[Xastir] Xastir on raspberrypi to SCS PTCIIpro for Robustpacket Radio - SOLVED

[Curt, WE7U]

On Tue, 20 Jun 2017, Menga wrote:

> I got the solution to the problem of interfacing Xastir to the SCS PTCIIpro 
> modem.
> I was unable to use the standard serial TNC interface and a proper startup 
> file.
> So I selected the serial KISS TNC interface recompiling Xastir by modifying 
> the init_kiss_string in the C file interface.c.
> The two modifications were
> char init_kiss_string[94];
> sizeof(init_kiss_string),
>                          "\x1BQ\rRESET\rTONES 4\rBRIGHT 6\rFSKA 145\rPSKA 
> 175\rPAC TXL ASFK 800\rPAC\rUSER 0\rPRBOX 0\rBAUD R300\r at k\r");    // [ESC at K 
> sets tnc from terminal- into kissmode
> Now the Xastir programmers will suggest me how to clean up the solution, to 
> make it general and store it in the repository

Glad you got it solved. I saw your message direct to me yesterday but have been busy.

Xastir is set up to talk to KISS TNC's or minimally-TAPR2-compatible TNC's, which included most out there. If you don't want to run in KISS mode then you create the files as I suggested, but then the TNC has to be TNC2-compatible-enough to understand the commands to switch between modes. Sounds like that SCS TNC isn't.

As far as setting a TNC into KISS mode, that's done outside Xastir, often with scripts. You can do that with the startup & stop files in Xastir, but if the commands are anything really odd you might have fun getting the right bytes in there (hex editor?).

Other people sometimes use separate programs or scripts to set up a TNC into KISS mode or take it out of KISS mode when done running Xastir.

If you want to keep your patch for your own use, applying it to the latest Xastir code as it changes: Create a branch in your local Git repository, merge the new Xastir code into your branch periodically, then compile that. It's a relatively painless method of maintaining your own custom mods as long as no major changes are made to the base file(s) which might cause the merge to fail. You're probably pretty safe in this case though.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.        http://we7u.wetnet.net
Babysitting your tracker:  http://info.aprs.net/index.php?title=ControlOperator