands that effect a common item that was specified at the start of the block. Examples of Block Statements are NODE and USER, see below. Block Statements can be nested. A TNC-2 Clone includes, but is not limited to the following packet controllers; TAPR TNC-2; PacComm TNC-200, TINY-2, Micropower-2; AEA PK-80; MFJ 1270, 1278 and is generally identifiable has a TNC having a Z80 CPU and Z80 SIO/0. Appendix 5 - Shifted ASCII Table Character Hex Value Shifted A 41 82 B 42 84 C 43 86 D 44 88 E 45 8A F 46 8C G 47 8E H 48 90 I 49 92 J 4A 94 K 4B 96 L 4C 98 M 4D 9A N 4E 9C O 4F 9E P 50 A0 Q 51 A2 R 52 A4 S 53 A6 T 54 A8 U 55 AA V 56 AC W 57 AE X 58 B0 Y 59 B2 Z 5A B4 0 30 60 1 31 62 2 32 64 3 33 66 4 34 68 5 35 6A 6 36 6C 7 37 6E 8 38 70 9 39 72 space 20 40 Additional values used for SSID's only 10 - 74 11 - 76 12 - 78 13 - 7A 14 - 7C 15 - 7E