We have provided a number of people and organizations with the following information.
It is impossible to send free copies to everyone.
I hope they are willing to share and distribute this information to you.
Don't hesitate to contact us or one of them to ask more about our MCB152 project.
This is the letter send to them: TCP/IP TASK FORCE UBA MEMBER EUROLINK MEMBER Sint-Truiden,
August 12 1999
Dear Mr., Please find included with this letter, a copy of our MCB152 CD-ROM,
which contains a wealth of information about our micro controller board.
During three years we have been working on a new TNC, which allows and even enforces future
developments. It is based upon the famous MCS51 80c31 micro controller derivative 80c152jb
of INTEL.
Our primary goals are to:
- promote the usage of TCP/IP on our AX.25 network by making it user-friendly and by opening
doors for high speed user access.
- provide a free development system for the MCS51 and derivative family of micro controllers.
As we believe this information can be of great value to the amateur packet radio community,
we kindly ask you to distribute this information. We have included articles in English,Dutch
and French. You can use the articles in \mcb152\docs\as presented or as a guide for your
publication.
You may use all information found on this CD-ROM to create your own resume about the features
of our board.We encourage you to copy the CD-ROM and distribute it for non-profit purposes.
Please send us a copy of your publication,so we can keep track about the spread of this information.
Although you can buy a functional MCB152 directly from us, it is certainly not our intention to
make it a commercial product. To enforce this statement, we included all schematics,
source codes,hard- and software reference manuals as well as a full development environment
with libraries on the 'free to distribute' MCB152 CD-ROM.
During development,we were forced to contact a commercial organization to succeed in our goal.
This organization, R&D International,supports us in the development of the MCB152 and
distributes the packaged product to the world.
The cooperation between us provides us some means for future developments.You may find extra,
frequently updated information on our web site www.caseconsole.com/mcb152.
For a more general overview on our project, you could also take a look at
http://gallery.uunet.be/Gert.Leunen
We hope people will find this project a motivating initiative that encourages them into the
development and distribution of related information.
If you want more information,feel free to contact us.
Thank you for your time and we are certain you will find it interesting enough to promote
the project and its goals.
Greetings, TCP/IP TASK FORCE Walter Machiels,ON4AWM Joachim Elen, ON1DDS Gert Leunen,ON1BLU.
What is this all about? I will try to explain you in short.
MCB152 ... INTERNET WITH MICRO CONTROLLER
TNC Packet vs. Internet
The experimenting Radio-Amateurs and their organizations nowadays prefer to use the Internet
as their primary medium for exchanging data. Why is it that they are willing to pay for the
Internet services, while a wireless digital network is available for free? Despite our
ever-lasting efforts we must admit the lack of modernization on our packetnetwork.
It doesn't appear to be the slowness - even on the Internet we find an acronym for WWW:
WorldWide Waiting - but the complexity (with regard to configuration and operation)of the
legacy communication software that's preventing comfortable use.
One can hardly compare the features and user friendliness of Netscape and Internet Explorer
with those of our Packet radio software.
Just think of it: automatic mail delivery with the possibility to attach schematics or pictures
with simple drag&drop,transferring large files without the need of using 7plus, automatic routing
instead of hopping from node to node and hoping no intermediate link will fail, etc.
We could enjoy all this if we would use the same communication protocols as on the Internet,
TCP/IP that is. The reason why we're not doing this at this moment is due to the proprietary
command sets of the various TNC types. The only standard that has ever been adhered to for
TNCs is the KISS protocol, which moves the Packet Radio'intelligence' from the TNC back to
the PC. This forces us to write device drivers for our favorite operating systems
(except for Linux, none of them know AX.25 nor KISS).As you might have guessed, this is not
a simple job to do.It has been done on Windows '95 a few times, but their main problems are
stability. One shouldn't expect such drivers to be developed for OS/2, Mac, etc.
That's why we tried to make the TNC compatible with the OS instead of the other way around.
Dialing on to your TNC These thoughts were the base for the TNC project we started
in Sint-Truiden years ago.The installation of our TNC and the connection to our Packet network
should be comparably easy as for a regular telephone modem and setting up an Internet connection,
respectively.
We programmed the TNC to act as an ordinary telephone modem (using the standard Hayes AT command
set) towards the PC (and the Operating System). We added a few commands that are typically
needed on Packet Radio networks: call sign, TX-delay,persistence, etc.
(which can easily be entered once as the modem-init string).
Finally, we dial to our Internet Service Provider using a call sign instead of a telephone number.
Once the computer thinks it's connected to the ISP (as the TNC confirmed this), both switch to
the well known SLIP protocol. Our TNC will replace the SLIP specifics on all data originating
from the PC by Packet Radio (AX.25) specifics and will then put these packets on the air.
Captured packets will be filtered against the user's call sign and translated to SLIP frames.
So the TNC actually acts like the ISP itself, but fully transparent for the Operating System
and the user. This enables Radio-Amateurs to use services like E-mail, file transfer, Net news,
WWW, IRC, etc.with the very same software they're using on the Internet.The services themselves
are provided by servers like on0baf.baf.be.ampr.org (44.144.181.1), just as on the Internet.
We expect this will cause the development of new equipment,which will increase our transmission
speeds.These developments could reverse the decreasing interest to use or experiment with
the Packet Radio network.Information on new developments can also be made available more easily.
Using the well known standard TCP/IP should also avoid the long times to develop new services or
new techniques from scratch.
TNC = (C with communication software)
Generally spoken, a TNC is a micro controller with TNC software(the Packet Radio protocol,
for example) included on its EPROM and equipped with special hardware to control a transceiver.
Typical TNCs can not be used for anything but Packet Radio (or other digital protocols for that
matter). To allow the usage of our board for almost any project one could imagine,our EPROM only
includes the firmware necessary for being able to receive the ultimate software from a PC
(so the firmware is comparable in function to the BIOS in a PC). Additionally, the firmware
allows for debugging,disassembling or starting the software. Software is downloaded into our
MCB-152 using the well known Intel-Hex format(text files).
The transceiver control hardware is on a separate board, which is plugged onto the MCB-152
(compare the MCB-152 with a motherboard in a PC, where additional boards can be plugged in).
Currently, the MCB-152 is delivered with a plug-in board that cross connects to a USCC-type
modem - available from the BayCom group.
The DK9RR modem, for example, allows for 1200bd AFSK, 4800bd and 9600bd G3RUH operation.
And depending on the software you downloaded into the MCB-152,you can use your old style Packet
Radio software(with MCB-152 running as a KISS TNC) or the newer fancy Internet software
(SLIP TNC).
The board is called MCB-152 since it is a micro controller board based on Intel's 80c152jb
universal communication controller(an 8051 with internal communication facilities,
capable of doing 680 kb/sec with the current clock frequency - extendable to 2Mb/sec).
We equipped the MCB-152 with the maximum amount of memory for an MCS51 processor
(which is 128 kb: 64 kb data and 64 kb code).
All unused I/O connections are guided through extension connectors for future developments.
The firmware in the EPROM contains a library of 50+ routines, which are copied to RAM during
power up.This enables novices to make an easy start on programming the micro controller.
Furthermore, this copy operation is completed by turning off the EPROM, making all memory
addresses available for use,unlike many other systems that hide part of their RAM behind their
ROM.
MCB152, a wealth on information.We included all schematics, layouts, library references,
assembly and installation guides, etc. on a CD-ROM. It also includes a complete development
environment (including BASIC interpreters,C-compilers, assemblers, debuggers, etc.),
the source code of all projects we've already completed, information and utilities available
from the Internet, application notes and user guides for the MCS51 series of micro controllers.
A video file (software\intro.avi)shows the history of our project and can be used to introduce
others. One can also order an assembled, functional and tested MCB-152 for an attractive price.
If you're interested,feel free to contact us.
* ON4AWM - Walter Machiels, TEL+FAX: +32 11 67.34.80. [email protected].
* ON1DDS - Joachim Elen, TEL: +32 11 67.44.26. [email protected]. [email protected].
* R&D International N.V. - S.A. Naamsesteenweg 146, B-3800 Sint-Truiden.TEL: +32 11 67.39.00 FAX: +32 11 68.87.00
* Website: http://www.caseconsole.com/mcb152
You can see, this is just the beginning. During the past few months we were busy compiling
a course for future and current sysops so they could convert there existing BBS to a fully
functional TCP/IP server.Date set at next October. We will provide extra information on that
in a separate message. If you are interested in this material and would like to know more about is,
i suggest you should contact one of the following organizations or people who got a free copy
of our CD-ROM or take direct contact with us via packet or Internet.
Encourage those people to distribute this information. Make the packet network a place to be!
Remember commercial information will only be provided via the Internet!
Mobile Ham, Sinzaburo Kaway JA1FUY, Denpa Jikken-Sha Co., 6-15-4 Shimouma Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo,
Japan 154
Funkamateur, Knut Theuric DG0ZB, Berliner Strasse 69, D-13189 Berlin-Pankow, Germany
HaGal, Shlomo Mussali 4X6ML,P.O.Box 82225 Tel Aviv, Israel 61081
CQ DL, Harry Radke DB2HR,P.O.Box 1155, D-34216 Baunatal, Germany
Radioaficion Microcomp, Cesar A. Ramos N2MDE, 252-35 Leeds RD,Little Neck, NY 11362 USA
CQ Radioamateur,Miquel Pluvinet Grau, Concepcion Arenal 5, E-08027 Barcelona,Spain
CQ Radioamateur, Mark Kentell F6JSZ, Le Puy Pincon, P.O.Box 76, F-19002 Tulle Cedex, France
Radio REF, David Lemaire, 32 Rue de Suede, BP 7429, F-37074 Tours Cedex 2, France R.C.A.,
Radio Club LU4AA, Carlos Calvo 1424,Buenos Aires 1102, Argentina
Radio ZS, P.O.Box 807 Houghton, Johannesburg 2041, South Africa
Old Man, Werner Muller HB9CUQ, Postfach, Weissacher, CH-4539 Rumisberg,Switzerland
Amateur Radio, Bill Rice VK3ABP, P.O.Box 2175,Caufield Junction, Vic 3161,Australia
CQ Electronica,Giorgio Totti, Via Agucci 104, I-40131 Bologna, Italy
QTC Amatorradio,Ernst Winborg SM0RGP, Trekvista Bygata 36, S-17800 Ekero, Sweden
Hobby Elektronika, Bekei Ferenc HA5KU, P.O.Box 603, H-1374 Budapest, Hungary
CQ QSO, Dries Decadt ON6CX, Wijtschaatse Str 23, B-8902 Voormezelee, WV Belgium
EDR OZ, Flemming Hessel OZ8XW, Knud Rasmussenveg 4, DK-7100 Vejle, Denmark
Radioamatoori, Annika Wahlstrom, P.O.Box 44, FIN-00441 Helsinki Finland,
Spark, 71-B Pocket A-9, Kalhaji Extension, New Delhi 110019 India
Break-In, Jhon Walker ZL3IB, P.O.Box 1733 Christchurch, New Zealand
Radio, Yuri Krycov, Seliverstov per 10, Moskow 103045, Russia
QST, Mark J. Wilson K1RO,225 Main st. , Newington , CT-06111-1494, USA
CQ Amateur Radio,Alan M.Dorhoffer K2EEK,CQ Communications,25 Newbridge Rd.,Hicksville NY-11801,USA
RSGB, Lambda House,Cranborne Road, Potters Bar, Herts, EN6 3JE, United Kingdom
VRZA, Postbus 116, NL-3769 Soesterberg, The Netherlands
FADCA, P.O.Box 942 , Dade City FL 33526-0,Florida USA
NEDA, P.O.Box 563, Manchester NH 0310, United Kingdom
TAPR, 8987-309 E , Tanque Verde Rd 337, AZ85749-93 Tuscon, USA
ADACOM, Wolf H. Rech DF9IC, Fahrstrasse 28, D-53773 Hennef, Germany
VERON, P.O.Box 1166, NL-6801 DB Arnhem, The Netherlands
Holger Eckardt, Kirchstockacherstr 33, D-85662 Hohenbrunn, Germany
Baycom Gmbh, Tassiloweg 3, D-39051 Regensburg , Germany
AMA,Karl Karmasin OK2FD, Gen.Syobody 636, CS-67401 Trebic, Czech Republic
Thanks for reading this and hopefully this information serves you in you quest to a
better packet network!
73 from our TCP/IP Task force.