kISDN README - v.0.3.0	/  Jan 19, 1998


WHAT IS kISDN ?

kISDN is an ISDN monitoring and configuring tool that allows observation of the traffic
on 2 channels and configuration of the ISDN interfaces ipppx in a convenient way (frontend 
to the isdn4linux package).


INSTALLATION

For installation instructions please read the INSTALL file (recommended !)


HOW TO USE kISDN

Monitoring (full window):
-------------------------
There are 4 LED's for each of the channels that indicate the following possible
states:

	Dial (Y)   Con (G)   Tx (R)   Rx (R)	Meaning
	-------------------------------------------------------------------
	  On       Off       Off      Off       Dialing in progress
	  Off      On        Off      Off       Dialing finished, connected
	  Off      On        On       Off       Transmitting data
	  Off      On        Off      On        Receiving data
		  				   
If building the link is not successful, the function of the 'Connect' button
is breaking down -- Carsten tries to find a workaround for this problem.

Monitoring (docked window):
---------------------------
In the docked window only observation of the first channel is possible. On
startup you'll see a display like this:

          
          +--------------------------+     
          |     /\                   |     
          |    /  \         ____     |
          |        \       /    \    |
          |  ----\  \     /  /\  \   |
          |  ----/  /     \  \/  /   |
          |        /       \____/    |
          |    \  /      (Y,Dialing) |
          |     \/                   |
          | (R,Receive)              |
          |                  /\      |
          |    ____         /  \     |
          |   /    \       /         |
          |  /  /\  \     /  ----\   |
          |  \  \/  /     \  ----/   |
          |   \____/       \         |
          | (G,Online)      \  /     |
          |                  \/      |
          |             (R,Transmit) |	
          +--------------------------+				          

(R = Red, Y = Yellow, G = Green).
 
Flashing of a symbol in the display indicates the corresponding operation.

If -- for any reason -- observation of both of the channels is needed, you'll
have to open the monitor window.

Dialup:
-------
Dialup for the very first time is the most delicate part of the whole kISDN
setup since kISDN will make use of its root permissions at this moment.
In particular some files in /etc/ppp (pap/secrets or chap/secrets, options)
and /etc itself (resolv.conf) will be written to, so we strongly recommend
to make a backup of these files prior to the first start of kISDN.
Furthermore some root owned processes will be started, at least ipppd (the
ISDN point-to-point daemon); if the driver module dialogue was activated, 
kISDN will try to insert the HiSax module as defined by the parameters,
so be very carefully, we don't check at the moment, whether the values are
appropriate for the adapter type chosen (and we don't have a guess which
IRQ's of your box are in use or not).

Configuring:
------------
Starting with v0.3.0 docking is implemented in kISDN. This means you have to
use a recent snapshot (past Dec 30th, 1997) to get kISDN running.

Starting kISDN the first time will open the main monitor window; to avoid
this, simply check Setup->General->Dock on Panel and kISDN will start docked
in the future.
To configure ISDN on your box please press the 'Setup' button and fill in the
dialogs; doing so for the very first time there will be questions here and there.
If unsure, press 'Cancel' in the dialogues and return to the monitor window; we
added a 'Help' button to enable HTML online help, this should guide you through
the first stages of the configuration. Remember: You can't crash your machine by
only filling in the dialogues since only the configuration file of kISDN is
affected by your changes. If you, however, fill the configuration with nonsense
and then ask kISDN to dial out, you're on your own, sorry.


NOTES

Kernel 2.1.x
------------
The current version of kISDN only works properly on Linux 2.0.x kernels, support
for 2.1.x to come in the very next full release. kISDN makes use of /dev/isdninfo and
/proc/net/dev (the latter was changed with 2.1.x kernels which is the reason
for non-working 'Rx' and 'Tx' LED's), so these special files should be available
on your system for kISDN to work. 
We suppose there are not so many users running 2.1.x kernels, so this incompatibility
shouldn't be too severe (correct us if we're wrong :-)

isdn4linux
----------
In order to get kISDN running on your box you need the isdn4k-utils package
available from                            

	ftp://ftp.franken.de/pub/isdn4linux


isdnlog/isdnrep
---------------
Support is planned for further versions of kISDN; the current version ('snapshot')
already contains a part of the dialogues. For ftp see above (isdn4linux)

Driver module support
---------------------
(see Dialup)

General
-------
kISDN was only tested on 2 Linux boxes under syncPPP/HDLC. Please submit a full
bug report (platform, OS, Distribution, ISP data, kISDN version number) when
noticing strange behaviour.
This software is _alpha_ and still incomplete in its functionality, so don't
expect too much.


BUGS

(to come)
  
Thorsten Westheider
twesthei@phya1.physik.uni-bielefeld.de
