NAME

       axcall - make an AX.25, NET/ROM or Rose connection.

SYNOPSIS

       For AX.25
       axcall [-b l|e] [-d] [-h] [-m s|e] [-p paclen] [-s mycall] [-r] [-t] [-T timeout] [-v] [-w
       window] [-W] port callsign [[via] digipeaters.....]

       For NET/ROM
       axcall [-d] [-h] [-p paclen] [-r] [-t] [-T timeout] [-v] port callsign

       For Rose
       axcall [-d] [-h] [-r] [-t] [-T timeout] [-v] port callsign address [[via] digipeater]

DESCRIPTION

       Axcall is the general purpose AX.25, NET/ROM and Rose connection program. As is normal  in
       AX.25  it  runs  entirely  in  line mode. All CR/LF translation is done transparently. The
       program provides ASCII, YAPP, YAPP-C and 7+ file transfer facilities. Some of the  options
       are  only  valid  in  AX.25 mode, the program will quietly ignore them if given in NET/ROM
       mode or in Rose mode.

       This version of axcall incorporates  many  changes  that  include  a  much  improved  user
       interface.  The  port  name  is mandatory and is the name of the port which the connection
       will be made on. The port name may be either an AX.25, a NET/ROM  port  or  a  Rose  port,
       axcall will determine which automatically.

       When  using  NET/ROM  the  use of digipeaters is meaningless and is not supported. However
       when using Rose up to one digipeater may be specified, as well as the Rose address of  the
       distant  node  and the callsign of the remote station. The Rose address must be ten digits
       long and it must exist in the Rose node tables. For Rose connects  to  work  axparms  must
       have been used to set a callsign/uid mapping for the userid in use.

OPTIONS

       -8        UTF-8 encoding (default)

       -b l|e    Sets  the  method of backoff to use with AX.25 connections. The default is taken
                 from the port specification, but can be overridden by this option.  Valid values
                 are l for linear backoff, and e for exponential backoff.

       -d        Turn on socket level debugging.

       -h        Selects Slave mode.

       -i        Use IBM850 encoding -m s|e Sets the AX.25 mode to use. The default is taken from
                 the port specification, but can be overridden by this option. Valid values are s
                 for  normal  (modulus  8) AX.25 operation, or e for extended (modulus 128) AX.25
                 operation.

       -p paclen Specify a specific maximum amount of data to be sent in each AX.25 packet.

       -r        Selects Raw mode.

       -s mycall Connect using the specified source axcall (you may need to be root).

       -t        Selects Talk mode.

       -v        Display the version.

       -w window Specify a specific AX.25 window for this connection. Only valid in AX.25 mode.

       -S        Be silent. Useful for using axcall in shellscripts (together with option -r)  in
                 order to be really transparent.

       -R        Disable  all remote commands like autobin (#BIN#), 7plus downloads, //echo, etc.
                 This is useful for scripting where you  just  don't  like  the  remote  site  to
                 trigger uncaught conditions here.

       -T timeout
                 Set  idle  timeout  seconds after a connection will be closed automatically when
                 there's no data being transferred (in- and outbound). If timeout is set to 3600,
                 the connection will close after 1h inactivity. A value of 0.5 is 500ms.

       -W        Wait  for  remote  disconnect even if stdin is closed. Normaly, "echo q | axcall
                 ax0 db0fhn" closes immediately after "echo q" terminates; thus we never see  the
                 greeting from db0fhn. With the -W option, axcall waits until the ax25-connection
                 is disconnected (i.e. db0fhn disconnects after "q"  command).  Very  useful  for
                 scripting. You might like to combine it with the -T option.

       The  axcall  program  interprets  lines beginning with a '~' specially.  The following '~'
       escapes are available.

       ~?              List escapes

       ~~              A ~ symbol

       ~.              Close connection

       ~! [command]    Run a command

       ~0              Change to Raw mode

       ~1              Change to Slave mode

       ~2              Change to Talk mode

       ~8              UTF-8 encoding

       ~a              Start a file transfer (Autobin)

       ~b              Start a file transfer (Binary)

       ~c              Close the logfile

       ~h              List escapes

       ~i              IBM850 encoding

       ~o [filename]   Open a logfile (default 'logfile.txt')

       ~r              Reconnect to remote station

       ~s              Stop an upload

       ~u [filename]   Upload a file (ASCII upload)

       ~yu [filename]  Upload a file (YAPP upload)

       ~yd [filename]  Download a file (YAPP download)

       ~z              Suspend program

       The program provides no terminal emulation features. These are  left  up  to  the  console
       facilities of the terminal in use. The program is however '8 bit clean'.

FILES

       /proc/net/nr_nodes
       /proc/net/rose_nodes
       /etc/ax25/axports
       /etc/ax25/nrports
       /etc/ax25/rsports

SEE ALSO

       axlisten(1),  mheard(1),  ax25(4), netrom(4), rose(4), axports(5), nrports(5), rsports(5),
       axparms(8), nrparms(8), rsparms(8).

AUTHORS

       Alexander Tietzel DG6XA <TIETZE_A@etech.fh-hamburg.de>
       Joerg Reuter DL1BKE <jreuter@poboxes.com>
       Alan Cox GW4PTS <alan@cymru.net>
       Jonathan Naylor G4KLX <g4klx@g4klx.demon.co.uk>
       Steve Henson G6IXS <shenson@nyx.cs.du.edu>