Computers & Packet Radio

This page is under construction. The story has to be completed and pictures still have to be added..........

My first computer was an Apple ][ system, bought in 1980. The Apple was using an 8-bit 6502 processor with 16MB of ROM, including the Basic in ROM, and 48kB of RAM, actually an incredible amount in those days. The machine was having two 160kB 5¼" floppy drives in a time where audio cassettes were widely used as storage media for personal computers. I did have a Z80 CP/M card in this machine, but never made much use of that. Later I bought a 2nd hand RAM-card, this card did hold the incredible abount of 128MB RAM; the processor could not even address this amount of RAM, so it could only be used under software control. But, you would not believe how much using this card did speed-up copying a floppy; it could even be done in one go... I did have several Amateur related software packages with the Apple, however, I mainly used this machine administratively and for other hobby purposes. I bought this machine 2nd hand together with a 9p matrix printer for at about 2225 euro.

I started with Packet Radio somewhere in 1993 after I bought my first 'Intel based' PC in 1992. The machine was a 80386DX40 with 4MB of RAM, it was equiped with a Tseng ET-4000 SVGA video-card (1MB RAM) and an extra large harddisk of 170MB, a 1.2MB 5¼" and a 1.44MB 3½: floppy drive. Together with a 14" CRT SVGA monitor this system did cost at about 1575 euro. Well, more computing power for less money, and not even 2nd hand. Adding a mathematical co-processor did cost an extra 120 euro. The system was later completed with a soundcard, 225 euro and a 14k4 faxmodem that did cost a fortune; at about 430 euro. Then to think that a modem today will set you back only 50 euro maximum. Well, having a CD-ROM player was also a luxury, end of 1993 I bought a SCSI double speed CD-ROM for 290 euro, you might buy yourself two DVD-writers for that money, today.
All this due to the rapid change in technologie this last 10 years. Bare in mind that the density of computer chips has more than doubled in this time. Just imagine that the current procesor chips are far more powerfull than the Super Computers in the 70's. This all is a development from distrete transistors to Integrated Circuits (DTL and then TTL), Large Scale Integration, LSI, and next Very Large Scale Integration, VLSI.
Using the modem my first digital communication was Bulletin Board Systems, Internet was I guess just new and had evolved from Arpanet, at that time it was only used by few outside of the DoD, the Universities and several hi-tech companies. My home-BBS then became the Hobbyscoop Fidonet BBS.
Then also Packet Radio did catch my attention. However, I did get something running but I did not get to do much with it as exept for my work, in the evening I was still in Technical College. If you also want to maintain something of a social life next to that, there's not much time left over for the hobby.....

Packet Radio. Well, by this time a few people in the club had come across JNOS and were experimenting with that, also I was charmed by what could be done with JNOS. So, end of 1994/early 1995 I was set up with the JNOS Packet Radio program. I bought a HZP OptoSCC-card and a 1k2-modem, the card was installed in the 386 computer and I was only running Packet Radio when I wanted to experiment with it, or just to use it to send messages to the other people in the region. Well, I did get rather well in using the program and also started my first experiments in having two systems running JNOS to talk to each other using a cable connection, the other system was an old 2nd hand IBM XT that later, after I added more computers to my collection, became known as SYS4. The cable connections have been used for quite a few years.

Early 1996 I decided to upgrade the system. Just before, I had bought a 2nd hand tower, similar to my 386, but, only this was a 486DX33. Some experiments showed that my choice of mainboard for the 386, an Octek Jaguar IV, and the processor, an AMD, had been very good; I more or less was pretty sure it actually performed somewhat better than the board with the Intel 486.
The new mainboard was with an AMD 486DX4-120, internally 120MHz with a 33MHz bus. It was equiped with the new PCI slots, while a lot of people were very much in favour of the Vesa Local Bus (VLB) system. Well, mainboard 160 euro, AMD processor 140 euro and then the gigantig amount of 16MB RAM, a 72p SIMM type, it did cost at about 415 euro at that time. Probably just bought the RAM the wrong time, I don't know anymore, but a long time the prices for RAM have been fluctuating very much. A 256MB PC-133 standard Industrial DIMM is now less than 60 euro, but I have bought them for less than 40 euro. The new standard DDR RAM PC-2700 is even cheaper.
Actually the Intel Pentium was already on the market by then, but it was not faster then the 486DX4 and also a bug was found in the Pentium that were being sold. I'm not really sure if it was still in the P90, but that bug definitely was carried on in several further versions of the Pentium, even after the bug was discovered and known to Intel! Initially there was only a sort of work-around released, only after it was said to Intel's president that "this was not really building confidence" in Intel as a processor manufacturer, the bug was solved.
OK, the 486DX4 did cost some money, but in the end I did have quite a fast system for that time. It really was a huge step from running the 386. The 386DX40 then was moved to a newly build system using an old IBM AT cabinet, new power supply and several other new or used parts. This system was now designated exclusively for running Packet Radio. As this was main Packet Radio machine, and probably also as it was my first board, it was more or less designated 'SYS1', the now 486DX4-120 tower was designated SYS2, the 2nd hand 486 tower SYS3 and the old IBM XT SYS4. These four systems have been running for several years, most also running JNOS, connected together using cable connections.
SYS2 by that time had moved from DOS to OS/2 and later W98 and was used in the living room. It was SYS2 that I later used to test viewing my Packet Radio homepage. The machine only moved back to the shack somewhere in 2000. Though the machine is still running with the 486DX4, but, running a newly installed W98, I want to upgrade that machine using an older mainboard with a Pentium 200 as soon as I can make some time for it; probably early 2004. Somehow, I still don't want to part with my old familiar SYS2 Tower.

Now, having the dedicated machine to run Packet Radio I begun to experiment with JNOS more and more. I also started to run my system 24/7, though I have no idea anymore when. I learned more and more by just doing something and then see if it was OK. I guess it has taken me a while to master the rewrite-file, certainly in conjunction with also starting to use Compressed FBB-forwarding in 1997 to 1998. Early 1997 I became involved in our local BBS and from that the new node that was installed at the KPN Communications Tower in Haarlem. But, that's a different story.
I also continued to experiment running a HTTP-server on Packet Radio. My first page was already from 1996, running on the main machine but somewhat later the page was moved to another IBM XT. That machine was then called http.pe1biv.ampr.org, it was solely intended to hold my Packet Radio homepage. However, I did make a JNOS compilation that also had the NNTP-server, though I have not done anything with that yet. I guess my dedicated HTTP-server has been on-line since at least early 1998.
By 1999 my Packet Radio system was completely integrated, locally using nothing but SMTP-forwarding and Compressed FBB-forwarding on the other side to our local FBB BBS. The system did have several radio ports, it was running 1k2 on 2m and 1k2/4k8 on 70cm.
Well, more or less this technically is the system as it is today. What did happen since then. Well, the XT run as SYS4 was replaced with a 286 after my dad did upgrade to a 2nd hand 486. After that, the system has been running for a few years without anything changing. This due to me working abroad, there were some things I wanted to change, but I never did get to it.

November 2001 the main local node, I had gotten involved in in 1997, was pulled off-line by the owner. Talking did not help, it was simply the end.
We still had another node, but that one did loose the main-link in 2002, Another node that was reachable to us was cut off from the network due to antenna works on another tower, that was extended due to a legal procedure started by the owner of a broadcast radio station operating from that tower that upheld the antenna works. After the node on that tower had been rebuild there was again a link and a node we could use to connect to the network, however, the local node we can reach has been unusable for almost this whole year. Gue to a failed transmitter or antenna problems... So, at the moment we are simply on an island.
From November 2001 I started upgrading my systems. I had bought a few mainboards with Pentium 166's. The 386 board in the main Packet Radio PC pe1biv.ampr.org was replaced by one of these P166 boards; the 386 was finally retired after nine years of operating perfectly. OK, the system is definitely a lot faster now. A 2nd Pentium board was already used to build a complete new PC that was to be used exclusively for Linux.... Well, I had a new Linux version, but somehow it did not install well on that machine. Probably it would have been solved by only replacing the video-card, but it was a project that gradually moved somewhere in a corner. Except for the work, I was working in the UK then, I simply had too many other things keeping me busy. My earlier attempts to start with Linux have been Debian 0.93 and Red Hat 3 in 1996/1997.
The machine that was supposed to be used for Linux finally moved to being used with W2000 Pro after I needed a Windooze system for something and just used the P166 for that. What more. Well, the 286 moved on to replace the XT used for http.pe1biv and itselves was replaced by a 486 to run SYS4. Shortly after that the 286 was again replaced and retired, http.pe1biv was then also running on a 486. So, my Packet Radio station now was build around the P166 main system, the 486 HTTP-server and the 486 SYS4 was still my personal system/terminal that was also used for several DOS applications that were moved from the old SYS2 tower.

More about this later.....

Harddisks dissected.

Some of the Packet and server PCs.
This is as was at our former flat:

The first network setup; 10Base2 RG-58 coax.
This is the setup as used from 1998:

The UTP network with the first router connecting Windooze to Packet.
The router is used to connect the Windooze network to the packet network and as wireless access point for the laptops.
Internet access is via dial-in on the Windooze PCs.

In 2002 we did move to an ADSL broadband Internet connection.
Intitially this was on routed subnet (/29) where the packet machines were connected on their own IP to the Internet and the NAT router for the Windooze network was also connected direct to the Internet on one of the subnet IP-numbers.
As this was not a really convenient setup, another NAT-router was added connecting the Packet network to the ADSL Internet connection and the original NAT-router for the Windooze network was again connected to the Packet network:

After moving house, we started with Cable Internet as it was impossible to get ADSL connected before our phone line was moved, so we would have been without broadband for at least some 4 weeks.
As the Packet computers, server and desktop PC are currently just set up in a corner of the living room, also the Windooze computers and Packet computers are in one network segment and for now not separated by the 2nd layer NAT router.
Late in 2006 also our new ADSL has been connected, so at that moment there were two gateways in the network:

End of Feb 2007 the cable connection was closed down, so we are now again only on an ADSL Internet Connection. This one is specified as 8/1 Mbps.
In due time we will be back on the previous network configuration with the Windooze machines behind the 2nd NAT router again.
The above configuration with Windooze machines and one or more Packet machines is used in the area by several of the people on Packet. Obviously, this is normally with only one Internet connection and gateway in the network, either on DSL or Cable.