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paracon

Packet radio terminal that talks AGWPE to Direwolf, with no kernel AX.25

What it does

A full-screen packet radio terminal: connect to a BBS or node, keep several sessions open, monitor the channel, and transfer text -- the keyboard end of an AX.25 station. It speaks the AGWPE protocol to a software TNC rather than driving a radio itself.

Why you would want it

It is the packet terminal that needs nothing from the kernel. Direwolf's AGW port is the only thing it talks to, so it works on a Linux 7.1 machine that has no AX.25 stack at all (D-045) -- where ax25-apps' call and axcall cannot. QtTermTCP is the same idea for LinBPQ's TCP port; Paracon is the one to reach for with Direwolf alone.

Before it will work

Direwolf (or another AGWPE server -- ldsped, LinBPQ 6.0.24.73 or later) running with its AGW port enabled, on this machine or one reachable over the network. Python 3.9 or later, which every target ships. Your callsign goes into Paracon's own config on first run; it is not templated from the station file (D-035) yet.

How it installs

  • prebuilt executable from https://github.com/mfncooper/paracon/releases/download/v1.3.0/paracon_1.3.0.pyz

Binaries this produces:

  • paracon_1.3.0.pyz → paracon

Known problems

Runs in a terminal and draws with urwid, so it wants a real terminal emulator, not a pipe. The file is a Python zipapp installed as /usr/local/bin/paracon with the interpreter line inside it; if python3 is not on PATH it fails at exec, which is why python3 is a declared dependency. The GUI-less shape is deliberate upstream.

Keeping it current

  • probe: github release (mfncooper/paracon)
  • strategy: reinstall
  • Tagged releases with the .pyz attached; a release or two a year. Bump the URL, the hash and produced together.

Where to get help with the software itself

GitHub issues on the repository; the README documents configuration and the AGWPE servers it is tested against.

Source: catalog/packages/paracon.yaml