ChaosNET and Python

My blogging has been much less frequent of late, mostly because of an unfortunate abundance of non-computer issues. Despite those, I believe I have made some progress in my Chaosnet-on-OpenMCL work, but I've switched most of my hobby-development to Python, mostly to get in touch with trends outside the Lisp Universe.

My current main project circulates around ChaosNET emulation; the main thing going for Python here is a socket interface that is roughly compatible between UNIX-like and Windows operating systems. Lisp can support that as well, but not for my favorite and familiar implementations. (One thing I hope to try before I get through this is to get an asyncore-like framework set up in CLISP.)

So far, I have implemented a `chaosd' process in Python that simulates multiple ChaosNET `ethers' in the form of localhost TCP streams (on Windows or UNIX-like) or UNIX-domain sockets (on UNIX-like); each stream corresponds to a subnet. The idea has manifold goals:

  • Allow the usim CADR simulator to communicate on Windows with minimal alterations using Winsock in place of BSD sockets (Done) (Brad Parker's server, however, works with forking and other UNIXisms that would require more work)

  • Allow separation between local activity and activity exposed or connected to the wider Internet

  • Provide 'masquerade' and 'network translation' bridges, to flexibly map external resources, such as an ITS or TOPS-20 simulator into something that appears to be a local network. (The translation here is necessary because ChaosNET is a LAN architecture; outside resources might have their own incompatible scheme of subnetting and addressing. These translating gateways would allow me to place external UDP-responding resources into arbitrary Chaos addresses in my local scheme, without requiring any change on the external resource.)

  • Eventually, provide small modular `gateway' simulators that appear to be ChaosNET resources on a local subnet, but translate to external services such as AOL Instant Messenger or IRC.

  • Recreate `historically accurate' network organizations for amusement

  • If I ever break down and get a real Symbolics machine, I expect it to be able to speak Chaos over IP or raw Ethernet; I would like some way to connect that to multiple simulators on a single Mac or PC

As a step in this direction, I have implemented a stream-to-UDP masquerade, that automatically takes traffic on a local `ether' for a particular address and feeds it over UDP using Bjorn Victor's protocol. Running this on two machines, I am able (mostly) to allow a Lisp machine simulator on my Linux box and another on my Windows box to both believe they are on a single Chaosnet LAN, and to communicate with one another. The next step is to get something like a local ITS or TOPS-20 simulator running in KLH-10 on Linux supporting Bjorn's UDP protocol (or possibly Bjorn's machine) to provide FILE service and e-mail service to my Lisp machine simulators on either machine. I have been learning to recompile ITS, with mixed success. My initial impressions on Python in another post.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Open Genera VLM on Linux

There are some existing guides to setting up the (unauthorized) Open Genera VLM on x86-64 Linux, but I wanted to tweak them a bit, and came up with a couple of items that diverge from the existing advice. Note that a bunch of URLs on that link should point to https://archives.loomcom.com/  not the static.loomcom.com address. My general goals were to avoid having to run the genera binary as root, and run as a distinct user to have some sense of security (even if the sense is misplaced). I also wanted to change the network addresses, and don't want to use the standard pathnames for the Unix system files and the user directories, and the changes to do so were only in screenshots. My setup Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS, amd64 My Linux machine is named ubuntu I want all this simulated Genera stuff to happen on  subnet 10.0.10.x  with my Linux host under the name  genera-ubuntu  at 10.0.10.1  and the virtual Lisp machine genera  at 10.0.10.2  (TODO: figure out Chaos network address s
Read more

Restoring the Heathkit Jr 35

Image
Heathkit Jr Electronic Workshop "35", Model JK-18 The Heathkit Jr 35 evidently had been stored with batteries in the battery holder, which corroded badly. I replaced it with a plastic RadioShack 4 D-cell battery holder (270-389), wired into the negative power rail and the hot side of the power switch (which is part of the variable resistor). Corroded battery holder Replacement battery holder mounted I mounted the replacement battery holder with a dozen "heavy duty" 1 inch foam double-stick mounting squares (rated to hold 900g), stacked in four groups each three high to overcome the various screws protruding through the main board. The remote speaker station The rubber foot used to protect the relay from being crushed when you turn the kit over was stuck to the remote speaker station. I put it in its rightful place. Relay with the brown rubber foot Earlier, I had built a couple simple circuits, which showed the meter and new battery pack w
Read more

FPGA selection for beginners

I'm not particularly expert on FPGAs, but I feel like sharing some of the thought process and research I did in getting into tinkering with FPGAs to help other people contemplating such things. Why FPGAs? FPGAs are the go-to solution for "digital things that can't be done with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, or other microcontroller plus software." If you want more than a handful of discrete digital devices in your project, an FPGA (or its smaller cousin, a CPLD) can be whatever collection of gates you need. From a more industrial perspective, they are a stepping-stone to the kind of large-scale digital design that goes into developing ASICs and high-powered DSP solutions. I'll probably discuss later some of the things that are probably not suited for FPGAs and assume for now you at least understand what they are, what they can do, and you just really, really want to use one. You want to buy an FPGA for good reasons and can't decide which: how to choose? Choo
Read more