[pskmail] Status of version 0.5
- From: Rein Couperus <rein@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pskmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:51:34 +0200
Starting with version 0.5 pskmail will get a new interface to fldigi, which is
based on the POSIX System V message queue. That interface is not depending on
the
location fldigi is installed, making it much easier to install pskmail. The
$Inputfile and
$Outputfile parameters will disappear from the configuration screen.
The new interface has triggered a rewrite of the interface, and some
significant changes
have been introduced regarding the timing. One of the drawbacks of the
asynchronous mode
of pskmail is that server and client had no idea of when the other party was
transmitting,
which often meant that both were tranmitting on top of each other.
Two timing enhancements will be introduced in version 0.5:
* The new interface has a software busy detector triggered by <SOH>and <EOT>
characters.
The interface will not release the next packet until <EOT> has been received.
In case no <EOT> is received there is a link error timeout, and the next change
takes effect..
* Polls will be done synchronously, controlled by the system clock. The client
will poll only
during seconds 0...4, the server will only poll during seconds 5...9 of any
10-second
period. This way the polls will never coincide, unless the clock is wrong. It
does mean the polls
will be further apart, but we are talking about a link error which is normally
a matter of qsb
or qrm visiting the channel.
In TTY mode the differentiation is by 'master' and 'slave' station.
The software DCD does not work during the preamble, so that is still a todo
item.
A dormant bug has been eradicated which resulted in the server going into a
loop and answering
every frame with a 'ping ack'.
The software is being tested succesfully on PI4TUE, and the number of
collisions on the link
has dropped dramatically.
Deployment of version 0.5 is depending on fldigi. We are waiting for a version
supporting
the new interface as well as the 'use pskmail sweet spot and AFC limit'
function which is
needed for the server.
KH6TY is working on a distribution on puppy linux, which necessitated a
compiled version
of pskmail with minimum configuration effort. Problem with the compiled version
is its relatively
large memory footprint, as the necessary perl libraries are statically compiled
into the binary.
But installation is as easy as copying the program into the mail directory.
Stay tuned...
73,
Rein Pa0R
--
http://pa0r.blogspirit.com
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