The Installation Guide for DXSpider under Microsoft Windows: Introduction

What you'll be left with once you've followed these instructions +is (hopefully) a working DX Spider v1.47 system that is capable +of accepting or originating "internet" connections, plus inbound +AX.25 and TCP/IP radio connections. If the absence of outbound +radio connections is a serious limitation for you, it would be +better for you to wait a couple more weeks until this support has +been added. +

On the other hand, you may have an enquiring mind, or better yet, +may be looking for a useful way of connecting your current +(perhaps) AK1A cluster "to the internet" via some networking +mechanism (BPQEther, etc) or other. I won't be producing +instructions for the latter case, because I don't have an AK1A to +play with. But someone might ... +

Whatever, this document is intended to get you started with DX +Spider in a Microsoft Windows ™ environment. It's not +intended to teach you anything other than how to perform a +minimum configuration of a DX Spider installation and have it +able to connect across "the internet" to other DX Clusters, while +accepting inbound TELNET and radio connections. +

1.1 The requirements +

1.2 The system +

The platform I used to generate these instructions was a +"vanilla" Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000 system, with a 700MHz +AMD Athlon processor and 96 Mb memory. I've also personally +verified that it runs on my laptop (Pentium 266MHz, 32 Mb memory, +Windows 98 SE v4.10.2222 A) and a computer that I assembled from +a random pile of junk (AMD K6-2 333MHz, 64 Mb memory, Windows 98 +v4.10.1998). As a result, I have reason to believe that what I'm +about to describe will perform equally on any 32-bit MS Windows +environment with 32 Mb of memory. +

Because of the changes that have recently been made to the core +"cluster.pl" module and the introduction of a very lightweight +"winclient.pl", I have a sneaking suspicion that this will now +run on any platform that has reasonably complete support for +Perl. Is there someone out there with both an enquiring mind and +(say) a Macintosh, for instance? +

Please bear in mind, though, that my instructions relate solely +to how to get this going under a Microsoft Windows environment, +and I have zero intention of trying to make them say otherwise. +

1.3 Perl +

Install your chosen Perl environment. Unless you have a very good +reason for not doing so, I strongly suggest that you use +ActivePerl v5.6. For my testing & development, I used build 623. +You can get this from:- +http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/Download.html

You will need to choose either the MSI or the AS package. My +recommendation is that you choose the MSI package and deal with +the consequences if your system isn't equipped with support for +the latest MS Installer; you'll be better off in the long run. +The build 623 download is 7,460 KB, so now is a really good time +to have some tea if you're on a slow dial-up connection. +

During installation, please ensure that you do choose the options +to "Add Perl to the PATH environment variable" and "Create Perl +file extension association"; it will make your life so much +easier. Once the installation is finished, be sure to reboot your +PC. You probably won't be told anywhere else that this needs to +be done now, but it does. Really. +

Once you've rebooted, open a "DOS box" (Start > Run > command +might do it, if you can't find it elsewhere) and from wherever it +lands, type PERL -v <ENTER> (it's better if that's a lower-case +'v', because an upper-case 'V' means something else. You should +be rewarded with some interesting information about your Perl +installation. If you're not, you must go back to the beginning +and discover what went wrong and fix it. It's pointless to +proceed unless this simple check is passed. Assuming it did work, +you may now move on. +

1.4 Additional packages +

Some extensions ("packages") need to be added to the base Perl +distribution, and we'll do this next. If you're using the Perl I +recommended, and don't know any better for yourself, then just +blindly following these instructions will work just fine. If that +didn't describe you, then you're on your own. +

Make yourself a convenient directory to unpack all of these zip +files into (I put mine in "D:\ppm>") and do the following (the +bits you type in are blue ). Note that where these files land +will be directly related to where you chose to install your +ActivePerl (mine, as you can probably guess from what follows, +went into "D:\Perl"):- +

I'm not going to bother you with exhaustive details of the rest +of them, but suffice it to say you need to: +

If all that seemed to work OK, time to move along. Before anyone +who is familiar with PPM tells me that we didn't need to download +and keep those files locally, I knew that. I also knew that PPM +is sometimes awkward to configure via firewalls, and that +sometimes the repositories don't always work the way we'd hope. I +do it that way because it suits me. +

1.5 Getting Spider +

Get the current version of the DX Spider distribution. This needs +to be v1.47 or later. You've got two ways (currently) of getting +this; either get a CVS update from sourceforge (if you don't know +what this is, then it isn't for you) or get my package from:- +

If you went down the CVS route, then everything will be nicely +set out on your local disk. If you got the ZIP file, unpack it to +somewhere convenient. The following examples assume that you put +it on drive "C:\", for convenience. +

NOTE: This distribution method will go away as soon as the first +v1.47 tarball is released. You can use WinZip to unpack that, and +my life will be made easier by not needing to keep this .ZIP file +updated. +

2. Installing the software

Ensure that your CVS session or your unZIPped file have left you +with a directory "C:\spider\local"; if not, go to "C:\spider\" +and create one. If "C:\spider" is missing, go back and figure out +why, because it shouldn't be. +

Now you'll need to edit this file using a text editor. If nothing +else, you can simply +

to bring up an editor window containing the file. As an absolute +minimum you must adjust the following items in DXVars.pm:- +

You really also ought to update the $mylatitude, $mylongitude, +$myqth and $myemail variables. And unless you are absolutely +certain you know what you're doing, you should change nothing +else in this file. +

2.1 The AGW packet engine +

On the assumption that you'll be using the SV2AGW Packet Engine +to interface your radios to the cluster, you should now create +your own local copy of AGWConnect.pm by:- +

to bring up an editor window containing the file. You must +consider adjusting the following items in AGWConnect.pm:- +

2.2 Setting up the initial user files +

Next you need to create the initial user files, etc. A tool is +supplied which will do this for you. To run the tool:- +

If all goes according to plan, you will see no output from this +program, and after a brief wait, your DOS prompt will be +returned. +

If you did everything you were told, your DOS window will now +hold a display which looks something like:- +

Now, if that's what you've got, you are very nearly home and dry +(in as far as these particular experiments are concerned, anyhow) +

To access your new cluster (from the local machine) find yourself another +"DOS box" and do the following:- +

You've arrived. Try some commands, and see how they feel. (In +case you were wondering, "Iain", "M0ADI" and "GB7SJP" all came +from the version of DXVars.pm that was on the machine when I +started the winclient.pl) +

2.3 Incoming telnets +

If you want to enable inbound "TELNET" connections, you've got a +little more work to do. From a handy "DOS box" that's not doing +anything else, do the following:- +

On my machine, I've simply uncommented the "localhost" entry by +removing the '#' from the front of the line. I've also +uncommented the second line, and changed the hostname to point at +"spud.ath.cx". +

If you don't have a static hostname for your machine, and you +intend to allow folk to connect to your machine across the +internet, then I'd suggest you pay a visit to www.dyndns.org and +create one for yourself. While it's free, it will take a modest +an amount of effort on your part to read, understand and +implement what needs to be done to set this up. +

2.4 Connecting to other clusters +

If you want to connect this to another cluster, then you'll want +to negotiate a link with someone. For experimental purposes, I'm +happy to allow folk to connect to GB7DXA (spud.ath.cx), on the +understanding that the system may or may not be there and may or +may not be connected to anything particularly useful at any given +moment. Contact me by Email if you want me to set up a connection +for you. +

The Installation Guide for DXSpider under Microsoft Windows

Iain Philipps, G0RDI (g0rdi@77hz.com)

1. Introduction

2. Installing the software

+ + + +The Installation Guide for DXSpider under Microsoft Windows +<author>Iain Philipps, G0RDI (g0rdi@77hz.com) +<date>Version 1.1 28 March 2001 +<abstract> +DX Spider under Microsoft Windows ™ +</abstract> + + +<toc> + + + +<sect>Introduction + + +<bf>IMPORTANT:</bf> + +What you'll be left with once you've followed these instructions +is (hopefully) a working DX Spider v1.47 system that is capable +of accepting or originating "internet" connections, plus inbound +AX.25 and TCP/IP radio connections. If the absence of outbound +radio connections is a serious limitation for you, it would be +better for you to wait a couple more weeks until this support has +been added. + +On the other hand, you may have an enquiring mind, or better yet, +may be looking for a useful way of connecting your current +(perhaps) AK1A cluster "to the internet" via some networking +mechanism (BPQEther, etc) or other. I won't be producing +instructions for the latter case, because I don't have an AK1A to +play with. But someone might ... + +Whatever, this document is intended to get you started with DX +Spider in a Microsoft Windows ™ environment. It's not +intended to teach you anything other than how to perform a +minimum configuration of a DX Spider installation and have it +able to connect across "the internet" to other DX Clusters, while +accepting inbound TELNET and radio connections. + +<sect1>The requirements + + +The very first things you're going to need are (in order of +importance):- + +<itemize> +<item>A cup of good, strong tea +<item>A supported Windows platform with an internet connection so you can +download the necessary software bits and bobs directly to it. There are other ways, but this is preferable. +<item>Another cup of good, strong tea +<item>If all goes according to plan, about an hour to spare +<item>Plenty of good, strong tea +</itemize> + +<sect1>The system + + +The platform I used to generate these instructions was a +"vanilla" Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000 system, with a 700MHz +AMD Athlon processor and 96 Mb memory. I've also personally +verified that it runs on my laptop (Pentium 266MHz, 32 Mb memory, +Windows 98 SE v4.10.2222 A) and a computer that I assembled from +a random pile of junk (AMD K6-2 333MHz, 64 Mb memory, Windows 98 +v4.10.1998). As a result, I have reason to believe that what I'm +about to describe will perform equally on any 32-bit MS Windows +environment with 32 Mb of memory. + +Because of the changes that have recently been made to the core +"cluster.pl" module and the introduction of a very lightweight +"winclient.pl", I have a sneaking suspicion that this will now +run on any platform that has reasonably complete support for +Perl. Is there someone out there with both an enquiring mind and +(say) a Macintosh, for instance? + +Please bear in mind, though, that my instructions relate solely +to how to get this going under a Microsoft Windows environment, +and I have zero intention of trying to make them say otherwise. + +<sect1>Perl + + +Install your chosen Perl environment. Unless you have a very good +reason for not doing so, I strongly suggest that you use +ActivePerl v5.6. For my testing & development, I used build 623. +You can get this from:- <htmlurl +url="http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/Download.html" +name="http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/Download.html"> + +You will need to choose either the MSI or the AS package. My +recommendation is that you choose the MSI package and deal with +the consequences if your system isn't equipped with support for +the latest MS Installer; you'll be better off in the long run. +The build 623 download is 7,460 KB, so now is a really good time +to have some tea if you're on a slow dial-up connection. + +During installation, please ensure that you do choose the options +to "Add Perl to the PATH environment variable" and "Create Perl +file extension association"; it will make your life so much +easier. Once the installation is finished, be sure to reboot your +PC. You probably won't be told anywhere else that this needs to +be done now, but it does. Really. + +Once you've rebooted, open a "DOS box" (Start > Run > command +might do it, if you can't find it elsewhere) and from wherever it +lands, type PERL -v <ENTER> (it's better if that's a lower-case +'v', because an upper-case 'V' means something else. You should +be rewarded with some interesting information about your Perl +installation. If you're not, you must go back to the beginning +and discover what went wrong and fix it. It's pointless to +proceed unless this simple check is passed. Assuming it did work, +you may now move on. + +<sect1>Additional packages + + +Some extensions ("packages") need to be added to the base Perl +distribution, and we'll do this next. If you're using the Perl I +recommended, and don't know any better for yourself, then just +blindly following these instructions will work just fine. If that +didn't describe you, then you're on your own. + +Visit the following URL: + +<htmlurl url="http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/zips/6xx-builds-only/" +name="http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/zips/6xx-builds-only/"> + +and download the following files:- + +<tscreen><verb> +Data-Dumper.zip +Net-Telnet.zip +TimeDate.zip +Time-HiRes.zip +DB_File.zip +</verb></tscreen> + +Make yourself a convenient directory to unpack all of these zip +files into (I put mine in "D:\ppm>") and do the following (the +bits you type in are blue ). Note that where these files land +will be directly related to where you chose to install your +ActivePerl (mine, as you can probably guess from what follows, +went into "D:\Perl"):- + +<tscreen><verb> +D:\ppm>ppm install Data-Dumper.ppd +Installing package 'Data-Dumper.ppd' +Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.bs +Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.dll +Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.exp +Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.lib +Installing D:\Perl\html\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.html +Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\Data\Dumper\Dumper.pm +Writing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.packlist +D:\ppm> +</verb></tscreen> + +I'm not going to bother you with exhaustive details of the rest +of them, but suffice it to say you need to: + +<tscreen><verb> +ppm install DB_File.ppd +ppm install Net-Telnet.ppd +ppm install TimeDate.ppd +ppm install Time-HiRes.ppd +</verb></tscreen> + +If all that seemed to work OK, time to move along. Before anyone +who is familiar with PPM tells me that we didn't need to download +and keep those files locally, I knew that. I also knew that PPM +is sometimes awkward to configure via firewalls, and that +sometimes the repositories don't always work the way we'd hope. I +do it that way because it suits me. + +<sect1>Getting Spider + + +Get the current version of the DX Spider distribution. This needs +to be v1.47 or later. You've got two ways (currently) of getting +this; either get a CVS update from sourceforge (if you don't know +what this is, then it isn't for you) or get my package from:- + +<htmlurl url="http://www.dcc.rsgb.org/WinSpider.zip" name="http://www.dcc.rsgb.org/WinSpider.zip"> + +If you went down the CVS route, then everything will be nicely +set out on your local disk. If you got the ZIP file, unpack it to +somewhere convenient. The following examples assume that you put +it on drive "C:\", for convenience. + +<bf>NOTE:</bf> This distribution method will go away as soon as the first +v1.47 tarball is released. You can use WinZip to unpack that, and +my life will be made easier by not needing to keep this .ZIP file +updated. + +<sect>Installing the software + + +Ensure that your CVS session or your unZIPped file have left you +with a directory "C:\spider\local"; if not, go to "C:\spider\" +and create one. If "C:\spider" is missing, go back and figure out +why, because it shouldn't be. + +Now create your own local copy of the DXVars.pm file by:- + +<tscreen><verb> +copy c:\spider\perl\DXVars.pm.issue +c:\spider\local\DXVars.pm +</verb></tscreen> + +Now you'll need to edit this file using a text editor. If nothing +else, you can simply + +<tscreen><verb> +cd \spider\local +</verb></tscreen> + +and then + +<tscreen><verb> +notepad DXVars.pm +</verb></tscreen> + +to bring up an editor window containing the file. As an absolute +minimum you must adjust the following items in DXVars.pm:- + +<itemize> +<item> $mycall - Should hold the callsign of your DX Cluster +<item> $myname - The SysOp's first name +<item> $myalias - the SysOp's callsign. Cannot be the same as $mycall! +</itemize> + +You really also ought to update the $mylatitude, $mylongitude, +$myqth and $myemail variables. And unless you are absolutely +certain you know what you're doing, you should change nothing +else in this file. + +<sect1>The AGW packet engine + + +On the assumption that you'll be using the SV2AGW Packet Engine +to interface your radios to the cluster, you should now create +your own local copy of AGWConnect.pm by:- + +<tscreen><verb> +copy c:\spider\perl\AGWConnect.pm +c:\spider\local\AGWConnect.pm +</verb></tscreen> + +and then + +<tscreen><verb> +notepad AGWConnect.pm +</verb></tscreen> + +to bring up an editor window containing the file. You must +consider adjusting the following items in AGWConnect.pm:- + +<itemize> +<item>$enable - set to '1' to enable AGWPE interface +<item>$login - the login ID you chose when you set up the SV2AGW security :-) +<item>$passwd - password that matches $login +</itemize> + +<sect1>Setting up the initial user files + + +Next you need to create the initial user files, etc. A tool is +supplied which will do this for you. To run the tool:- + +<tscreen><verb> +cd \spider\perl +perl create_sysop.pl +</verb></tscreen> + +If all goes according to plan, you will see no output from this +program, and after a brief wait, your DOS prompt will be +returned. + +Depending on how brave you are, you might now care to try the +following:- + +<tscreen><verb> +perl cluster.pl +</verb></tscreen> + +If you did everything you were told, your DOS window will now +hold a display which looks something like:- + +<tscreen><verb> +DXSpider DX Cluster Version 1.47 +Copyright (c) 1998-2001 Dirk Koopman G1TLH +loading prefixes ... +loading band data ... +loading user file system ... +starting listeners ... +Internal port: localhost 27754 +load badwords: Ok +reading in duplicate spot and WWV info ... +reading existing message headers ... +load badmsg: Ok +load forward: Ok +load swop: Ok +@msg = 0 before delete +@msg = 0 after delete +reading cron jobs ...v cron: reading /spider/cmd/crontab +cron: adding 1 0 * * 0 +DXUser::export("$main::data/user_asc") +reading database descriptors ... +doing local initialisation ... +orft we jolly well go ... +queue msg (0) +</verb></tscreen> + +Now, if that's what you've got, you are very nearly home and dry +(in as far as these particular experiments are concerned, anyhow) + +To access your new cluster (from the local machine) find yourself another +"DOS box" and do the following:- + +<tscreen><verb> +cd \spider\perl +perl winclient.pl +</verb></tscreen> + +If you are rewarded with a display which looks something like:- + +<tscreen><verb> +Hello Iain, this is GB7SJP in Amersham, Bucks running DXSpider V1.47 +Cluster: 1 nodes, 1 local / 1 total users Max users 2 Uptime 0 00:00 +M0ADI de GB7SJP 4-Mar-2001 1511Z > +</verb></tscreen> + +You've arrived. Try some commands, and see how they feel. (In +case you were wondering, "Iain", "M0ADI" and "GB7SJP" all came +from the version of DXVars.pm that was on the machine when I +started the winclient.pl) + +<sect1>Incoming telnets + + +If you want to enable inbound "TELNET" connections, you've got a +little more work to do. From a handy "DOS box" that's not doing +anything else, do the following:- + +<tscreen><verb> +copy \spider\perl\listeners.pm \spider\local +cd \spider\local +notepad listeners.pm +</verb></tscreen> + +The following lines need attention:- + +<tscreen><verb> +["localhost", 7300], +["foo.dxcluster.net", 7300], +</verb></tscreen> + +On my machine, I've simply uncommented the "localhost" entry by +removing the '#' from the front of the line. I've also +uncommented the second line, and changed the hostname to point at +"spud.ath.cx". + +If you don't have a static hostname for your machine, and you +intend to allow folk to connect to your machine across the +internet, then I'd suggest you pay a visit to www.dyndns.org and +create one for yourself. While it's free, it will take a modest +an amount of effort on your part to read, understand and +implement what needs to be done to set this up. + +<sect1>Connecting to other clusters + + +If you want to connect this to another cluster, then you'll want +to negotiate a link with someone. For experimental purposes, I'm +happy to allow folk to connect to GB7DXA (spud.ath.cx), on the +understanding that the system may or may not be there and may or +may not be connected to anything particularly useful at any given +moment. Contact me by Email if you want me to set up a connection +for you. + +<it>Last updated: 05-Mar-01</it> + +</article> diff --git a/txt/wininstallation.txt b/txt/wininstallation.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d510687d --- /dev/null +++ b/txt/wininstallation.txt @@ -0,0 +1,462 @@ + The Installation Guide for DXSpider under Microsoft Windows + Iain Philipps, G0RDI (g0rdi@77hz.com) + Version 1.1 28 March 2001 + + DX Spider under Microsoft Windows (TM) + ______________________________________________________________________ + + Table of Contents + + + 1. Introduction + + 1.1 The requirements + 1.2 The system + 1.3 Perl + 1.4 Additional packages + 1.5 Getting Spider + + 2. Installing the software + + 2.1 The AGW packet engine + 2.2 Setting up the initial user files + 2.3 Incoming telnets + 2.4 Connecting to other clusters + + + ______________________________________________________________________ + + 1. Introduction + + IMPORTANT: + + What you'll be left with once you've followed these instructions is + (hopefully) a working DX Spider v1.47 system that is capable of + accepting or originating "internet" connections, plus inbound AX.25 + and TCP/IP radio connections. If the absence of outbound radio + connections is a serious limitation for you, it would be better for + you to wait a couple more weeks until this support has been added. + + On the other hand, you may have an enquiring mind, or better yet, may + be looking for a useful way of connecting your current (perhaps) AK1A + cluster "to the internet" via some networking mechanism (BPQEther, + etc) or other. I won't be producing instructions for the latter case, + because I don't have an AK1A to play with. But someone might ... + + Whatever, this document is intended to get you started with DX Spider + in a Microsoft Windows (TM) environment. It's not intended to teach + you anything other than how to perform a minimum configuration of a DX + Spider installation and have it able to connect across "the internet" + to other DX Clusters, while accepting inbound TELNET and radio + connections. + + + 1.1. The requirements + + The very first things you're going to need are (in order of + importance):- + + + o A cup of good, strong tea + + o A supported Windows platform with an internet connection so you can + download the necessary software bits and bobs directly to it. There + are other ways, but this is preferable. + + + o Another cup of good, strong tea + + o If all goes according to plan, about an hour to spare + + o Plenty of good, strong tea + + + 1.2. The system + + The platform I used to generate these instructions was a "vanilla" + Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000 system, with a 700MHz AMD Athlon + processor and 96 Mb memory. I've also personally verified that it runs + on my laptop (Pentium 266MHz, 32 Mb memory, Windows 98 SE v4.10.2222 + A) and a computer that I assembled from a random pile of junk (AMD + K6-2 333MHz, 64 Mb memory, Windows 98 v4.10.1998). As a result, I have + reason to believe that what I'm about to describe will perform equally + on any 32-bit MS Windows environment with 32 Mb of memory. + + Because of the changes that have recently been made to the core + "cluster.pl" module and the introduction of a very lightweight + "winclient.pl", I have a sneaking suspicion that this will now run on + any platform that has reasonably complete support for Perl. Is there + someone out there with both an enquiring mind and (say) a Macintosh, + for instance? + + Please bear in mind, though, that my instructions relate solely to how + to get this going under a Microsoft Windows environment, and I have + zero intention of trying to make them say otherwise. + + + 1.3. Perl + + Install your chosen Perl environment. Unless you have a very good + reason for not doing so, I strongly suggest that you use ActivePerl + v5.6. For my testing & development, I used build 623. You can get + this from:- + http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/Download.html + + You will need to choose either the MSI or the AS package. My + recommendation is that you choose the MSI package and deal with the + consequences if your system isn't equipped with support for the latest + MS Installer; you'll be better off in the long run. The build 623 + download is 7,460 KB, so now is a really good time to have some tea if + you're on a slow dial-up connection. + + During installation, please ensure that you do choose the options to + "Add Perl to the PATH environment variable" and "Create Perl file + extension association"; it will make your life so much easier. Once + the installation is finished, be sure to reboot your PC. You probably + won't be told anywhere else that this needs to be done now, but it + does. Really. + + Once you've rebooted, open a "DOS box" (Start > Run > command might do + it, if you can't find it elsewhere) and from wherever it lands, type + PERL -v <ENTER> (it's better if that's a lower-case be rewarded with + some interesting information about your Perl installation. If you're + not, you must go back to the beginning and discover what went wrong + and fix it. It's pointless to proceed unless this simple check is + passed. Assuming it did work, you may now move on. + + + 1.4. Additional packages + + Some extensions ("packages") need to be added to the base Perl + distribution, and we'll do this next. If you're using the Perl I + recommended, and don't know any better for yourself, then just blindly + following these instructions will work just fine. If that didn't + describe you, then you're on your own. + + Visit the following URL: + + http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/zips/6xx-builds-only/ + + and download the following files:- + + + + Data-Dumper.zip + Net-Telnet.zip + TimeDate.zip + Time-HiRes.zip + DB_File.zip + + + + + Make yourself a convenient directory to unpack all of these zip files + into (I put mine in "D:\ppm>") and do the following (the bits you type + in are blue ). Note that where these files land will be directly + related to where you chose to install your ActivePerl (mine, as you + can probably guess from what follows, went into "D:\Perl"):- + + + + D:\ppm>ppm install Data-Dumper.ppd + Installing package 'Data-Dumper.ppd' + Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.bs + Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.dll + Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.exp + Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.lib + Installing D:\Perl\html\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.html + Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\Data\Dumper\Dumper.pm + Writing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.packlist + D:\ppm> + + + + + I'm not going to bother you with exhaustive details of the rest of + them, but suffice it to say you need to: + + + + ppm install DB_File.ppd + ppm install Net-Telnet.ppd + ppm install TimeDate.ppd + ppm install Time-HiRes.ppd + + + + + If all that seemed to work OK, time to move along. Before anyone who + is familiar with PPM tells me that we didn't need to download and keep + those files locally, I knew that. I also knew that PPM is sometimes + awkward to configure via firewalls, and that sometimes the + repositories don't always work the way we'd hope. I do it that way + because it suits me. + + + + + + 1.5. Getting Spider + + Get the current version of the DX Spider distribution. This needs to + be v1.47 or later. You've got two ways (currently) of getting this; + either get a CVS update from sourceforge (if you don't know what this + is, then it isn't for you) or get my package from:- + + http://www.dcc.rsgb.org/WinSpider.zip + + If you went down the CVS route, then everything will be nicely set out + on your local disk. If you got the ZIP file, unpack it to somewhere + convenient. The following examples assume that you put it on drive + "C:\", for convenience. + + NOTE: This distribution method will go away as soon as the first v1.47 + tarball is released. You can use WinZip to unpack that, and my life + will be made easier by not needing to keep this .ZIP file updated. + + + 2. Installing the software + + Ensure that your CVS session or your unZIPped file have left you with + a directory "C:\spider\local"; if not, go to "C:\spider\" and create + one. If "C:\spider" is missing, go back and figure out why, because it + shouldn't be. + + Now create your own local copy of the DXVars.pm file by:- + + + + copy c:\spider\perl\DXVars.pm.issue + c:\spider\local\DXVars.pm + + + + + Now you'll need to edit this file using a text editor. If nothing + else, you can simply + + + + cd \spider\local + + + + + and then + + + + notepad DXVars.pm + + + + + to bring up an editor window containing the file. As an absolute + minimum you must adjust the following items in DXVars.pm:- + + + o $mycall - Should hold the callsign of your DX Cluster + + o $myname - The SysOp's first name + + o $myalias - the SysOp's callsign. Cannot be the same as $mycall! + + + You really also ought to update the $mylatitude, $mylongitude, $myqth + and $myemail variables. And unless you are absolutely certain you know + what you're doing, you should change nothing else in this file. + + + 2.1. The AGW packet engine + + On the assumption that you'll be using the SV2AGW Packet Engine to + interface your radios to the cluster, you should now create your own + local copy of AGWConnect.pm by:- + + + + copy c:\spider\perl\AGWConnect.pm + c:\spider\local\AGWConnect.pm + + + + + and then + + + + notepad AGWConnect.pm + + + + + to bring up an editor window containing the file. You must consider + adjusting the following items in AGWConnect.pm:- + + + o $enable - set to '1' to enable AGWPE interface + + o $login - the login ID you chose when you set up the SV2AGW + security :-) + + o $passwd - password that matches $login + + + 2.2. Setting up the initial user files + + Next you need to create the initial user files, etc. A tool is + supplied which will do this for you. To run the tool:- + + + + cd \spider\perl + perl create_sysop.pl + + + + + If all goes according to plan, you will see no output from this + program, and after a brief wait, your DOS prompt will be returned. + + Depending on how brave you are, you might now care to try the + following:- + + + + perl cluster.pl + + + + + If you did everything you were told, your DOS window will now hold a + display which looks something like:- + + + + DXSpider DX Cluster Version 1.47 + Copyright (c) 1998-2001 Dirk Koopman G1TLH + loading prefixes ... + loading band data ... + loading user file system ... + starting listeners ... + Internal port: localhost 27754 + load badwords: Ok + reading in duplicate spot and WWV info ... + reading existing message headers ... + load badmsg: Ok + load forward: Ok + load swop: Ok + @msg = 0 before delete + @msg = 0 after delete + reading cron jobs ...v cron: reading /spider/cmd/crontab + cron: adding 1 0 * * 0 + DXUser::export("$main::data/user_asc") + reading database descriptors ... + doing local initialisation ... + orft we jolly well go ... + queue msg (0) + + + + + Now, if that's what you've got, you are very nearly home and dry (in + as far as these particular experiments are concerned, anyhow) + + To access your new cluster (from the local machine) find yourself + another "DOS box" and do the following:- + + + + cd \spider\perl + perl winclient.pl + + + + + If you are rewarded with a display which looks something like:- + + + + Hello Iain, this is GB7SJP in Amersham, Bucks running DXSpider V1.47 + Cluster: 1 nodes, 1 local / 1 total users Max users 2 Uptime 0 00:00 + M0ADI de GB7SJP 4-Mar-2001 1511Z > + + + + + You've arrived. Try some commands, and see how they feel. (In case you + were wondering, "Iain", "M0ADI" and "GB7SJP" all came from the version + of DXVars.pm that was on the machine when I started the winclient.pl) + + + 2.3. Incoming telnets + + If you want to enable inbound "TELNET" connections, you've got a + little more work to do. From a handy "DOS box" that's not doing + anything else, do the following:- + copy \spider\perl\listeners.pm \spider\local + cd \spider\local + notepad listeners.pm + + + + + The following lines need attention:- + + + + ["localhost", 7300], + ["foo.dxcluster.net", 7300], + + + + + On my machine, I've simply uncommented the "localhost" entry by + removing the '#' from the front of the line. I've also uncommented the + second line, and changed the hostname to point at "spud.ath.cx". + + If you don't have a static hostname for your machine, and you intend + to allow folk to connect to your machine across the internet, then I'd + suggest you pay a visit to www.dyndns.org and create one for yourself. + While it's free, it will take a modest an amount of effort on your + part to read, understand and implement what needs to be done to set + this up. + + + 2.4. Connecting to other clusters + + If you want to connect this to another cluster, then you'll want to + negotiate a link with someone. For experimental purposes, I'm happy to + allow folk to connect to GB7DXA (spud.ath.cx), on the understanding + that the system may or may not be there and may or may not be + connected to anything particularly useful at any given moment. Contact + me by Email if you want me to set up a connection for you. + + Last updated: 05-Mar-01 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +