Re: KA9Q TERM feature

[Phil Karn <karn@unix.ka9q.ampr.org>]

>Hi Folks, i am using the May 93 version of Ka9q. How can i use the term
>feature in this version?? For example, i do a 'start term sl0' command and
>nothing happens. Also when I attach my modem interface to the system
>the characters that i write doesnt appear on the screen. Please tell me
>someone why it happens,

The term feature was a quickly written hack that doesn't get used
much.  A while ago I needed it to talk to some machines that were only
available by dialup modem, and I wanted to be able to use the modem on
my dedicated SLIP router. But with everybody coming on the Internet
these days I rarely need to do that anymore. And the few BBSes I do
talk to usually require that I speak XMODEM or some such legacy
protocol, so I usually end up physically dragging the modem over to my
DOS machine and running PROCOMM. So the term server feature has been
of limited use.

My term server simply waits for a TCP connection, usually on port
5000. You can telnet to it from another machine. In my version of the
server, it first prompts you for a password (the same as the "remote"
password). Then it asks you which serial interface you want to use,
and whether you want to "wink" DTR (to reset the modem if it's
configured to do that). Then it asks if you want local echoing. After
that, you're connected to the serial line in question until you close
the TCP connection.

There's also a safety feature that refuses to let you connect to a
serial port if your TCP connection is already using it for SLIP.

Phil