I'll apologise in advance for this post being so huge. Sorry ;)
Okay, I've read most of the stuff at the above site and, if anything, I
have even more questions. First I'll give you some background about why I
am asking the questions, and then list them.
I have a fair bit of Linux experience, and a small amount of networking
experience plus a willingness to learn. I don't know a lot about amateur
radio (I'm currently waiting for my license to arrive), though I have a few
mates who are radio hams and can help out with any hardware type problems I
have. The main (if not the _only_) reason I went through the RAE was so
that I could experiment with amateur TCP/IP, but there is not currently a
TCP/IP network in my area. There is however a local packet users group, and
I have been told that there has been a lot of interest in setting up a
network if someone was willing to set up and run a gateway. I have not yet
been able to contact the guy who apparently so far has been the main
advocate of the idea, but I should be able to fairly soon, and I am trying
to find out whether it would be possible to set up a gateway at my college
first. I live in Lancashire, England BTW. Anyway, on to the questions:
The main thing, as I mentioned in my previous post, is that I am not as yet
sure whether it is possible to get internet access via a Linux box
connected to the IPX network we have at college, as it seems to be using
some kind of proprietory IP->IPX tunneling software. Does a machine
connected to such a thing still have a real IP address of its own? I may
try installing a minimal Linux installation on one of the PCs at college,
and having a play around with it (I didn't know it would crash the entire
college network sir... :)
Would it be possible to set up the gateway machine as a POP mail server,
with accounts for all the users on the network? I'm a little confused about
the legal aspect- surely anything sent over the internet is being relayed
at several points by servers run by non-hams? Would it be illegal if
non-hams could put data on the gateway machine (i.e. Email), and hams
downloaded it to their own machines via either POP or telneting into their
account on the gateway themselves?
Do you have to run NOS or something on the gateway machine, or can it use
the kernel networking and inetd etc. like when you connect to the internet
via PPP? All the documents I have read mention NOS, but I don't see why you
would need it if everything already comes with Linux.
Is the data sent over the radio link directly as TCP/IP, or is it somehow
encapsulated in AX25 first. Some things I have read seem to suggest the
former, but the diagram on page 3 of the AX25 Howto suggests that,
fundamentally, everything is sent as ax25 packets, regardless of what is in
them.
In order to persuade the college to let me put a gateway on their network,
I need to write a full technical report of why it would be benificial to
the college, in particularly why it would be 'educational'. Any
suggestions? Has anyone else already done such a beast I could base mine
on?
Is a 386 slc 16 (not quite sure about that speed) with 4Mb of RAM and an
80Mb (or was it 40?) hard drive sufficient? My guess is that the processor
would be fast enough, and there would be enough disk space, but I'm not
sure if 4Mb would be enough RAM. I have run Linux on a 486DX266 with 4Mb of
RAM before and it did not seem too bad, but it was only being used single
user, no networking.
What is convers? I have heard it being talked about on this list, but what
actually is it? I am guessing it is something like IRC or a multi-user
version of chat. Am I right?
I know I have asked this question before, and I know someone answered me,
and I admit I did manage to lose the post (I blame Windoze ;). Who do I
contact in my area about getting IP addresses assigned? IIRC it was someone
in Blackpool.
I was thinking the best way to set up the service would be to give whoever
wants to use the service a shell account on the gateway so they can telnet
in and do things from there, as well as having an Email account and stuff
like that. Is that the best way to go?
A lot of the hams using the service probably will not be proficient enough
to set up and use Linux on their system. What should I recommend them to
use instead to get TCP/IP access for Ms-Dog or Windoze?
I would prefer to use 9K6 for the system, but: a. It needs to be set up on
a shoestring, and baycom style 1k2 modems can be knocked up cheaper than
9k6 ones. b. Very few, if any, of the hams in this area (myself included)
have 9k6 modems, and I can't see them wanting to shell out much cash, or
mess about inside their expensive rigs to adapt them for 9k6. Do you think
I should make it 9k6 and they can like it or lump it, or should I make it
1k2? I suppose another possibility is to have two ports, one 1k2 and one
9k6, although the budget won't stretch to two rigs yet, unless the hams who
will be using the service can be persuaded to donate money or equipment to
the service. Any thoughts?
I tried to subscribe to the gateways mailing list mentioned in the
gateway-faq at the above address, but the email address seems to be
invalid. Does this list still exist? If so, how can I subscribe to it?
The gateway PC might well end up being placed somewhere fairly inaccessible
to get it close enough to the roof of the college (eg locked in a store
cupboard or something :) would it be possible to telnet in as root from
somewhere else on the ethernet (obviously not from the internet or radio
net) for admin, or would that be too big of a security risk? Alternatively,
what about setting up an 'admin' user which could not trash system files,
but could do things like accessing log files and stuff? Linux is stable
enough to run on a permanent basis without needing to be reset isn't it? I
think I'll be using a baycom style modem, so there won't be a problem with
TNCs crashing.
What about the licensing aspect? Do you need to apply for some kind of
special station license as a club or something?
Thanks a lot, Alex.
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: Alex Holden- Electronics student, Caver, and Land Rover enthusiast. :
: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/1532/ :
------------ Linux- The choice of a GNU generation. -----------------