[nos-bbs] Digi realport driver compile (atom, not intel)

Joe Erlewein n8ouz at yahoo.com
Tue Aug 27 21:13:38 EDT 2013


For some time now I've been running Jnos (i) as a Ubuntu 32bit VM client. I've hosted it under OSX and Linux (older Fedora, newer Ubuntu) VM hosts over the last couple years with great success as my in-house lab went through sweeping changes;; the jnos box stayed on the air the entire time.

Instead of hardware hanging off of the host or otherwise "connected" to the client OS, I've used the Digi RealPort linux drivers on the unix instance running jnos proper. Digi RealPort presents pseudo-tty serial interfaces in /dev/ that you can treat just as the real thing. Of course, the driver / daemon creates these sockets and sends the serial comms over an IP network (TCP) to a tiny black box (or full rack unit, as you see fit) that has RJ-45 connector 10-pin outputs. I've made adapters for these to fit DB-25M connectors that fit on my TNCs. 

Thus, my setup looks like this:



RadioA <--PTT,TXA,RXA,Gnd--> TNC A <--serial--> Digi Realport
RadioB <--PTT,TXA,RXA,Gnd--> TNC B <--serial--> Digi Realport <----ethernet----->

...

<----ethernet-----> Switch / network <------ethernet---> VM Host (VM Client, jnos lives here)


So basically, my jnos instance can run anywhere with IP connectivity to my Digi RealPort box. 
(for a while it ran on my Macbook Mini connected via wireless before I had a chance to run Cat6 into my office..)


Now, I'm looking to reduce my complexity along with footprint.

I have jnos running just fine on my Raspberry Pi, so long as I make it ugly and put two USB serial dongles on the thing.
...
which means I have to locate it within reasonable proximity to the TNCs. 

Why?

I can't get the Digi RealPort drivers to successfully compile in an Atom environment in Raspian (Wheezy)



Am I off, all alone, the only one here on this adventure, or is anyone else playing around with this, wishing it could be made to work?

If so.. let's join forces! :)






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