Updated 7 Dec 2016
Charles S. Schuman, K4GBBIf you have not already done so, update your Operating System.
To update your OS -You must have an Internet access - ( either Ethernet or Wireless network connectivity)
From the command line enter the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
The ax.25 support must be installed. For help with the installation of Libax25, Ax25-tools and Ax25-apps go to Install Ax.25
Once Libax25, ax25-tools and ax25-apps are installed.
Create or edit the /etc/ax25/axports file.
It should look like this.
# Port Callsign Baud PacLen MaxFram Descriptions 0 N4TPO-1 19200 256 5 Radio - 145.030 MHz # (End axports)
The Raspberry Pi is shipped configured to use the single serial port as a Local Terminal.
Use the raspi-config menu to set the serial port so that it releases the serial port.
sudo raspi-config
On the Raspi Config menu -
Go to Advanced Options
choose Serial
select NO
You may have heard that the serial port on a RPi B3 will show up as /dev/ttyS0.
The following changes will re-configure the devices so that the serial port will be /dev/ttyAMA0. This keeps the device name constant over all the earlier Raspberries models. The Bluetooth device will then be /dev/ttyS0.
enable_uart=0
to
enable_uart=1
dtoverlay=pi3-miniuart-bt core_freq=250
Add the following lines to /lib/systemd/system/hciattach.service.
Create the /lib/systemd/system/hciattach.service file if it does not exist.
[Unit] ConditionPathIsDirectory=/proc/device-tree/soc/gpio@7e200000/bt_pins Before=bluetooth.service After=dev-ttyS0.device [Service] Type=forking ExecStart=/usr/bin/hciattach /dev/ttyS0 bcm43xx 921600 noflow - [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
The TNC-PI is shipped with it's NVRAM configured for serial operation. The KISS parms may not be suitable for your operation.
The kissparms utility does not work with the TNC-Pi. To Set the kissparms you will have to use the setparam utility. You only need set them once. The values will be retained in the TNC's NVRAM.
Download the Param tools, extract and place the pitnc_getparams and pitnc_setparams files in the /usr/local/sbin/ dir, and make them executable.
If you use the Un-official ax25 source you will have to add a link to the RT Library routines.
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libax25.so.1 /usr/lib/libax25.so.0
At the Raspberry's command line execute the Getparams command.
sudo /usr/local/sbin/pitnc_getparams 1 0
The syntax for the pitnc_getparams program is:
pitnc_getparams <bus> 0
where -
bus is the number of the I2C bus.....
Revision 1 PI boards (without mounting holes) the i2c bus number is zero
Revision 2 PI boards the i2c bus number is 1
0 is the device number for the serial port.
01 TXDelay - Zero means use ADC 00 02 Persistance 64 03 Slottime (in 10 mS) 10 04 TXTail 0 05 Full Duplex - Not used 0 06 Our Channel (Hex) 00 07 I2C Address (0 = async) Hex 00 ADC Value 28 8 0 00 40 a 0 0 0 0 1c 74 c0 sum 2
The syntax for the pitnc_setparams program is:
pitnc_setparams <bus> <0> <parm> <value>
where -
bus is the number of the I2C bus
0 is the number for the serial port on that bus.
Parm is the number of the parameter from the list below.
Value is the new value to be set.
The Command
sudo pitnc_setparams 1 0 1 250
Sets the TxDelay.
With TNC-Pi you can set the TXDelay either in software or in hardware using R6 on the TNC board.
Setting this parameter to 0 causes the TNC-Pi R6 potentiometer to determine the value.
Setting the I2C address to 0 sends data to the serial port (default).
Values 3 to 119 will enable the TNC to be used with I2C, using (value) as it's address.
sudo pitnc_setparams <bus> <device> 15 2
Open an Ax.25 socket with the command.
sudo kissattach /dev/ttyAMA0 <axport> <ip address>
axport = the port name from the /etc/axports file
ip address – An address is required by some versions of kissattach.
The address will prob never be used so use 44.128.1.0 - an AMPR Net test address.
Example:
kissattach /dev/ttyAMA0 0 44.128.1.0
The TNC-Pi NVRAM comes configured for serial operation. The TNC-Pi may also be configured to communicate with the Raspberry Pi using the I2C protocol.
To configure the TNC-Pi for I2C, you will need the programs pitnc_setparams and pitnc_getparams. The getparams program reads the parameters from the TNC-Pi while the setparams program allows you to set them. These programs are available at: http:// www.tnc-x.com/params.zip
In the Raspberry
re-run the Raspi Config Tool
sudo raspi-config
On the Raspi Config m enu - Go to Advanced Options and choose I2C then select YES to enable the I2C buss and YES to load the I2C module at boot up.
To manually enable the I2C buss make the following changes: blacklist i2c-bcm2708 i2c-dev
Download the Param tools, extract and move the pitnc_getparams and pitnc_setparams files to the /usr/local/sbin/ dir.
Then make them executable.
sudo wget http://www.tnc-x.com/params.zip
sudo unzip params.zip
sudo mv pitnc_* /usr/local/sbin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/pitnc_*
If you use the Un-official ax25 source you will have to add a link to the RT Library routines.
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libax25.so.1 /usr/lib/libax25.so.0
Configure the TNC-Pi boards one at a time.
At the RPI command line execute the Getparams command.
sudo /usr/local/sbin/pitnc_getparams 1 0
The syntax for the pitnc_getparams program is:
pitnc_getparams <bus> 0
where -
bus is the number of the I2C bus.....
Revision 1 PI boards (without mounting holes) the i2c bus number is zero
Revision 2 PI boards the i2c bus number is 1
0 is the device number for the serial port.
01 TXDelay - Zero means use ADC 00 02 Persistance 64 03 Slottime (in 10 mS) 10 04 TXTail 0 05 Full Duplex - Not used 0 06 Our Channel (Hex) 00 07 I2C Address (0 = async) Hex 00 ADC Value 28 8 0 00 40 a 0 0 0 0 1c 74 c0 sum 2
sudo pitnc_setparams 0 1 7 <i2c-address >
The syntax for the pitnc_setparams program is:
pitnc_setparams <bus> <0> <parm> <value>
where -
bus is the number of the I2C bus
0 is the number for the serial port on that bus.
Parm is the number of the parameter from the list below.
Value is the new value to be set.
The Command
sudo pitnc_setparams 1 0 1 250
Sets the TxDelay.
With TNC-Pi you can set the TXDelay either in software or in hardware using R6 on the TNC board.
Setting this parameter to 0 causes the TNC-Pi R6 potentiometer to determine the value.
Setting the I2C address to 0 sends data to the serial port (default).
Values 3 to 119 will enable the TNC to be used with I2C, using (value) as it's address.
The TNC-PI can be used with applications that use the Linux ax.25 stack, or applications that expect to see a KISS TNC on a serial port.
The i2ckiss program which converts i2c to a standard KISS protocol via a virtual serial (pty) port is available at http://www.tnc-x.com/i2ckiss.zip
Download, extract, and move i2ckiss to the /usr/local/sbin/ dir.
Then make the file executable.
sudo wget http://www.tnc-x.com/I2ckiss.zip
sudo unzip I2ckiss.zip
sudo mv i2ckiss /usr/local/sbin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/i2ckiss
To create an AX.25 socket use i2ckiss in place of kissattach.
Run a proc of i2ckiss for each TNC-PI.
sudo i2ckiss <bus> <device> <axport> 44.142.1.1
The parameters to the i2ckiss command are i2c bus, i2c device, followed by the port name (from axports)
and an ip address.
The address probably will not be used for routing so the AMPR Net Test address - 44.128.1.1 may safely be used.
For example:
i2ckiss 0 3 1 44.128.1.1
will create a pty pair, and execute kissattach on the pty side using the 3rd and 4th parameters.