From: "David Nelson" <dnelsonfl@xxxxxxxxx!removejunk!>
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:20:05 -0400
Configuring the Lantronix UDS-10/100 to work with a C64/C128 BBS:
Before I dive in, let me start with a quick disclaimer. This procedure
is based upon notes I took recently when I received my Lantronix
UDS-100. I quickly set it up and tested it out with an old BBS program
I had written. The BBS was using 2400 on the standard serial port and
I used CGTerm on the PC. It seemed to work fine. I then had to pack
everything up because I am in the middle of moving. It's going to be
quite awhile before I have a chance to set it up again. So if you find
some incomplete portions or (hopefully not) errors, please feel free
to point it out. If you have suggestions for better settings than
those I chose, speak up and explain to us why so we can all benefit.
The goal of writing this down was to help those without an extensive
computer background get their Lantronix devices up and running. With
that said, here we go!
Part One - Plan Ahead
We should spend a couple minutes thinking about what we are hoping to
achieve before we start configuring the Lantronix. We need to gather
some information that we will need later:
1. By default, a brand new Lantronix is set to use DHCP to obtain an
IP address. If you bought a used one, like me, then it has probably
already been configured and we need to do a factory reset to make sure
we're starting fresh.
2. Using DHCP is not very useful for our purposes, so we are going to
want to assign it an IP address. I'm going to use 192.168.1.25 in this
example. You will also need to know your gateway address. I'm going to
use 192.168.1.1 in this example. Your private network might be using a
different subnet. You can check this real quick under Windows XP by
clicking Start->Run and typing cmd. In the command prompt box, type
ipconfig. It will tell you your XP computer's IP address and also tell
you the gateway. To choose an IP address for the Lantronix, simply
change the last set of numbers to one that is not used by DHCP in your
network. You might need to check your router to find out what IP
addresses it is using for DHCP. For example, my router uses
192.168.1.10 thru 192.168.1.20, so 192.168.1.25 is safe to use for the
Lantronix.
3. Keep in mind what baud rates your BBS software supports and what
baud rates your hardware supports. You will probably only be able to
go as high as 2400 unless you use a Swiftlink or Turbo232. With one of
those, you could easily obtain 38400 or higher if your BBS software
supports those higher rates. The Lantronix supports 300 thru 115200.
Also note if your BBS uses numeric responses or full verbose response
from a modem.
4. Decide what incoming port you'd like your BBS to use. I've seen
6400 and 23 commonly used. 23 is also what Telnet uses. I'm going to
use port 6400 in this example.
Part Two - Serial Logon Setup
As much as I'd like to use the web based setup to configure the
Lantronix, I quickly found out some of the settings I needed to change
were only available by using the telnet or serial logon. Since my
Lantronix was used, I couldn't telnet in. That left me with the Serial
Logon as the only method of setting it up. As I discovered, that's
probably the easiest and least frustrating way. As long as you're
using a good cable.
Unplug the Lantronix first. You're going to need a suitable serial
cable (not a null modem!) and a terminal program. The serial settings
are 9600 baud, 8-bit, no parity, one stop bit, and no flow control.
(This cannot be changed, so you will *always* be able to access setup
through the serial port.) For the purists at heart, you might want to
use your Commodore and a program such as DesTerm to set it up. Just
make sure your ASCII translation is set to communicate with a PC, not
another Commodore. The rest of us can suffer with HyperTerminal under
Windows XP (Start->Programs->Accessories->Communications).
Once you have the serial cable connected, and your terminal program
set to connected as well, plug the Lantronix back in. Type three
lowercase x characters *within one second* to activate the
configuration mode. The manual suggests holding down the x key while
you are plugging in the Lantronix. That worked for me.
The very first thing to do is to choose 7, Factory Reset. Now we're
ready to start configuring our Lantronix.
Part Three - Server Configuration
This is also known as the Network Configuration. Choose 0, Server
configuration, and enter the following settings:
IP Address - 192.168.1.25
Set Gateway IP Address - Choose yes, and then enter 192.168.1.1
Netmask - Number of bits is 8 for 255.255.255.0
Change Telnet configuration password - Yes, this is probably a very
good idea. You can assign up to a 4 character password. Note that no
password is needed for the serial logon, this only applies to TELNET
connections to port 9999, the Lantronix's configuration port.
DHCP Naming - We're not using DHCP, so there's no need to change this.
Part Four - Channel 1 Configuration
Moving on, back at the main menu, choose 1, Channel 1 configuration.
The settings are as follows:
Baudrate - Enter the highest value your BBS software and hardware
combination will support. You might need to lower this later if you
notice garbled characters and other classic signs of speed problems.
Flow - If you're using a low baudrate, 2400 or less, this can be set
to 00 (none). For higher rates with a Swiftlink or Turbo232, you'll
probably want Hardware CTS/RTS handshaking, which is 02. The other
option is XON/XOFF, which is 01. You can try Hardware first, then
XON/XOFF, and finally none if you run into trouble.
Port Number - 6400
Connect Mode - D6 for full verbose with echo, C6 for full verbose
without echo, D7 for numeric responses.
Remote IP Address - Leave as 0's
Remote Port - Leave as 0
DisConnMode - 80
FlushMode - F7 (if you have trouble try 77 and then 00)
DisConnTime - This is an inactivity timeout. The Lantronix will drop
the connection if there is no activity within this time limit. Enter
the time in minutes:seconds if you so desire. Enter 00:00 to disable.
5:00 (five minutes) of inactivity is a decent choice.
SendChar 1 - 0
SendChar 2 - 0
Part Five - Security Settings
Back at the main menu, you can choose 6 to change security settings.
This is entirely up to you, but I chose to change a few:
Disable ECHO Ports - Yes to disable port 7 (echo port)
Enable Enhanced Password - You can set this to Yes to allow up to 16
character password for Telnet setup instead of 4.
Part Six - Save and Test
Back at the main menu, choose 9 to save the new settings and exit.
Unplug the Lantronix and connect it to your Commodore. Plug the
Lantronix back in and fire up your BBS software. Go to your PC and
give it a try! Use CGTerm and try to connect to 192.168.1.25 port 6400
and see how it works. If we've done this correctly, it should work
just fine.
Part Seven - Open the Port on the Router
Now we are ready to open the port on the router and direct BBS traffic
to the Lantronix. The steps for this will vary quite a bit depending
upon what kind of router you have. I'm using a Linksys WRT54G, so this
example uses that.
Go to Applications and Gaming. We should be looking at the Port Range
Forward screen. Edit the first line as such:
Application - BBS
Start - 6400
End - 6400
Protocol - TCP
IP Address - 192.168.1.25
Enable - Checked
What this does is forward incoming traffic to port 6400 to the
Lantronix device. If we did not set this up, you would only be able to
connect to your BBS from your private network. The firewall would
block access to the outside world.
Part Eight - Spreading the Word
While you are in the router, take a look to find out what your current
public IP address is. On the Linksys WRT54G, click on the Status page
and look for IP Address. Have a friend try using CGTerm to connect to
this address at port 6400. He or she should be directed to the
Lantronix and connected to your BBS.
You're now ready to look into a DNS service to use a friendly name for
your BBS, such as EndofTime.net. If your IP address is static, meaning
it never changes, you could just advertise your public IP address. If
it does change, such as a DSL connection, then you might want to look
into a Dynamic DNS service. I have not looked into this myself, so I
cannot advise much more.
Part Nine - A Cool Extra Feature
Now that your Lantronix is set up, you can also use your Commodore to
"dial out" on the Internet to other Commodore BBS's. Fire up your
favorite terminal program. Type in ATDTx.x.x.x,pppp where x.x.x.x is
the address of a BBS and pppp is the port number. For example,
ATDTbbs.excalibursstone.com,6400 . The Lantronix will then attempt to
make a connection and voila! You're connected, just like the good old
days.
I hope this guide has helped. All these settings were taken straight
from the Lantronix UDS-10/100 manual. If you have a question about
what a specific setting does, please look it up in Chapter 5.
