This process is suitable for Debian-based operating systems, e.g. Debian, Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu.

Do this once, only.

Our very own Hibby MM0RFN, also a Debian maintainer, has kindly packaged and is maintaining various Linux packet radio software, among them LinBPQ.

To start using his repo, you need tell your machine to trust the repo:

wget -q https://online-amateur-radio-club-m0ouk.github.io/oarc-packages/hibby.key
sudo mv hibby.key /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/hibby.asc

Then you need to add the repo for your OS:

# Ubuntu 22.04 LTS amd64
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://online-amateur-radio-club-m0ouk.github.io/oarc-packages jammy main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

# Raspberry Pi
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://online-amateur-radio-club-m0ouk.github.io/oarc-packages bullseye main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

# Debian 13 amd64
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://online-amateur-radio-club-m0ouk.github.io/oarc-packages testing main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

# Debian 12 amd64
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://online-amateur-radio-club-m0ouk.github.io/oarc-packages bookworm main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

Do this once, only.

After following the above steps, to install LinBPQ, run the below commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y linbpq

LinBPQ runs as a background service and requires a config file - see the next sections for details.

A default config file will be placed at /opt/oarc/bpq/bpq32.cfg and linked to /etc/bpq32.cfg for editing convenience. If you replace /etc/bpq32.cfg entirely, you will have broken the link, so if you plan to replace it, replace it at /opt/oarc/bpq/bpq32.cfg.

Simple config file suitable for a basic node with a single KISS modem, e.g. NinoTNC: https://gist.github.com/M0LTE/52824537b3fe21d19baf9a66eda4db86

wget -q https://gist.githubusercontent.com/M0LTE/52824537b3fe21d19baf9a66eda4db86/raw/fde7d76562bc26306543c4f7ea10ea55f509ac57/bpq32.cfg
# edit as required, then:
sudo mv bpq32.cfg /opt/oarc/bpq/bpq32.cfg

When you have updated the config, restart LinBPQ:

sudo systemctl restart linbpq

Check on its status:

sudo systemctl status linbpq

Show its logs:

journalctl -u linbpq

(use arrows / page up/down to navigate, press q to quit)

There are various ways to access your node locally:

in a browser, e.g. http://yournode:8008

using QtTermTCP, a cross-platform GUI with some more advanced features for monitoring etc, connecting to port 8011

using Telnet (e.g. PuTTY in Telnet mode), connecting to port 8010

Username and password as per your config file.

If you get “No APPLCALL for Chat APPL” in the BPQ logs, and “Sorry, Application CHAT is not running” when you issue CHAT at the node prompt, ensure that the ApplNum in /opt/oarc/bpq/chatconfig.cfg is set to the number of the APPLICATION in /opt/oarc/bpq/bpq32.cfg. You can also do this in Chat Mgmt in the BPQ web interface.

To update LinBPQ to the latest version in Hibby's apt repo, simply:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade