Aim --- To connect DXSpider running in a DOS window on a Windows 98 platform with AGWPE as the ax25 interface, with, Xrouter on a seperate machine running in a DOS window on a Windows 98 platform. The Software ------------ DXSpider is a DXCluster software which was written for the Linux operating system. By running Active Perl it will run in a DOS window on a Windows platform. It does however need an ax25 interface, for RF links, and this is achieved using AGW Packet Engine. AGW Packet Engine uses tnc's in KISS mode and the software will switch the tnc's into and out of KISS mode when it is loaded or unloaded automatically. It is possible to connect both machines together via null modem cable to the serial ports. On the Xrouter machine an Interface is configured as Async and Kiss mode, attached to, in my case, COM 1. On the AGWPE side, again a Port is configured as KISS mode attached to COM 1. The terminal program on the DXSpider machine is Winpack, on top of AGWPE, which allows me to monitor all traffic on that machine and also gives me access to the system as G0SBP. When on the Xrouter machine I use the Console to give me access to the system. My Equipment ------------ Computer 1 Computer 2 Pentium 1 P200 AMD K6 500mhz 96 Mb Ram 128 Mb Ram 1 gig HDD 20 gig HDD 4 Serial ports 1 Serial port 1 Ethernet Card 1 Ethernet Card Xrouter (G0SBP-4) DXSpider + AGW Packet Engine (GB7FDX) Both computers connected to my LAN via Linksys router and to each other by null modem cable to Com 1 on both machines. The computer 2 end as rts and cts connected Radio Equipment consists of 3 ex pmr radios for 2mtr, 70cm and 4mtr TNC'S consist of 2 Tiny 2's and a PK88 running in KISS mode. My Problem ---------- I wanted my node users to be able to access GB7FDX via Port 3 of Xrouter. When I tried to connect to GB7FDX on port 3 it would not connect. I could, however connect to G0SBP, which was also running on the GB7FDX machine in Winpack. I could also connect from G0SBP to Xrouter. In theory GB7FDX and G0SBP should be contactable as they both use AGWPE as the ax25 interface, but only G0SBP was. The Solution ------------ One of the drawbacks with AGWPE is that it is unable to act as a node. So LU7DID wrote a node program to complement AGWPE and called it DIGIPLEX After trying various options within Xrouter, which didnt work. I tried various options on the AGWPE machine one of which was to use DIGIPLEX. I don't know why but both GB7FDX and G0SBP were able to connect to Digiplex. I did have to set up the callsign in Digiplex to GB7FDX-1, it would not work using GB7FDX. Then from the consul of Xrouter (G0SBP-4) I tried to connect to GB7FDX-1 on Port 3 and it worked. So I now had 2 nodes, one on each machine, which were talking to each other. Once connected to GB7FDX-1 I then tried to connect to GB7FDX and it worked also. RF users now connect to G0SBP-4 by radio, they then connect to GB7FDX-1 on port 3 and once connected issue the command DXC which connects them to GB7FDX. This solution is not Ideal and I still need to work on showing GB7FDX ID on the radio ports and in the nodes broadcasts of G0SBP-4. It does however allow me to use Xrouter as my main node software, which is what I was aiming for. Configuration Files ------------------- [DIGIPLEX] IP_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1 TCP_PORT=8000 DEBUG=YES TRACE=1 CALLSIGN=GB7FDX-1 LOGFILE=DIGIPLEX.LOG RECOVER=NOT NODEPASS=DIGIPLEX SLEEPY=NOT [CLI] ACTIVE=YES TIMEOUT=1200000 PROMPT=DIGIPLEX: BYE=GoodBye! WELCOME=** WELCOME TO GB7FDX-1 ** [BEACON] ID=ID TEXT=* GB7FDX * South West Durham DXCluster * EVERY=900000 VERBOSE=NOT ;[APRS] ;ALIAS=WIDE,NARROW,VIA ;SUBALIAS=YES ;UI_ONLY=NOT ;WIDEN-N=YES ;TRACEN-N=YES ;UIFLOOD=WIDE ;UITRACE=TRACE ;[APRS_ALIAS] ;WIDE=GBA ;NARROW=FDXCLUS [ROUTER] ENABLED=YES NETROM=YES PUBLISH=YES MASTER=60000 LOADROUTE=YES MHEARD=YES ALIAS=FDXCLUS ROUTES=ROUTES.INI [NETROM] L3QUALMIN=1 L3QUALDEF=200 L3OBSMIN=1 L3OBSMAX=60 L3QUALAPP=255 L3POLL=60 L4TIMEOUT=240000 L4WINDOW=2 L3MAXFRAME=999 RTTMAX=600000 RTTINI=60000 RTTQUERY=600000 COMPRESS=NOT L4TTL=48 [INTERFACE] ax1=1,GB7FDX-1,,240,SMART,APRS,ROUTER lpb=2,GB7FDX,,80,SMART,APRS,ROUTER [CLI.ALIAS] DXC=C 2 GB7FDX,DX Cluster [NETROM.APPLICATION] DXC=2,GB7FDX,FDXCLUS ;[HTTP] ;ENABLED=YES ;PORT=8009 ;SYSOP=Fred ;QTH=  [Xrouter] --------- ; INTERFACE=1 TYPE=ASYNC COM=1 IOADDR=03F8 INTNUM=4 SPEED=9600 PROTOCOL=KISS KISSOPTIONS=NONE MTU=256 ENDINTERFACE ; ; INTERFACE=2 TYPE=ASYNC COM=2 IOADDR=02F8 INTNUM=3 SPEED=9600 PROTOCOL=KISS KISSOPTIONS=NONE MTU=256 ENDINTERFACE ; INTERFACE=3 TYPE=ASYNC COM=3 IOADDR=03E8 INTNUM=10 SPEED=9600 PROTOCOL=KISS KISSOPTIONS=NONE MTU=256 ENDINTERFACE ; INTERFACE=4 TYPE=ASYNC COM=4 IOADDR=02E8 INTNUM=11 SPEED=9600 PROTOCOL=KISS KISSOPTIONS=NONE MTU=256 ENDINTERFACE ; INTERFACE=5 TYPE=LOOPBACK PROTOCOL=NONE MTU=576 ENDINTERFACE ; PORT=1 ID=433.675 GB7SG Link INTERFACENUM=3 MAXFRAME=2 TXDELAY=400 TXTAIL=100 FRACK=7000 RESPTIME=1500 PERSIST=255 RETRIES=10 FULLDUP=0 MHEARD=10 DIGIFLAG=7 ; QUALITY=10 USERS=255 ENDPORT ; --------------------------------------------------- PORT=2 ID=2Mtr User Access INTERFACENUM=4 PERSIST=255 TXDELAY=400 TXTAIL=100 FRACK=7000 RESPTIME=1500 MHEARD=10 QUALITY=100 TXDELAY=450 ENDPORT ; PORT=3 ID=Wire Link Gb7FDX INTERFACENUM=1 PERSIST=255 TXDELAY=400 TXTAIL=100 FRACK=7000 RESPTIME=1500 MHEARD=10 QUALITY=100 ; TXDELAY=300 ; Synthesiser is slow to lock! ENDPORT ; --------------------------------------------------- PORT=4 ID=4mtr GB7SG Link INTERFACENUM=2 PERSIST=255 TXDELAY=400 TXTAIL=100 FRACK=7000 RESPTIME=1500 MHEARD=10 QUALITY=100 TXDELAY=300 ENDPORT ; PORT=5 ID=Internal Loopback INTERFACENUM=5 ENDPORT ;