[drats_users] TNC Port Support

[Dan Smith]

> Why don't we get the TNC to do that work? That is after all what it
> does.

Because D-RATS is, at the end of the day, intended for D-STAR which
doesn't have that same concept.  I don't really want to change the
significant part of the protocol stack that would be required to
depend on AX.25 or the TNC to do the heavy lifting.  Besides, from
what I understand of how TNCs work, they don't do any of the more
advanced things that D-RATS does, such as use a sliding window for the
stream.

I didn't intend to push D-RATS into the packet realm, but rather just
provide a way to use a TNC instead of (or alongside) a D-STAR radio
for the purposes of bringing in new users without a cost of entry.

> Otherwise you'll have to speak KISS etc to a TNC and if you can
> speak KISS then the TNC could not be a TNC at all but rather a copy
> of FBB or JNOS or ... on the end of a virtual comm port.

I'd much rather leave the standard packet and AX.25 stuff to things
like FBB or JNOS.  Leo has expressed some interest in bridging with
OpenBCM for integration with the messages.  I think it's probably best
to not drag D-RATS into the packet realm, but rather provide
interfaces to the entities that already rule that world.

Is that reasonable?

-- 
Dan Smith
dsmith#danplanet.com, s/#/@/
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS