[Xastir] Sharing serial port with Xastir

[Curt Mills]

Xastir isn't set up to do such things. If you are doing scripting and
want full control of what you send out, I'd suggest setting the TNC up
as a KISS TNC, then setting up AX.25 networking in Linux. You can then
set up Xastir to talk to the AX.25 port. This lets you share the port
among multiple programs that understand AX.25 ports, like "digi_ned",
"Xastir", and "beacon".

For scripting what goes out once you do that, format some "beacon"
commands and send them out via scripting and CRON. This gives you LOTS
of options for what to send out and when, so you're no longer limited
to the LT1 through LT4 beacons and times.


On Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 11:38 PM, Danny <mynixmail at gmail.com> wrote:
> My APRS setup currently uses /dev/ttyS1 ... I want to rotate the LT messages in
> the KPC-3 every 30 mins or so ... I have a file that get's updated as the data
> changes ... this file get's parsed via Bash and in turn the data has to go to
> /dev/ttyS1 to update the LT 1 (to 4) data ...
>
> Currently if I do this for example and open up "Incoming Data" in Xastir:
> echo "BEACON 0" > /dev/ttyS1 (in a terminal)
>
> ... I get the following output in the "Incoming Data" window:
> 0:TNC-> BEACON 0 (and then whatever packet is being RX'd at the time) ...
>
> Also, it takes a while for this "BEACON 0" (or any other) to be displayed in the
> "Incoming Data" window ... I only have the "TNC Data Only" selected ...
>
> So I was wondering how I can work with Xastir in accomplishing this ...

Xastir isn't set up to do such things. Any program talking directly to
a serial port takes over the port completely, so you can't share it
among other programs.

If you are doing scripting and want full control of what you send out,
I'd suggest setting the TNC up as a KISS TNC, then setting up AX.25
networking in Linux. You can then set up Xastir to talk to the AX.25
port. This lets you share the port among multiple programs that
understand AX.25 ports, like "digi_ned", "Xastir", and "beacon". In
this case the serial port gets turned into a networking port, and many
programs can share that port simultaneously.

For scripting what goes out once you do that, format some "beacon"
commands and send them out via scripting and CRON. This gives you LOTS
of options for what to send out and when, so you're no longer limited
to the LT1 through LT4 beacons and times.

-- 
Curt, WE7U
http://wetnet.net/~we7u
http://www.sarguydigital.com