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jmkristian / agwpe-tools

Communicate via AX.25 using a TNC compatible with AGWPE.
Apache License 2.0
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agwpe-tools

Communicate via AX.25, using an AGWPE-compatible TNC (e.g. Direwolf, SoundModem or AGWPE).

This package contains two programs converse and chatter, which you can use to interact with other stations via AX.25. They run in a command line window, for example "Command Prompt" on Windows or a terminal emulator window on Linux.

converse communicates with one station, via an AX.25 connection. It's useful for interacting with a BBS. chatter communicates with multiple stations, using connections and/or UI packets (also known as unproto packets). It's useful for participating in a multi-station chat session.

Converse

First start your TNC (e.g. Direwolf or SoundModem).

On Windows:

  1. Download the latest version of converse.exe here. It's in the Assets section of each release.
  2. Open a PowerShell or Command Prompt (CMD) window.
  3. cd to the folder that contains converse.exe.
  4. .\converse.exe <your call sign> <remote call sign> --verbose

On Linux:

  1. Download the latest version of converse here. It's in the Assets section of each release.
  2. Open a terminal emulator (shell) window.
  3. cd to the directory that contains converse.
  4. chmod +x converse
  5. ./converse <your call sign> <remote call sign> --verbose

You can watch a video demonstrating this on Windows or Linux.

To see a summary of the command line options, run converse with no arguments. To see a summary of commands you can give to converse, pause a conversation and enter ? (a question mark).

To communicate large amounts of text, you can copy-n-paste to or from your command line window. To copy all the text from a command line window, be sure to select the complete width of the screen buffer.

Characters sent to the remote station and received from the remote station are encoded as specified by the command line option --encoding.

You can customize converse.exe. For example, see how to poll a BBS on Windows or Linux.

Chatter

Download and run chatter the same way as converse. On Linux, run chmod +x chatter after you download it. To see a summary of its command line options, run it with no arguments.

To get started using chatter, run .\chatter.exe <your call sign> on Windows or ./chatter <your call sign> on Linux. Then enter ? to see a summary of all the commands. To send data, enter an unproto or connect command; then type the data you want to send.

Chatter outputs a summary of all the data that AGWPE receives. You can filter out some of the data using hide and show commands.

By default, chatter hides packets that it hears repeatedly. Usually this means packets that are retransmitted by digipeaters. In general, it won't show a packet that's the same (except for digipeaters) as another packet it heard recently. To see the repetitive packets, enter the command show repeats.

If you don't specify the 'via' option to 'connect' or 'unproto' commands, chatter will try to use a short sequence of digipeaters. To do this, it listens to all packets, observes the digipeaters that other stations use and picks out the shortest sequence that it heard directly from a digipeater. If it hears directly from a source station, it will send to that station directly, without using digipeaters. This system depends on hearing packets, so it doesn't work immediately. If you know the right digipeaters to use, use the via command to set the default for all stations, or specify a 'via' option to a 'connect' or 'unproto' command. Chatter will use the digipeaters you specify. It might suggest a shorter sequence if it hears one repeatedly, but it won't override your choice.

Using node

In case the executable files don't work, you can use node.js to run these commands. Here's how:

  1. Get node.js version 8.17 or later. Check your current version by running the command node --version. If you don't have this command, install node.js and start a new shell. If you have an old version, you can use nvm to install a new version.
  2. Clone the agwpe-tools repository.
  3. Start a shell and cd into your clone.
  4. Run the command npm install to download other node packages that you'll need. Ignore messages about finding Python; they're harmless.
  5. Start your TNC (e.g. Direwolf).
  6. Run one of the programs, either:
    • node ./converse.js --verbose <your call sign> <remote call sign>
    • node ./chatter.js <your call sign>

To see a summary of the command line options, run either program with no arguments.

This software requires node.js version 8.17 or later. It works on Windows 8, Ubuntu 20 and MacOS Sonoma 14.4.1, with Direwolf version 1.7 and UZ7HO SoundModem version 1.13. It might work with other versions.

The Windows executable files were built by build.cmd, running with node.js version 12.22.12. The Linux executable files were built by build.sh, also running with node.js version 12.22.12.

If you're willing to help make executable files for MacOS, please add a comment to issue #5.