[FADCA] LINUX White Pages / QRZ Stuff

[Chuck Hast]

Regarding reply #1.
Yes, the white page function is designed to allow the presence of a
active subscriber unit to be propagated through out the white pages
all across the network. It is really a extenstion of the "heard" function
already on the FPAC DOS boxes. The heard list is compressed and
exchanged with other FPAC Linux boxes. This is what allows for the
ability of the user to connect to the switch then issue a connect to a
given callsign with no X.121 address, the switch on receiving the
connect command looks up the location of the target call, then it sets
up the connection to the target based on what X.121 address the target
is located at. All of this is done transparent to the user.

Presently all you need to do in order to get listed on the white pages
is to send a single packet, it can be a UI frame or you can connect to
something, and if the switch hears and decodes it, you are added to
the heard list and propagated through the network. So as you can see
the better part of the QRZ? mechanism is there if not all of it. What may
be missing is just refinement of what is there.

We are going to set up a switch at the Hillsborough EOC, off of a port on
that switch we are going to hang a Telpac node, it will be wire connected
to the switch, that switch will be high speed connected to the rest of the
network now anyone who can hit a switch in the area will be able to get
to the telpac node.

Taking the QRZ? packet a bit further, you stick the telpac node call and
some sort of single char ID next to it, into the QRZ? packet, so when a 
PacLink station hears that QRZ? packet it knows that there is a TelPac
node associated with that network. Now when the subscriber goes to
send something the smarts in the sw will go and issue a connnect to the
telpac node via the switch (that is one place where publishing the X.121
address is a good thing, you reduce the call set up time if the subscriber
device can issue a single connect via the switch,X.121 address)

Message #2,
Indeed the present FPAC DOS boxes do capture and send a record of
the switch operation. We have them set up to store that data generally
during the wee hours of the morning. There is also a entry in the config
file that will allow the switch to connect to a BBS and  push that data to
that associated BBS. You could also connect to the switches and issue
the commands that retrieve all of the environmental data, and of course
you could get a white pages download in order to get a snapshot of
activity on the network.

I figure that since we have the source code to the FPAC Linux stuff there
is a lot that can be done to add ECOMMS functionality to the switch stacks,
but most of it is already there.

I am hoping to be able to get one set up and running, I just am very short
on time right now.

-- 
Chuck Hast 
To paraphrase my flight instructor;
"the only dumb question is the one you DID NOT ask resulting in my going
out and having to identify your bits and pieces in the midst of torn
and twisted metal."