Communicate via AX.25, using an AGWPE-compatible TNC (e.g. Direwolf, SoundModem or AGWPE).

This package contains two programs converse and chatter, which you can use to interact with other stations via AX.25. They run in a command line window, for example "Command Prompt" on Windows or a terminal emulator window on Linux.

converse communicates with one station, via an AX.25 connection. It's useful for interacting with a BBS. chatter communicates with multiple stations, using connections and/or UI packets (also known as unproto packets). It's useful for participating in a multi-station chat session.

First start your TNC (e.g. Direwolf or SoundModem).

On Windows:

1. Download converse.exe from the Assets section of the Latest release.
2. Open a PowerShell or Command Prompt (CMD) window.
3. cd to the folder that contains converse.exe.
4. .\converse.exe --verbose <your call sign> <remote call sign>

On Linux:

1. Download converse from the Assets section of the Latest release.
2. Open a terminal emulator (shell) window.
3. cd to the directory that contains converse.
4. chmod +x converse
5. ./converse --verbose <your call sign> <remote call sign>

On Raspberry Pi:

1. Download converse.armv7 from the Assets section of the Latest release.
2. Open a terminal emulator (shell) window.
3. cd to the directory that contains converse.armv7.
4. chmod +x converse.armv7
5. ./converse.armv7 --verbose <your call sign> <remote call sign>

You can watch a video demonstrating this on Windows or Linux.

To see a summary of the command line options, run converse with no arguments. To see a summary of commands you can give to converse, run converse, pause the conversation and enter ? (a question mark).

To communicate large amounts of text, you can copy-n-paste to or from your command line window. To copy all the text from a command line window, be sure to select the complete width of the screen buffer.

Characters sent to the remote station and received from the remote station are encoded as specified by the command line option --encoding.

You can make your own software that uses converse. For example, see how to poll a BBS on Windows or Linux.

Download and run chatter the same way as converse. On Linux, run chmod +x chatter after you download it. On Raspberry Pi, run chmod +x chatter.armv7 after you download it. To see a summary of its command line options, run it with no arguments.

To get started using chatter, first start your TNC (e.g. Direwolf or SoundModem). Then run .\chatter.exe <your call sign> on Windows or ./chatter <your call sign> on Linux or ./chatter.armv7 <your call sign> on Raspberry Pi. Then enter ? to see a summary of all the commands. To send data, enter an unproto or connect command; then type the data you want to send.

Chatter outputs a summary of all the packets that the TNC receives. You can filter out some of the packets using hide and show commands. By default, chatter hides packets that it receives repeatedly. Usually this means packets that are retransmitted by digipeaters. In general, it won't show a packet that's the same (except for digipeaters) as another packet it received recently. To see the repetitive packets, enter the command show repeats.

If you don't specify the 'via' option to connect or unproto commands, chatter will try to use a short sequence of digipeaters. To do this, it listens to all packets, observes the digipeaters that other stations use and picks out the shortest sequence that it received directly from a digipeater. If it receives directly from a source station, it will send to that station directly, without using digipeaters. This system depends on receiving packets, so it doesn't work immediately. If you know the digipeaters you want to use, specify a 'via' option to a connect or unproto command or use the via command to set the default for all stations. Chatter will use the digipeaters you specify. It might suggest a shorter sequence, but it won't override your choice.

In case the executable files don't work, you can use node.js to run these commands. Here's how:

1. Get node.js version 8.17 or later. Check your current version by running the command node --version. If you don't have this command, install node.js and start a new shell. If you have an old version, you can use nvm to install a new version.
2. Clone the agwpe-tools repository.
3. Start a shell and cd into your clone.
4. Run the command npm install to download other node packages that you'll need. Ignore messages about finding Python; they're harmless.
5. Start your TNC (e.g. Direwolf).
6. Run one of the programs, either:

• node ./converse.js --verbose <your call sign> <remote call sign>
• node ./chatter.js <your call sign>

To see a summary of the command line options, run either program with no arguments.

This software requires node.js version 8.17 or later. It works on Windows 8, Ubuntu 20, Raspbian 10 (Buster) and MacOS 14.4.1 (Sonoma), with Direwolf version 1.7 and UZ7HO SoundModem version 1.13. It might work with other versions.

The executable files were built using node.js version 20.19.6. The Windows executable files were built by build.cmd on Windows 11. The Linux executable files were built by build.sh on Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS (64 bit) on a VirtualBox machine hosted by Windows 11. The armv7 executable files were built by build.armv7 on Debian GNU/Linux 13.2 (trixie) on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+.

If you're willing to help make executable files for MacOS, please add a comment to issue #5.

John Kristian created and maintains this project.