Short: AmiTCP on-line Amiga tracking system Author: jfriesne@ucsd.edu (Jeremy Friesner) Uploader: jfriesne@ucsd.edu (Jeremy Friesner) Version: 1.1 Type: comm/net Replaces: comm/tcp/AmiTrack1.0 Requires: Workbench 2.04+, AmiTCP3.0b+ ---------------------------------------------------------------- AMITRACK V1.1 (Released 6/28/96) ---------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ------------ What is AmiTrack? Hmm, good question. I was talking to an AmiPhone user a few weeks ago, and he was lamenting that it was hard to find another AmiPhone user who was online to talk to. We decided what was needed was a way to find out who else is available, sort of an "Active Amiga registry". So that's what AmiTrack does. AmiTrack is an AmiTCP program that acts as the keeper of a list of Amigas that are currently on-line. It isn't limited to just AmiPhone users, either; you can register your Amiga to advertise any message string you want. This archive contains two executables: AmiTrack and AmiTrackServer. AmiTrack is a client that you can use to notify the world of your Amiga's presence on the internet, and AmiTrackServer is useful if you wish to let people use your Amiga as a registry site. Both utilities must be launched from the CLI. INSTALLATION ------------ There isn't any, really. Just copy the files to wherever you want to keep them. AMITRACK -------- The AmiTrack program is designed to connect to an Amiga running the AmiTrackServer program. While connected, it periodically does two things: it sends "ping" packets to the AmiTrackServer to let it know that you're still there, and it downloads the list of currently registered Amigas on that server, for your viewing pleasure. When you quit AmiTrack, you will be removed from the server's list of Amigas. AmiTrack understands the following command line arguments: #1: The Internet host name of the Amiga that is running AmiTrackServer, that you wish to register with. #2: The comment string you wish to have associated with your Amiga. Make sure to put this string in "quotes" if there are any spaces in it. This defaults to no comment. #3: The port number on the server which you wish to connect to. This defaults to port 18945 (which by some bizarre coincidence, is also the default port for AmiTrackServer to accept connections on) So, a valid AmiTrack command could be: AmiTrack or, AmiTrack isys.ml.org "This is my comment" 5217 or anything in between. AMITRACK GUI ------------ AmiTrack's GUI is fairly straightforward. It consists of several string gadgets, two buttons, and a ListView. The Server, Port, and Comment string gadgets are self-explanatory (I hope!). The ListView shows the IP addresses and comment strings of everyone logged in to the server you are connected to. This list may be updated by clicking on the "Refresh" button, and will also be updated automatically every few minutes, as indicated by the associated string gadget. The "Ping" button causes your client to send a packet to the AmiTrackServer, in effect saying "I'm here!". If the AmiTrackServer does not hear from your client for about five minutes straight, it will assume that you are no longer available and remove you from its list. Hence, it is probably a bad idea AmiTrack's ping interval to more than five minutes. Automatic refreshes and pings can be disabled by setting their interval gadget to zero. AmiTrack can be iconified via the Project menu. Double clicking on its icon will bring back its GUI. It will continue to ping the AmiTrackServer while it is iconified. AMITRACKSERVER -------------- The AmiTrackServer executable is designed to accept AmiTrack client connections from all over the Internet and dole out information about who else has connected to it recently. Most people won't need this program, but it's there anyway for those who would like to run their own server. AmiTrackServer has no GUI, rather it sends only output to the CLI. It will display its list of registered Amigas to the CLI at regular intervals, and whenever the list is modified. The list displays the IP name of each Amiga, its comment string, and the number of seconds that have elapsed since the last "ping" was heard from that Amiga. AmiTrackServer takes one optional command line argument, the port number upon which it is to accept connections. This number defaults to 18945. AmiTrackServer will quit if sent a CTRL-C signal, and will refresh its CLI output of its list if send a CTRL-D. TECHNICAL --------- AmiTrack tries to be as reliable and efficient as possible. The AmiTrack server keeps a linked list of the currently registered Amiga hostnames and their comment strings, as well as a timestamp of last time those Amigas were heard from. If an AmiTrack client has not sent a packet to the server for a specified amount of time (currently five minutes), it is liable to be removed from the registered list. This way, even if the client crashed and didn't send a disconnect packet, its entry won't hang around forever. To retrieve the list of clients, AmiTrack opens a TCP connection to the AmiTrack server, which immediately spits out a list of IP numbers, names, and comment strings, and then closes the connection. AmiTrack is written in DICE C, but there shouldn't be anything too compiler-dependant in it. MANIFEST -------- The following files should be in the AmiTrack archive: ******************** AUTHOR ------ This program was written by Jeremy Friesner, using DICE C. My email address is jfriesne@ucsd.edu. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ---------------- Thanks to Oliver Hotz for providing a full-time AmiTrack server site. Thanks to AndyS and Gallant on #amiga for helping me debug & test. DISTRIBUTION ------------ AmiTrack is fully in the public domain. Do whatever you want with it. BUGS ---- - Comments with leading spaces can mess up the client's field alignment. - Sometimes after you exit the server, it can't be run again for a minute or so afterwards (it will error out, saying the TCP port is in use). This usually happens if GetTrackList has been run on this server recently. I think this is a "feature" of BSD-based TCP software, though, as I've seen the same thing happen on UNIX machines running other software. - There ought to be a mechanism to ensure that you can't set the ping interval to be greater than the server's timeout interval. TODO ---- - Make a UNIX version of the server, and perhaps the client as well. - Add a way to automatically launch your favorite net program with a given hostname from the list as an argument. - Add a "NO GUI" option for completely invisible background use. - Make AmiTrack runnable from the Workbench. OTHER STUFF ----------- Some other programs I wrote: (try them, they're cool! ;)) GadMget - Loads in an Aminet RECENT or INDEX file and lets you choose files to download via a pair of ListViews. Features keyword searching and sorting by name, size, age, directory, and description. When you're done, it outputs the ftp commands that are needed to download the selected files. The output formatting is extremely flexible, allowing generation of many formats: ftp, ncftp, ftp-by-mail, shell scripts, etc. Comes with an ARexx script to completely automate downloading with ncFTP. (util/misc/GadMget2.05.lha,93K) AmiSlate - A paint program that works with AmiTCP to allow two people to cooperatively paint on the same drawing from different computers. Features an extensive ARexx port which allows the construction of new features and games. Comes with ARexx scripts for chess, tic-tac-toe, backgammon, and others. (comm/tcp/AmiSlate1.4.lha,115K) AmiPhone - An Internet voice-chat program, similar to IPhone and VoiceChat and Nevot and all that, only Amiga-specific. Features aflexible buffering mechanism for slow connections, an ARexx port, IFF 8SVX transmission and playback, internal multitasking, and support for a variety of digitizers. (comm/net/AmiPhone1.91.lha,142K) HISTORY ------- 1.1 : (Public Release 6/28/96) - Separated the AmiTrack server and client into two separate programs, and integrated GetTrackList into the client. - Added a nice GUI to the client program. - The AmiTrack protocol has changed slightly--v1.1 is not quite compatible with v1.0. Sorry! :( 1.0 : (Public Release 6/7/96) - Initial release. Works well for me, but untested in "real life". ============================= Archive contents ============================= Original Packed Ratio Date Time Name -------- ------- ----- --------- -------- ------------- 20308 11080 45.4% 05-Jul-96 17:42:08 +AmiTrack 8737 3833 56.1% 05-Jul-96 17:42:08 +AmiTrack.readme 11856 7248 38.8% 05-Jul-96 17:42:08 +AmiTrackServer 33682 9578 71.5% 05-Jul-96 17:42:06 +AmiTrack.c 5938 2121 64.2% 05-Jul-96 17:42:06 +amitrackserver.c 13974 4512 67.7% 05-Jul-96 17:42:06 +AmiTrackShared.c 4098 1552 62.1% 05-Jul-96 17:42:06 +amitrackshared.h 1155 310 73.1% 05-Jul-96 17:42:08 +dmakefile -------- ------- ----- --------- -------- 99748 40234 59.6% 07-Jul-96 10:42:56 8 files