I apologize if this page seems abit unorganized ... There's just not enough time in one's day ...
So how does this stuff work anyways ?
The proxy program keeps an idle AX25 circuit to the ax25 box (also called a host machine). The winsock
client will first connect to KLMProxy, which in turn will get the host machine to establish a telnet
connection to the remote tcp/ip server (which can be running on the host machine itself or on some
other machine reachable from the host machine). Once the host connection is made, the KLMProxy will
simply forward the POP3 or SMTP data from the winsock client direct to the host machine, and vice
versa. It's actually quite simple. You can reach the host machine via digi paths so if you have to
go through 5 or so digis, no big deal - you can configure that in the software. In my case, I used
our local internet gateway (running the modified TNOS 2.30) as my host machine. It runs SMTP and POP3
services on the machine itself, so I can use Eudoro or Netscape Mail to retrieve my messages right
off the TNOS machine itself.
Telnet Command Syntax and how to customize it
KLMProxy allows you to customize the telnet command string sent to the ax25 host station. That means
you can use KLMProxy with ANY ax25 station capable of telnet support, whether it be TNOS, JNOS, MFNOS,
Wampes, or Xnet version 1.22. They all have the potential to have their own syntax for the telnet command,
but it does not matter, because you can specify the syntax in the KLMProxy configuration.
What packet protocols does KLMProxy support ?
KLMProxy can connect to it's 'host' machine using any of the protocols supported by PC/FlexNet32. The
protocol is transparent to the application. PC/FlexNet32 currently supports KISS, AXIP, IPX, 6PACK, and
PR430.
Learning how this works & how to help me find problems
Please turn on the TRACE within the FlexNet32 control panel while you use it, so that you can see what
is going on (and learn how it works). If you run into problems or bugs, send me the ENTIRE trace from
the FlexNet32 trace panel, as well as the debug file generated by KLMProxy (that part is explained in
the documentation that comes with the software). That will greatly help in figuring out problems.
A comment about FlexNet and KISS TNCs - Yes, it does work !!!
Please note, you may have heard that FlexNet kiss drivers do not work with KISS tncs. There's a bit of untruth to that.
The FlexNet kiss drivers simply do not have the code to enable or disable KISS mode when the drivers first start up or
shutdown. If you know for sure that your TNC is already in KISS mode, it will work fine. My current packet station uses
a paccomm TINY-2 with a FlexNet node running KISS.EXE for the tnc interface. The key thing is the baud rate settings
within the flexnet configuration. The baud rate you specify must be the baud rate of the serial connection between the
tnc and the computer running the flexnet, and not the baud rate of the RF side of the tnc.
I have been advised to use the 6PACK eprom instead of KISS. The reason is that the KISS driver apparently
does no error checking at all. While wired connections are generally error-free, there is no guarantee of
that. However, some TNC units (like Kantronics) are not capable of running a 6PACK eprom. Also, some people
simply do not have the technical resources to burn their own eproms, or simply don't want to bother.