      Roger Wilco Base Station 0.27    Aug 26th 1999


Thank you for using Roger Wilco.

This Roger Wilco Base Station offers a preliminary degree of support for 
allowing users to run "Roger Wilco Base Stations" which can create and 
host channels for users of the fully-featured Roger Wilco client to join
and converse.  It does NOT allow a local user at the Base Station machine it 
runs on to hear or talk on the channel being hosted.

There are currently three versions:  
	Linux      0.27  
	FreeBSD2x  0.27
	FreeBSD3x  0.27
	NT/Win9x   0.27


=====> COMPATIBILITY

Base Station 0.27 is compatible with Roger Wilco Mark I and Mark Ia.
Its different name reflects its "provisional" character -- its stability
and support levels will be lower than the Roger Wilco clients it supports.

It is *not* compatible with versions of Roger Wilco released before Mark I.
You may download the Roger Wilco client from www.rogerwilco.com


=====> LICENSE INFORMATION

It is important that you read the file named LICENSE.TXT.  It describes the 
terms of use permitted.  In particular, it contains strong terms barring 
reverse engineering of the program and its protocols as well as 
modification of the program.  We hope that you will read it and abide by 
its terms.  


=====> INSTALLATION (Linux, FreeBSD)

un-tarring the installation file that contained this file is sufficient to
install the Linux Roger Wilco Base Station.  It consists of just the single
executable file named rwbs, some information files like this one, and a few 
small encoded audio files to support the test mode of the Base Station.

CGI setup (optional, for any webservers you have access to)

There are two Perl scripts (with .rwc extensions -- leave them named that 
way, as it enhances browser compatibility) that you should copy into the 
CGI-BIN directory of your web server.  These scripts allow webpages on the
server to have easy-to-write HTML links to channels hosted on your 
(or any other) Base Station.


=====> INSTALLATION (NT and Win9x)

Allow the self-extracting archive to unpack its contents to a single
directory on your system.  The executable components and text files and a few
proprietary soundfiles will be installed there, and take up well less than a
megabyte of disk space.

CGI setup (optional, for any webservers you have access to) 


There are two Perl scripts (with .rwc extensions -- leave them named that 
way, as it enhances browser compatibility) that you should copy into the 
CGI-BIN directory of your web server.  These scripts allow webpages on the
server to have easy-to-write HTML links to channels hosted on your 
(or any other) Base Station.

=====> BUGS

Most of the bugs we saw in 0.26 (muting of channels, inability to connect)
seem to be fixed in this release, though testing is not complete.  Please
check under Product Information on our website for the latest details.

=====> OPERATION -- Options Common To All Platforms

In general, rwbs can be invoked with or without command-line options.
On all platforms, these options are supplied with a leading "-" character.

Without parameters, rwbs will start up and create a channel and lend minimal
bandwidth to its support.  It is a configuration suitable for any
installation.  Exception:  NT requires at least one parameter.
Additionally, the Base Station will dynamically create named channels for 
clients who join and specify a channel name (either by a URL or using the
Mark Ia client which allows users to join named channels).

The -s flag tells RWBS to deny joining clients who ask for non-existent named
channels.  By default, a channel would be dynamically created to 
accomodate them.

The -b flag tells RWBS to run in the 0.25 (and earlier) manner in which the
Base Station appears to be a party on the channel.  By default now, the Base
Station will be invisible (since it is not, in fact, a person on the channel).
This new method works better with Mark Ia clients, who display the channel
in a more intuitive manner.

The -h flag allows you to see a complete list of supported command-line
options.

The -n flag allows you to supply an optional name for your Base Station.
By default, your Base Station will be named "Base Station".
-n "Killer Bunny" would cause it to be named "Killer Bunny Base". 
If you are not using the -b flag, this name will only be accessible to
people who have created wrapper scripts for web integration (read below)

The -x flag allows you to specify an amount of bandwidth that the Base Station
should lend to supporting the channel.  By default, a value of 1 is used, which
is equivalent to less than the "Slow Modem" setting in the Roger Wilco 
Configuration Wizard.  
If you have a good cable modem or a T1 piped into your Base Station--
particularly if your typical Roger Wilco user has a poor modem, you may try 
higher values for this number.  This will cause the Base Station to act more
like a "server", and play a larger role in relaying audio traffic between 
users.  Type rwbs -h for more hints on setting this parameter.

The -p flag allows you to supply an optional password to protect access to
the Base Station's channels.

The -t flag causes rwbs to run in "test mode".  This is primarily useful only 
to Resounding Technology's instance:  it causes the Base Station to robotically
speak to any single user who tunes to it, and to echo back any transmissions
he sends -- valuable for being a RW test partner.

The -u flag allows you to specify a different UDP port than the 3783 default.
It is unlikely that you will find use of another UDP port helpful -- our
networking code allows it to work on any Quake II-friendly system (exceptions
may be found on LANs running MS Proxy Server .. we are working to resolve
bugs in this area).  Read our web page on firewalls that we have posted 
for the Roger Wilco client... its principles also cover the Base Station.


=====> Linux & FreeBSD  specific notes

You may run rwbs directly (cd into its directory before starting it),
but for better results, invoke rwbs indirectly, using the run_rwbs script 
provided.  

Edit run_rwbs and modify the line where rwbs is invoked.  Change the 
parameters that are passed to rwbs to suit your preference.  Then, cd 
into your rwbs installation directory and run "nohup ./run_rwbs &".

This method is preferable as it causes the RWBS to be restarted should 
it fail for some reason, and also allows it to keep running after you 
logout of the shell from which you invoked it.

Fault tolerance is often desireable when running server-like processes such
as rwbs. 

For example, you may edit the line in run_rwbs so that it gives your base
station a name and password:

./rwbs -n Happy -p sesame >>rwbs.log



=====> Windows NT Specific Notes

Under NT, rwbs is primarily intended to function as an NT Service.  

Therefore, rather than "running it" and "stopping it", operation is really 
more of a "run it and ask it to install itself as a service" and "run it 
and ask it to remove itself as a service" model of use.

To start up rwbs as an NT service, invoke rwbs and provide the -I flag 
to command it to install the NT service.  You should also provide any other
parameters you wish to give the base station (rwbs -h will list all the
options).  If all is well, rwbs should run and print a few diagnostics as it
goes to report its success or failure.  The most common issue people see when
trying to install an NT service is that they lack the administrative 
privileges required to perform such actions.  If you see that you are failing
due to a lack of suitable privileges, find an NT adminstrative guide for
more help -- this topic is beyond the scope of this document.

Conversely, the -R flag stops and removes the rwbs service from the system.
You will probably require a similar set of privileges to perform this action
as for installing the service.

If you do *not* wish to run rwbs as an NT service, you can instead specify
the -A flag to run it in "Angel" (as opposed to daemon) mode.  In this 
case, it will run as a console application.

If you intend to use the -t test mode, it is important to not that you 
must invoke rwbs.exe *from the directory in which it resides* (i.e.: cd
to that directory before running rwbs.exe, don't do anything like ..\rwbs.exe)
and give it the -I flag to install the NT service, combining this flag 
with any other parameters you wish to give the base station (rwbs -h 
will list all the options). 


=====> Windows 95/98 Specific Notes

You cannot run Roger Wilco on the same machine you are running a Base Station
on.  You can run them in alternation, but this is probably not too appealing
as the "always there" model of the Base Station is the one that makes its
use most compelling, and it loses this charm if you are bringing it up and 
down all the time.

Under Win9x, the -I and -R flags supported by NT are not available, and the
-A mode is assumed (you need not invoke it).  rwbs will run as a console
application.  Once again, invoke it from the directory in which it resides
or the test mode will not find its soundfiles.

The most common form of use on a Win 9x system is to run rwbs without 
parameters and minimize the console window in which it runs.


=====> Browsing your RWBS using a Web Browser

You can use an ordinary web browser to access your RWBS host (using port 
18009), you can see who is on it.  It does not yet offer any administrative 
capabilities.  The basic form of access is 

http://<address>:18009/[<channel>][?<opt1>[&<opt2>]]

Where <address> is the IP address or hostname of the RWBS
      <channel> is an optional channel name to be viewed 
                (default, or "root" channel assumed)
      <opt#>    is either an opts= or action= expression
		e.g.: opts=-R, opts=-L-R, or action=join1
	
 
Example:  

If you are running a RWBS on myhost.mydomain.com, accessing 
http://myhost.mydomain.com:18009 using any browser will show you who is on
the station's default channel, and provide a clickable link to tune to that
channel (using Mark Ia or later clients).  

If you want to specify a subchannel to be browsed, you can supply a 
channel name following a / character, e.g.:

http://24.128.4.4:18009/attack


The "opts=-R" argument (for seeing more than one channel)

The simple form of access shown above allows you to see any single channel on 
your server.  But the nicest thing about the Base Station is that it
can host any number of channels.  To help you use this to your advantage, 
there is a "recursive view" option that can be tacked onto the end: ?opts=-R

For instance:

http://www.rogerwilco.com:18009/?opts=-R   shows the following activity on
Resounding Base Station:

channel "/"   (in the browser, the "/" is a clickable tuning link)

channel "/82mhz"
  "BiGPiMp"

channel "/atani"
  "Dobbin"
  "Rosicrux"
  "Favriol"

channel "/403mhz"
  "FoX"

channel "/420mhz"
  "Shinobo"
  "Jusburnit"

channel "/474mhz"
  "NO_MIGHTY_WD"


You can use the opts=-R option in combination with any channelname and
it (as well as any subchannels arrayed below it using / as a separator)
will be viewed.  If you do no specify a channel, you see every channel
(since you are recursively showing the RWBS from the root channel).


The "opts=-L" argument (for advanced server-side scripting gurus)

The views that are provided using the RWBS's built-in method are pretty 
spartan and do not easily lend themselves to customization.  Advanced web
authors can write CGI scripts which access the RWBS using the opts=-L 
flag to obtain a machine-parseable output format (instead of the 
browser-friendly HTML that is the default).  The CGI script can then mash 
the information in whatever manner the author cares to, and generate HTML 
that presents it in a style most meaningful to his site (for instance, 
using a different formatting or background).

For instance, opts=-L-R on the same connection to the above server would
have generated the following output (in unadulterated text output):

rwbsname "Resounding Base"
rwbsaddress www.rogerwilco.com
channelcount 6   
channel "/"
membercount 0
channel "/82mhz"
membercount 1
member "BiGPiMP"
channel "/atani"
membercount 3
member "Dobbin"
member "Rosicrux"
member "Favriol"

...etc, where

"rwbsname" heads the list and indicates the assigned name of the Base Station

"rwbsaddress" specifies the IP address or hostname of the Base Station
  Note: on multi-homed systems, this address will always work, as it is
  always identical to the one used to obtain the report containing it.

"channelcount" denotes the total number of active channels on the server.
  Note: There may be fewer listed as you may not have recursively viewed the
  rwbs from the root channel.

"channel" declares the name of a channel (which will be in quotes)

"membercount" declares the number of members on the channel that was
  most recently declared.  

"member" declares the callsign of a pilot under the most recently declared 
  channel.

Any users who create CGI scripts of this type are encouraged to share them 
with other Roger Wilco Base Station users, so that the creativity and
talent of the user community can amplify our efforts.

The "action=" directive

Similar to the "opts=" parameter, the "action=" directive can be used to 
change the very function being achieved by accessing the RWBS through this 
browser interface.  It can be used to change the action being performed from
the default one of viewing the channel(s).

At this time, the only alternative action that can be specified is 
"action=join1", which commands the user's local RW instance (Mark Ia or
later required) to tune to the specifed channel.  e.g.:

http://www.rogerwilco.com:18009/?action=join1

would tune you to the default channel on Resounding Base, and
http://www.rogerwilco.com:18009/82mhz?action=join1 would tune you to "82mhz"
on Resounding Base.

This is the mechanism the RWBS uses to create the clickable links in the
views it generates by default (when no action is specified).  It is preferable
to using .RWC scripts on a webserver, as no MIME type configuration is 
ever required, and it provides a more compact installation.

Time permitting, we will add additional action types such as "admin" to the 
protocol, to give you access to administrative controls on a privileged basis.

=====> SUPPORT

Support for the Roger Wilco Base Station is a background activity for us.
It receives second-echelon treatment at the moment.  But we do maintain a
BBS and a small support web page.

Resounding Technology's RWBS BBS forum allows users to discuss issues, and we
try to monitor it and answer questions when we can.  Often, other users have 
the best answers.  When possible, we identify problem trends and see if we can 
produce a fix in the next release or add to the RWBS Support Page.

The Roger Wilco Base Station Support Page is modest, but resides at

http://www.resounding.com/products/rwbs/support

Thanks -- tone

