                    LinPac - Packet Radio Terminal for Linux

   --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  Version 0.16

                     (c) 1998 - 2002 by Radek Burget OK2JBG

User manual

   Contents

   1 What is LinPac

   2 First configuration

   3 LinPac controls
   3.1 Keyboard
   3.2 Entering commands
   3.3 Initiating the connection
   3.4 Receiving and sending files
   3.5 Remote commands
   3.6 Character encoding
   3.7 Huffman compression

   4 Variables
   4.1 Special variables

   5 Station database
   5.1 The station.data file format
   5.2 The 'Name' command
   5.3 Using the database

   6 About macros
   6.1 Creating macros
   6.2 Commands used in macros
   6.3 Special system macros

   7 Creating new commands

   8 Standard applications
   8.1 File transfer protocols
   8.2 Automatic password generation
   8.2.1 Login passwords
   8.2.2 Sysop and general use passwords
   8.3 Utilities for mail exchange
   8.4 Mail client
   8.5 Logbook

   9 Command line options

   10 Copying

   Appendix A: List of LinPac commands

1 What is LinPac

   LinPac is an attempt to create the packet radio terminal for Linux that
   allows wide configurability and easy addition of new functions and special
   functions needed by the user. The aim was to minimize the amount of 'hard
   coded' functions and create the complete set of applications that can be
   easy expanded and/or completely reconfigured.

   All functions described in this manual agree with the standard
   configuration that comes with the distribution package.

2 First configuration

   When linpac is started for the first time, it automaticaly creates the
   directory called LinPac in your home directory. This directory contains
   your personal LinPac configuration. When creating this directory LinPac
   asks for basic information and prepares a useable configuration for you.

   LinPac functions are based on the very simple interpreted language
   (actually it's not a language, it's something like the batch files in
   DOS). In the LinPac home directory there is the subdirectory 'macro', that
   contains all the scripts written in this language, let's call them macros.
   Each macro can be run in LinPac and it implements some action. The
   simplest case of the macro is normal text file, that is just printed to
   the screen (or sent to the peer) when executed. The language is described
   in chapter 6.

   There is a macro called init.mac in the macro directory. This macro is
   executed each time LinPac is started and contains the commands to setup
   the callsigns and other settings. You can modify this file to change the
   initial configuration of LinPac.

   You may also want to change following files:

   ctext.mac - this file is executed when the peer connects and should
   contain the greeting text
   quit.mac - this is called when user enters the Quit command (end of
   connection). It should print some farewell and disconnect.
   info.mac - contains the information about your system

   After this you should be able to make your first connection.

3 LinPac controls

   After running LinPac the main screen apears. In the standard configuraion
   it's divided to five parts (described from top of the screen to bottom):
     * QSO window: this window contains the text that came from the peer and
       also the sent text and some special messages (different text colours).
     * Status line: displays your callsign, current time and some information
       about the current connection.
     * Editor: allows you to enter the text you want to send to the peer or
       the commands you want to execute
     * Channel list: displays the list of channels whith the callsign of
       connected users. The currently selected channel is highlighted.
     * Monitor : displays the traffic on your radio ports
   LinPac is mostly driven by commands. The commands are entered using the
   editor and must start with the colon (':') in the first column. Lines that
   don't begin with the colon are sent to the peer.

   LinPac allows to make eight connections simultaneously. For each
   connection one channel is used. You can switch between channels by
   pressing the F1 - F8 keys. Each has its own QSO window, status line and
   the editor. The channel list and the monitor are common for all the
   channles.

   There is a special channel invoked by presing F10. This channel has no QSO
   window and doesn't allow to make a connection. The text written is sent
   out immediately using UI frames (beacon).

  3.1 Keyboard

   Following list contains the important shortcuts:

   Global
   F1 - F8 : switch to channel 1 - 8
   F10 : switch to monitor
   Alt-X : end of LinPac

   QSO Window
   PgUp, PgDn, ctrl-R, ctrl-V : scroll one page up / down
   ctrl-E, ctrl-X : scroll one line up / down
   ctrl-B : skip to end of buffer

   Editor
   Cursor keys, Home, End, Backspace, Del : text editing
   ctrl-Y : delete current line
   Enter : send current line

   Some applications (e.g. mailer) can use the whole screen. On each channel
   can run only one such application at the same time. It's possible to
   switch to this application using Alt-<channel_number> (e.g. Alt-5) and
   switch back to terminal using F1 - F10.

  3.2 Entering commands

   Each command is called using its name. Some commands can be abbreviated.
   In this manual the mandatory part is always written by capital letters.
   The rest is optional. Some commands require some extra arguments. The
   arguments are written behind the command and are seperated by one or more
   spaces. If you want to enter the argument containing more than one word,
   the argument must be entered in quotation marks.

   Example:
   :color red blue - calls the 'color' command with two arguments - 'red' and
   'blue'
   :color 'light red' or
   :color "light red" - calls the 'color' command with one argument 'light
   red'

   Most of the command work on the currently selected channel. If you want to
   execute the command on some other channel, you can enter the number of the
   channel this way:

   :connect@5 OK0PAB

   In this case the 'connect' command is executed on channel 5.

   The complete list of commands with descriptions is available in Appendix
   A.

  3.3 Initiating the connection

   To initiate the connection the :Connect command is used. Just switch to
   the channel you want to use by pressing F1 - F8 and enter the following
   command:

   :connect CALLSIGN

   Replace the CALLSIGN with the real callsign of the station you want to
   connect. The command can be abbteviated to the first leter only. Example:

   :c OK0PAB

   This command will initiate the connecting sequence to OK0PAB. For closing
   the connection, you can use the :Disconnect command by entering

   :d

   When your system has multiple radio ports, you can specify its name before
   the callsign like this:

   :c 2:OK0PAB

   This command will try to connect OK0PAB via port 2. When no port name is
   used, the default one is considered. At the begining the default port is
   the first port in the /etc/axports (your system AX.25 port configuration
   file). If you want to change the default port, just use the command :port.

   :port 2

   This will change the default port name to '2'. In some cases it is useful
   to set another default port for some selected channels. For this the
   variable CHN_PORT can be used (see chapter 4). When set, the content of
   this variable  overrides the default port selection for the particular
   channel. For example, when you set the variable for channel 4 using

   :set CHN_PORT@4 1

   the port '1' will be used as the default one for the channel 4. For other
   channels, the previously set default port will be used.

  3.4 Receiving and sending files

   The standard distrubution can receive files using plain text or binary
   transfer and using file transfers protocols YAPP and Autobin. LinPac will
   automaticaly start to receive the file when the peer begins to send using
   the YAPP or Autobin protocols. The 7+ files are automaticaly saved too.
   When you want to save the incomming text you have to use the command

   :Write <filename>

   The incomming text will be saved until you stop the saving using

   :Write off

   For receiving the plain binary file corresponding command :WBin can be
   used. This way of transfering binary files is not recommended, use the
   autobin or yapp protocol instead.

   There are following commands available for sending files:

   :rprg <filename> - sends the file using the Autobin protocol
   :yput <filename> - sends the file using the YAPP protocol
   :rbin <filename> - sends the binary file (no protocol - not recommended)
   :read <filename> - semds the text file

  3.5 Remote commands

   LinPac allows the remote user to enter the commands. For remote control
   all LinPac commands are available but there can be (and should be) some
   restrictions for each user.

   The remote command must start with the // sequence. For example if some
   connected users sends you a text '//info' your terminal will send back the
   station information.

   The remote commands can be disabled using the command :remote off and
   enabled by :remote on. You can also specify only some commands to be
   available for remote users. The default list of available remote commands
   is defined in the init.mac file (the DEF_RCMD line). There is also the
   posibility to enable various commands for each user. This is described in
   chapter 5.

  3.6 Character encoding

   In some countries there are used more different national character
   encodings for some historical reasons. An user who has his Linux console
   configured for example for some of standard ISO encodings may be
   incompatible with another one using a traditional encoding. To solve this
   LinPac allows to translate the input and output of each channel using a
   translation table. The translation tables are stored in files *.ctt in the
   LinPac home directory.

   All known encodings have to be defined in the file called encodings in the
   LinPac home directory. This file contains a single line for each encoding
   that specifies its alias (name which will identify the encoding in
   LinPac), encoding name (an official name such as iso-8859-1) and optionaly
   the name of the translation table file to be used (without the extension
   .ctt).

   Current encoding can be switched using the :TRanslate command separately
   for each channel. To specify the default encoding for each user you can
   add the line

   ENC=<alias>

   to the appropriate record in station database (station database is
   described in chapter 5). When no encoding is specified for the user, the
   default one is used. The default encoding alias is stored in the DEF_ENC@0
   variable which is set in the macro init.mac.

   When the conversion table is not specified in the encodings file LinPac
   only changes the name of currently used encoding but doesn't provide any
   conversion. However some applications (such as QLinPac which works in
   unicode) are able to do their own conversions.

  3.7 Huffman compression

   Some packet radio terminals and BBS software allows the compression of
   transferred text. When switched on, the sender does the compression of all
   data before sending them to the other station and the recipient has to
   decompress the data after receiving them. This makes the communication
   more reliable and reduces the load of the radio link.

   The line compression in LinPac is activated using the :comp command. The
   compression is switched on using :comp on and switched off using :comp
   off. To ensure that the compression is activated or deactivated on both
   ends of the link simultaneously LinPac sends the remote command :comp 1 or
   :comp 0 to the other station automaticaly. The arguments 1 and 0 have the
   same effect as the on and off, but they don't cause sending any command to
   the other station.

   In case that the remote system doesn't support the :comp command it's
   necessary to switch on the compression on the remote system manually and
   then use the:comp 1 command in LinPac.

4 Variables

   Each channel has its own set of variables. Some of the variables are used
   to store the configuration data. User can create and remove the variables
   and change the values of existing variables using following commands:

   :set <variable> <value> - sets the value of the variable. If the variable
   doesn't exist, new one is created.
   :get <variable> - prints the value of the variable
   :unset <variable> - removes the variable

   Some examples:
   :set NAME John
   :set WHOLE_NAME 'John Big'
   :get NAME
   :unset NAME

   The name of the variable can contain the specification of the channel. For
   example the variable NAME@5 is the variable 'NAME' defined on channel 5.

   When LinPac founds the character '%' followed by the name of variable,
   automaticaly replaces this text with the value of the variable.
   Considering previous example the text %NAME will be replaced with John.

  4.1 Special variables

   There are some special internal variables that don't allow changing their
   value. Their value is set and changed directly by LinPac and this
   variables can be used to add some actual information to the text. The list
   follows:

   %V - LinPac version (e.g. 0.02)
   %C - The callsign of connected station
   %N - The name of connected station (when known), else is replaced by the
   contents of %U macro
   %Y- Channel callsign (mycall)
   %K- Current channel number
   %T - Current time
   %D - Current date
   %B - Audible bell
   %Z - Current time zone
   %U - The text used when the name is unknown. This can contain other macros
   (typicaly %C).
   %P- The port number
   %M- The number of connected users
   %A- The time since the last operator activity
   %_- End of line (CR)
   %<- Contents of the last line received, this is cleared by reading
   %#number - Replaced by a character with an ASCII value <number> (e.g. %#27
   means ESC)
   %(command) - Replaced by the command result.
   %[expression] - Replaced by the result of mathematical expression

   Variables for use in macros only:

   %R - the number of macro arguments (up to 9)
   %0 - the name of the macro
   %1 - %9 - macro arguments

   For example try to write following text in the editor and press enter:

   The time is %T and the date is %D.

5 Station database

   The station database holds various information about known stations. All
   the information is stored in the 'station.data' file and can be changed
   using the normal text editor or using the LinPac :Name command.

  5.1 The station.data file format

   The information about each station is written in the paragraph starting
   with the station callsign in the square brackets. Each line in the
   paragraph contains one defininion like

   <item_name>=<value>

   The typical station information can look like this:

   [OK0NMA]
   NAME=PC/FlexNet Brno
   TYPE=FLEXNET
   LOC=JN89HE
   QRG=144.8125 MHz
   SYSNUM=85946

   There are no mandatory items, the user can add various items depending on
   what information he wants to store. Current LinPac distribution uses
   following item names for standard information:

   NAME - Text information about the station, or the operator's name. LinPac
   shows this information when connected to that station. LOC - QRA locator
   of the station. Shown after connect too.

   TYPE - The type of the station. For standard stations the types FLEXNET,
   THENET, FBB, BAYBOX, DIEBOX, TNOS, JNOS, DXC and TERM for user terminals
   are recomended, but you can add any other type.

   LANG - The language to communicate with the station. This is currently
   supported by the macros only. When this item is set, LinPac will try to
   find the macro in the directory macro/<LANG>/.

   NICKNAME - The nickname of operator.

   The standard LinPac configuration also uses this item names:

   TERM - What type of terminal is used. If 'ansi' is set, LinPac switches to
   the ansi-color mode after connecting this station.
   ENC - The character encoding. Used to automaticaly switch to the i/o
   character conversion.
   RCMD - The list of enabled remote commands for this station.
   QRG - The user frequency. Used by the logbook.
   SYSNUM and PWD - Sysop password for the station. See chapter 8.2 for more
   information.

  5.2 The 'Name' command

   The :Name command is used to modify the station database. Running the
   command without arguments results printing the name of currently connected
   station. The arguments are used to modify the data:

   <name> - modify the NAME item
   -l <locator> - modify the LOC item
   -t <type> - TYPE
   -L <language> - LANG
   -n <nickname> - NICKNAME
   -s <item>=<value> - modify other item

   The command 'Name -i' prints all information about the station. When you
   need to change the information about other than connected station add the
   argument -c <callsign>.

   Examples:
   :Name John
   :Name -c OK2JBG -l JN89HF Radek
   :Name -i

  5.3 Using the database

   After any connection establishes, LinPac reads the information about the
   connected station from the database and creates the set of variables with
   names STN_<database_item_name> containing the values of the items. This
   variables can be used in macros as described below.

6 About macros

  6.1 Creating macros

   The macro is a LinPac command that is created using the macro language and
   uses other LinPac commands to perform some action. The macro can be
   defined by creating the file macro/<command_name>.mac. It's possible to
   define the abbreviated form of the command, this is described in chapter
   7. There are two ways to define a macro:

   a) Text macros
   This way is suitable for commands which are intended to produce a larger
   text output (for example station information). When executing this macro,
   each line that doesn't start with ':' is printed (sent out). All commands
   must start with the colon. This is suitable for modifying the text output
   using the IF ~ ELSE ~ ENDIF commands or for including some other commands.

   b) Command macros
   A command macro must start with the line
   :MACRO <name>
   Each line of a command macro is interpreted as a command (doesn't start
   with the colon and doesn't need to start at the begining of line). The
   text output is provided by the 'echo' command. This way is more synoptical
   and allows including the comments that must start with the sequence ';;'
   and end with the end of line.

   The macro is called with its name. When the first arguments starts with
   the '@' symbol the macro is executed from the specified label. For example
   the command :convers @SEND will execute the macro 'convers.mac' from the
   label 'SEND' (see next chapter to see how to define the label).

  6.2 Commands used in macros

   The macro can contain all the LinPac and user defined commands. There are
   also some special commands that can be used in macros only:

   MACRO [name]
   Start of the command script definition (see previous section).

   LABEL <label_name>
   Creates a label with specified name. In the command scripts the notation
   :<label_name> can be used.

   GOTO <label_name>
   Jump to specified label.

   IF ~ ELSE ~ ENDIF
   Conditional commands. There are two ways to specify a condition:

     * normal notation (for more than one command)  

       IF <condition>
       .
       .
       (commands to be done when the codition is true)
       .
       .
       ELSE
       .
       .
       (commands to be done when the condition is false)
       .
       .
       ENDIF

       The ELSE part is not necessary - the IF ~ ENDIF notation is possible.
        

     * abreviated notation (for one conditional command)

       IF (<condition>) command

       The parentheses are necessary in this case.

   Following example shows how to use conditions and how to use the data from
   station database. We want to create the macro, that will greet the
   operator of connected station with his nickname or with his name, if the
   nickname is not defined.

   a) The solution using the text macro (the comments are actually not
   allowed in the text macros, they are here for explanation only)

   :if %(exist STN_NICKNAME) == 1 ;; when NICKNAME is defined
   Hello %STN_NICKNAME            ;; greet with the nickname
   :else                          ;; else (not defined)
   Hello %N !                     ;; greet with the name
   :endif                         ;;(following commands are always executed)
   You have connected to %Y at %T. ;; Say your callsign and current time

   b) The solution using the command macro

   :macro GREETING ;; start the command macro
   if %(exist STN_NICKNAME) == 1 ;; when NICKNAME is defined
   echo Hello %STN_NICKNAME     ;; greet with the nickname
   else                         ;; else (not defined)
   echo Hello %N !              ;; greet with the name
   endif                        ;; (following commands are always executed)
   echo You have connected to %Y at %T. ;; Say your callsign and current time

  6.3 Special system macros

   There are some special macros that are executed automaticaly by LinPac in
   some cases:

   init.mac - This is executed when LinPac is started and its function is to
   set the callsigns, screen options, and some other parametres.

   cinit.mac - This is executed always when some connection establishes. The
   distribution version of this macro sets the channel parametres in order to
   station settings in station database (allowed remote commands, i/o
   encoding, terminal type) and executes the logbook command to sign a start
   of connection. LinPac always passes two arguments to this macro. The first
   (%1) argument is the callsign of connected station and the second (%2)
   argument is the callsign of the previously connected station that provides
   the connection or it's empty in case of direct connection.

   ctext.mac - This macro is executed when some station connects to the
   terminal. It should print some greeting text. No arguments are passed.

   cexit.mac - This is executed always when some connection closes. The
   distribution version of this macro just executes the logbook command to
   sign the end of the connection and clears the list of allowed remote
   commands. There is always one argument passed by LinPac (%1) and contains
   the callsign of the disconnected station.

7 Creating new commands

   New command can be represented by the macro or by the external program
   (standard linux program or special LinPac application). Macros are placed
   in the $LINPACDIR/macro directory and external programs are placed int the
   $LINPACDIR/bin directory. In both of this directories is the file
   'commands' that contains the list of commands in that directory. You
   should specify here the name of the file, the name of the command in
   LinPac (use capital letters to specify the mandatory part of the command).
   It's not necessary to include the macros here, if you don't want to define
   the abbreviation.
   In case of external programs there is also the possibility to specify the
   program flags. Currently this flags are supported:

   A - Ascii mode program. LinPac provide the CR <-> LF conversion when
   communicating with this program. This is the default setting.
   B - Binary mode. Disables the conversions.
   C - Leaves the stdout stream of the program on the console and reads its
   stderr stream instead.
   D - DOS conversion - ignore LF characters.
   S - Reads both stdin and stderr streams of the program (shell mode).
   L - Local. This program is never available as the remote command.
   R - This program is always run as the remote command (its messages are
   always sent out).
   P - LinPac removes the paths from filenames that are passed as the
   argument of this command when the FIXPATH command is on. This is the
   security option.

8 Standard applications

  8.1 File transfer protocols

   At present LinPac supports two protocols for transfering files:
     * Autobin - a simple protocol suitable for short files
     * YAPP - very sophisticated transfer protocol that provides better error
       detection and is able to resume previously interrupted transfer
   Usage of this protocols is described in chapter 3.4.

   LinPac can also automaticaly save incomming 7+ files. After saving all
   parts of file LinPac tries to call the '7plus' program to decode the file.
   Received 7+ files are not removed automaticaly.

  8.2 Automatic password generation

    8.2.1 Login passwords

   LinPac provides automatic replies to the login authorization requests for
   following systems: F6FBB BBS (VE2BLY C_FILTER), BAYBOX, TNOS (numeric
   MD5). Each station which requests the login password must have an entry in
   the station database containing at least following fields:

   TYPE=<station_type> (FBB, BAYBOX or TNOS)
   LOGINPW=<login_password>
   PWPROMPT=<BBS_prompt>

   BBS_prompt is the text which the BBS sends when requesting the
   authorization. Usually it looks like 'Password>' or 'OK0XYZ>'.

    8.2.2 Sysop and general use passwords

   LinPac provides autimatic authorization to following systems: F6FBB BBS
   (MD2 password), FLEXNET (older versions, the 'magic' numbers system and
   newer TheNet-like system), THENET and BAYBOX. Each station you want
   authorize to must have anentry in the station database. For password
   generation following fields must be set:

   TYPE=<station_type>
   PWD=<your_password> or
   SYSNUM=<magic_number>

   Known station types are:

     * FBB - An F6FBB BBS. The PWD field must contain your password.
     * THENET - A TheNet node. Again the PWD must contain the password.
     * BAYBOX - The same system as TheNet.
     * FPAC - A FPAC node. Password must be stored in the PWD field.
     * FLEXNET - FlexNet node. If the magic number algorithm is used (older
       versions of flexdigi) the SYSNUM field must contain your magic number
       and the PWD field mustn't be set. When the TheNet algorithm is used
       (newer versions of flexdigi), the PWD field must contain the password
       and the SYSNUM field mustn't be used.
   In case of FBB the authorization algorithm can be choosed by setting the
   MD field in the station database:
   MD=5 - this value will select the MD5 algorithm
   MD=2 - this value will select the MD2 algorithm

   When no value is set, MD2 algorithm is used.

   After connecting to the station you want authorize to the authorization
   sequence begins with the :PW command. LinPac will send the authorization
   command to the station and tries to answer the authorization request using
   your password. If the password is correct, authorization should finish
   succesfuly.

   The PW command accepts following parametres:

   :PW [<command> [<system> [<password>]]]

   where
   <command> is the command to be send to the remote station to start
   authorization sequence (sys by default)
   <system> is one of the above-mentioned supported systems, this system is
   used instead of the one specified in station database
   <password> is the password that will be used instead of the one specified
   in the station database

   It's recommended to create simple macros for frequently used
   authorizations thad require special arguments to PW command.

  8.3 Utilities for mail exchange

   LinPac contains some utilities for exchanging mail with the F6FBB BBS. For
   the proper function of this utilities following variables must be created
   in channel 0:

   HOME_BBS - The AX.25 path to the home BBS including the port name. For
   example kiss:OK0PAB OK0NMA is the BBS OK0PAB which can be connected on
   port kiss via the node OK0NMA.
   HOME_ADDR - The full hierarchical address of the BBS. For example
   OK0PAB.#MOR.CZE.EU.

   For setting the variable the :SET command can be used. For example:

   :set HOME_BBS@0 "kiss:OK0PAB OK0NMA"

   The reccomended place to set this variables is the startup macro init.mac.
   The default version of this macro contains an example of setting this
   variables. After setting this variables following commands are available:

   :GETMSG <message_number> [<message_number> ...]
   Reads specified messages from the BBS and stores them into
   /var/ax25/mail/<BBS_callsign>/<message_number>. The directory for the BBS
   must be created before using this command (use capital letters for the BBS
   callsgin). When the message number starts with the letter 'p', the message
   is considered as a personal one and it's killed automaticaly after
   download. You can specify the kill command by setting the KILLPERS
   variable in channel 0 using the # character for the number of message
   (e.g. :set KILLPERS@0 "kill #"). When this variable is not set, the
   default command K # is used.

   :SP <address> or :SB <address>
   This commands can be used for creating new private message or the
   bulletin. The usage is the same as at the FBB BBS.

   :FORWARD
   Transfers all new messages to the BBS.

   :DELMSG <message_number>
   Marks the message for delete.

   :PACK
   Deletes all marked messages.

  8.4 Mail client

   This application allows full screen message editing and browsing. It
   provides the frontend to mail exchange utilities. Mail client is started
   by the :MAIL command. After the program is started the H key shows the
   operating instructions.

  8.5 Logbook

   Logbook is a simple application that is started from the cinit.mac and
   cexit.mac scripts (at the begining and at the end of each connection). It
   creates the file in the 'log' directory for each callsign and writes here
   the time when the connections were started and finished and the QRG. The
   QRG is taken from the QRG field of the station entry in station database.
   If the station has no QRG defined, the value from the QRG@0 variable is
   taken.

9 Command line options

   LinPac accepts following command line options:
     -m : disable monitor. When this option is used, LinPac doesn't create
     it's internal monitor objects and saves memory.

     -s : disable ax25spyd. Linpac normaly tries to connect ax25spyd to get
     monitor data and when the connection fails, the listen utility is used
     instead. When -s swicth is used, LinPac doesn't try to connect ax25spyd
     at all.

     -d : daemon mode. LinPac doesn't initialize the screen and runs in the
     background.

     -p <string> : specify the arguments for the listen program. Default
     value is ar8.

10 Copying

   LinPac is Copyright (c) 1998-2002 by Radek Burget, OK2JBG

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
   under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
   Software Foundation;

   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
   or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
   for more details (contained in file 'license').

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
   with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
   675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix A - LinPac commands

  Built-in commands

   a) action commands

   ABort [address]
   Cancels an action. Some commands are cancelled without specifying any
   address (e.g. autobin). Addresses for some commands:
    

   +--------------------------------------+
   |     Action     |  Address for abort  |
   |----------------+---------------------|
   | autobin RX/TX  | autobin (or none)   |
   |----------------+---------------------|
   | yapp RX/TX     | yapp (or none)      |
   |----------------+---------------------|
   | 7plus autosave | 7plus (or none)     |
   |----------------+---------------------|
   | read / RBin    | read (or none)      |
   |----------------+---------------------|
   | write / WBin   | write (or none)     |
   |----------------+---------------------|
   | forward        | forward (mandatory) |
   +--------------------------------------+

   The most of other commands doesn't need any address.

   COMPress [on | off | 1 | 0]
   Switches the link compression on or off. The arguments 1 and 0 have the
   some meaning as on or off but the remote station is not synchronized.

   Connect [port:]call [digi [digi...]]
   Initiates a connection to specified station.

   Disconnect
   Disconnect actual channel.

   Echo <text>
   Prints (sends) specified text.

   FLUSH
   Flush an output buffer. (for example in scripts before disconnect or
   before requestig input)

   SYstem
   End of LinPac, cancels all connections.

   UNproto <text>
   Send specified text in an UI frame.

   VERsion
   Version information.

   b) Commands for variables handling

   SET <variable> <value>
   Assign a value to the variable. If the variable doesn't exist, it is
   created.

   UNSET <variable>
   Removes the variable.

   GET <variable>
   Returns the value of the variable. Usually is better to use macro
   %variable (see file macros.txt)

   EXISTs <variable>
   Rerurns 1 when variable exists, 0 when it doesn't exist.

   c) information commands

   ENVINFO
   Displays the actual information about the variable environment.

   ISCONnected
   Returns "1" when the channel is connected, "0" otherwise.

   MAXCHannels
   Returns number of LinPac channels (typically 8).

   PCALL
   Returns the physical callsign of the connected station (first station
   connected)

   UTCTime
   Returns actual UTC time (operating system value).

   d) setup commands

   CBell [on|off]
   When on then LinPac gives an audio signal when any station connects or
   disconnects.

   FIXPath [on|off]
   When FIXPath=ON then then the paths to files mentioned in parametres are
   ignored for external commands marked with a P flag. That means only the
   default paths are usable.

   INFOLEvel [0 | 1 | 2]
   Sets the mode of information line:
   0 - off (no connection info)
   1 - show importatnt informations
   2 - show all available informations

   KNax [on|off]
   Enable/disable sound signal when data is received.

   Language [language]
   Sets actual languge. At the time supported in scripts only.

   LIsten [on|off]
   When listen is off, all connect requests are ignored by LinPac. Default
   value is on.

   MBIN [on|off]
   When switched on, the monitor shows binary data. When switched off, the
   binary data is hidden and replaced with the <Binary data> information.

   MONitor [on|off]
   Enable/disable monitor function. This command is usually followed by
   STATLINE and CHNLINE commands to adjust the screen layout.

   MONPort <port_specification>
   Monitor selected port only. Port specification is either a port name (as
   defined in /etc/ax25/axports) or * for monitoring all the ports.

   MYcall <call>
   Changes the channel callsign.

   Port <port_name>
   Sets the default port for the Connect command. This can be overriden for
   particular channels by setting the CHN_PORT variable for the channel (see
   chapter 3.3).

   PRIVate [on|off]
   Marks the channel as private. No stations are allowed to connect on this
   channel.

   RCMD [<command list>]
   Specifies the list of the available external commands. Only the commands
   from this list are available to remote user. It's possible to include
   abbreviated commands. The remote commands can be executed on the channel
   which provides the connection only. Adding the @ character just after the
   command name in the list (e.g. GET@) means that the remote user is allowed
   to specify the channel, where the command should be executed (e.g. //GET@5
   NAME).

   REMote [on|off]
   Enables or disables remote commands.

   RXFlow [on|off]
   Enables or disables data RX. The data is received only when RXFlow is
   enabled on all channels.

   TIMEZone [zone]
   Set the time zone. Used for information only, doesn't affect time.

   UNSrc [call]
   The source callsign for UI frames.

   UNDest [call]
   The destination address for UI frames.

   WAtch <port | 0> <pattern> <command/text>
   Starts to watch specified port (0 for all ports). When specified pattern
   is received then specified command is executed or text is sent. (commands
   must start with a colon)

   e) Screen control commands

   STATLINE <n>
   Places the status line to the n-th line of the screen.

   CHNLINE <n>
   Places the channel line to the n-th line of the screen.

   SWAPEDit
   Replaces the editor window with the QSO window and vice versa.

   INFOLine <nm> <text>
   Changes the specified info line text. If info line doesn't exist, it's
   created.

   REMOVEINFO <nm>
   Removes specified info line.

   TRanslate <alias>
   Switches I/O character translation (see chapter 3.6). Running this command
   on channel 0 (unproto channel) switches the translation table in all
   channels including unproto channel and monitor window.

   TErm <type>
   Set the terminal type. If 'ansi' is entered then ANSI-color control
   sequences are interpreted.

   SCRLimit <low-limit> <high-limit>
   When the size of the window buffer exceeds the high limit, then the size
   of buffer is truncated to low-limit. The values are in bytes, default is
   356352 and 524288 (384 and 512 kB).

   DEFColor <color_name> <foreground_color> <background_color>
   Changes the color of some part of screen. The color_name parameter
   specifies which part of screen to change. Following values can be used:
   QSO_RX - received text in QSO window
   QSO_TX - sent text in QSO window
   QSO_INFO - local information in QSO window
   QSO_CTRL - control characters in QSO window
   ED_TEXT - normal text in editor
   ED_INFO - command results in editor
   ED_CTRL - control characters in editor
   CI_NORM - channel info line - channel numbers
   CI_SLCT - selected channel
   CI_NCHN - normal channel
   CI_PRVT - private channel
   IL_TEXT - status lines

   For specifying foreground and background colors these values can be used:
   BLACK, RED, GREEN, BROWN, BLUE, MAGENTA, CYAN, LIGHTGRAY
   These additional colors can be used for foreground only:
   DARKGRAY, LIGHTRED, LIGHTGREEN, YELLOW, LIGHTBLUE, LIGHTMAGENTA,
   LIGHTCYAN, WHITE

   f) system commands

   RESULT <text>
   Returns the text as the result of the script.

   g) string commands

   STRMid <start> <length> <string>
   Returns the substring starting at <start> position and <length> characters
   long.

   STRLeft <length> <string>
   Returns the left substring of specified length.

   STRRight <length> <string>
   Returns the right substring of specified length.

   STRLen <string>
   Returns the length of the string.

   STRPos <substring> <string>
   Returns the position of the substring in the string or -1 when the string
   doesn't contain the substring.

   UPCASE <string>
   Returns the string converted into capital letters.

  External commands

   Bell
   Calls the operator using an acoustic signal.

   Compose [p|b] <address> [<subject>] [<filename>]
   Create a private message or a bulletin for the specified address. When no
   subject is specified, the user is prompted for the subject. When filename
   is specified, the message is created from the file, otherwise the text is
   read from the LinPac console.

   CATCH -iol <pattern> <command/text>
   Catch is the extended version of WAtch command. It scans one or more data
   streams (-i = input stream, -o = output stream, -l = local info stream)
   for the pattern. The pattern can contain * and ? wildcards. The command
   can contain string $1 .. $n which are replaced with the string
   corresponding to the n-th wildcard in the pattern. The $0 string is
   replaced with the whole string that matches the pattern. See catch -h for
   extended parametres.

   DELMSG <message_number>
   Mark the message for delete.

   FORWARD
   Transmits all new messages to a BBS.

   GETMsg <numers>
   Reads the messages from BBS.

   JOIN <channel_number>
   Join specified channel to current channel. All data received on any of
   these channels is automatically redirected to the other channel. Stop with
   :ABort join.

   MAIL
   Simple full-screen mail client.

   MHeard
   List of heard stations.

   Name
   Stores station name or changes a station database. (see Name -h)

   PACK
   Deletes all messages marked for delete.

   Read <filename>
   Sends specified text file.

   RPRg <filename>
   Transmits the file using Autobin protocol.

   RTt
   Measures the round trip time.

   SENDFile [p|b] <file> <address> [<num_messages>]
   This command takes a binary file, splits the file to num_messages parts
   using 7plus and creates a separate message for each part. When
   num_messages is not specified, the command tries to use
   the variable BLOCK7P@0 which should contain the maximal size of one block.
   If this variable is not set, blocks of 5 kB are created.

   WBin / RBin
   The same as Read / Write, but for binary files.

   Write <filename>
   Starts to write received text to the file.

   YPUT <filename>
   Transmits the file using the YAPP protocol.

  Macros

   Activity
   Shows the time since the last operator activity.

   Conv
   Enter the conference.

   Info
   Local station information.

   Help
   Brief help.

   PW [<command> [<system> [<password>] ] ]
   Starts the authorization to the BBS or the node. See chapter 8.2.2 .

   Quit
   Sends the quit text and disconnects.

   Users / CStatus
   List of connected users.

  Commands for creating scripts

   MACRO [name]
   Start of the command script definition (see below).

   LABEL <label_name>
   Creates a label with specified name. In the command scripts the notation
   :<label_name> can be used.

   GOTO <label_name>
   Jump to specified label.

   IF ~ ELSE ~ ENDIF
   Conditional commands. There are two ways to specify a condition:

     * normal notation (for more than one command)

       IF <condition>
       .
       .
       (commands to be done when the codition is true)
       .
       .
       ELSE
       .
       .
       (commands to be done when the condition is false)
       .
       .
       ENDIF

       The ELSE part is not necessary - the IF ~ ENDIF notation is possible.

       abreviated notation (for one conditional command)

       IF (<condition>) command

       The parentheses are necessary in this case.

   RETURN [<data>]
   Abort the macro execution and return the data as a result.

   SLEEP <seconds>
   Pause the macro for specified time in seconds.

   WAITFOR <condition>
   Pause the macro until the condition is true.

   --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Last update: 29.7.2002
   Please report any mistakes to radkovo@centrum.cz
