[App_rpt-users] Interfacing AllStar node to existing system over LAN

[Tony Langdon, VK3JED]

I'm in the process of resurrecting my AllStar node, which has been 
down for an extended period of time.  I have installed ACID and put 
my old registration data into the setup script.  The system is 
showing as registered on the allstar.org status page, so it looks 
like that phase has worked.

Now, the next (and more difficult phase) comes.  For a variety of 
technical and cosmetic reasons, I would like to interface the AllStar 
system to a highly modified EchoIRLP node (it runs thelinkbox in a 
unique configuration), and have the EchoIRLP node and the AllStar 
node share status information, so I can implement interlocks (i.e. 
when IRLP or Echolink is busy, lock out AllStar, and 
vice-versa).  While I can hack this on thelinkbox side, by de-linking 
the AllStar port (in tlb) when there's other traffic, this is an ugly 
hack that puts AllStar at a major disadvantage.

What I need to know are:

1.  Is there any event that is generated when an AllStar node 
connects or disconnects, that can be used to call an external shell script?

2.  Is it possible to set an AllStar node as "busy" on the fly?

3.  Can chan_irlp or chan_echolink be used to make outbound 
connections without being a part of the IRLP or Echolink networks 
respectively?  I'd need to use one of these methods to make the audio 
link across the LAN.  The old chan_rtpdir was quite good for this 
style of operation, though it was GSM only.  Running app_rpt on the 
same machine is not feasible at this time.  It has been tried in the 
past and caused major grief - need some serious hardware upgrades, 
but that in turn needs some planning.

Also, if I can resolve (1) and (2), this would go a _long_ way to 
making app_rpt/AllStar more acceptable to the IRLP community, by 
bringing it into line with IRLP policies.  I feel this would in turn 
be a good thing for app_rpt and AllStar overall.




73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL
http://vkradio.com