[arm-allstar] Image update 12/10/17

[Doug Crompton]

A new update dated 12/10/17 has been released that includes a couple of new
commands for the rpt.conf file. Install this update using the ADMIN menu
selection 1. These commands if used need to be manually entered into the
file.

Startup_macro_delay

The existing startup_macro command allows you to run Asterisk/Allstar
commands at boot and is typically used to connect to a node or nodes as
part of the startup process. This is often used with a fixed, mobile, or
portable node to initiate Allstar commands like connecting to other nodes
without operator intervention at boot.

The problem with this command is that if you use it to connect and you have
not received connection information for the node you wish to connect to
prior to executing the command it will be ignored and never executed. If
routing information for the node you were connecting to was hard coded in
rpt.conf this would not be a problem but it would almost always not be the
case for nodes outside of your local purview with public IP addresses. For
rpt_extnodes file lookup it would generally not be updated in time for the
connect to complete and even in the upcoming quicker DNS lookup it could
still require some amount of delay.

In order to alleviate this problem a startup_macro_delay command has been
added. This command if you intend to use it should be added to your
rpt.conf file on a line before or after the startup_macro command. This is
on a per node basis so be sure to add it to all node stanzas that you want
to apply it to. The default delay value if not in rpt.conf is 0 or no
delay. The delay is entered in seconds from 0-120.

startup_macro_delay=10  ; 10 second delay before executing the startup macro

The delay would probably be in the area of 5-20 seconds but for the
rpt_extnodes file lookup it could exceed this in some instances. Some
experimentation for a minimum reliable number is required. There is no
danger in setting this too long, it will just take longer to execute at
startup.

Another command has been added to allow a format type specification for the
archivedir command called archivetype

archivetype=[gsm|pcm] parameter.

This is the format that is used to archive voice data to a hard or solid
state drive. The default if not defined is gsm which is the current default
in Allstar. Setting the format to pcm gives greater fidelity but at the
expense of requiring greater storage space for the files. Never archive to
your SD card. Use a USB stick, hard drive, SSD, or remote storage for
archiving.  Use the archivedir=<dir> command to set the directory path for
archiving and the archiveaudio=0|1 command to turn On/Off the archiving of
audio. With audio off only text archiving is stored.

Both the startup_macro_delay and the archivetype commands are on a per node
basis. They can be defined and assigned different values in each node on
your server.

Information on version updates is available from a link on the hamvoip.org
web page or directly at this URL -

https://hamvoip.org/local/allstar_version.php


*73 Doug*

*WA3DSP*

*http://www.crompton.com/hamradio <http://www.crompton.com/hamradio>*