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ZL3AI > BPQ 30.12.98 07:41l 77 Lines 3263 Bytes #-10161 (0) @ WW
BID : ZL3AI6516
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: BPQ Self-installer
Path: DB0AAB<DB0PV<DB0WGS<DB0RGB<DB0MAK<OK0PKL<OK0PPR<SP6KBL<SP6PCM<SR6DJG<
SR9ZAA<KA3FMO<W4DPH<VE9VT<ZL2TZE<ZL2TZE<ZL2WA<ZL3AC
Sent: 981228/0048Z @:ZL3AC.#80.NZL.OC #:60811 Christchurch FBB5.15c $:ZL3AI6516
From: ZL3AI@ZL3AC.#80.NZL.OC
To : BPQ@WW
G0BTV says:
>BPQ works great why should I install Flexnet.
>" if it aint broke dont fix it "
Well the fact that BPQ stopped being developed some years ago, and that
PC/FlexNet and it's various drivers are being enthusiastically developed and
enhanced might give you an idea what the rest of the world says.
Compared to BPQ and other NETROM based networking schemes, FlexNet has far
less overhead and has dynamic parameter optimisation, for starters.
This means that you don't have all the extra netrom protocol chit-chat between
nodes, you gain the 20 bytes of netrom overhead per packet, and that the
maxframe, persistence and retry timing parameters change dynamically to suit
the channel conditions. For example, on a clear channel, MAXFRAME rises to say
6 or 7, while on a busy channel it drops to 1 and the retry timing backs off
somewhat thus minimising congestion - and in both cases throughput is maximised
without hammering other users.
PC/FlexNet nodes have DAMA master capability, where each user in turn is
polled for data, as compared to the common case where the station with the
highest power and the most aggressive parameters fouls things up for others
especially in cases where hidden transmitters are common.
PC/FlexNet has drivers for a huge number of things such as sound cards (for
1200 and 9600 baud), BayCom style modems (300, 1200, 2400, 9600 baud), PC
card TNCs of many types, TNCs, Ethernet, and many more.
I used BPQ for some years and then thought that FlexNet would be interesting
to play with, so I anticipated a considerable time would be spent coming to
grips with "new software". In fact, it was a case of finding the batch file
that ran it in the doc files and setting it up with txdelay and my callsign.
Everything else is automatic. No guessing at which parameters should be
generally ideal for my situation and giving them a try and finding later when
it was running that it wasn't working very well. Automatic dynamic parameters
also avoid the problems of people wittingly or unwittingly using seriously
wrong parameters.
Currently I use PC/FlexNet with my T4 terminal program, and have experimented
with the PC/FlexNet digi software, and have been greatly impressed with both.
I was intrigued to see an Install program for BPQ and it reminded me of
repeated requests from a friend for a FlexNet Install program (I have written
Install programs for T4 and JNOS) but my reply was always that I couldn't see
the need for it as it is so easy to get FlexNet running. But perhaps such a
program might help many to upgrade - so I began developing such a program
yesterday. Beta testers welcome :-)
More information about FlexNet is available from:
FlexNet homepage:
http://dl0td.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/~flexnet/index.html
FlexNet ftp-site:
ftp://ftp.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/pub/flexnet/
Address to the FlexNet group:
flexnet@afthd.tu-darmstadt.de
English FlexNet-page
http://www.citeweb.net/f5pje/flexnet.html
Introduction to FlexNet:
http://www.neosoft.com/~hezorn/
FlexNet articles from P.E.S.T:
http://mail.texoma.net/~n5pvl/flexdir.htm
73, David.
"If it ain't broke, improve it!"
T4 1.5à24
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