BPQ Applications (Wordle)

In BPQ it is possible to run applications.

A nice example of an application is the game WORDLE created by: Doug VE1LG.

This is a game where you have to guess a word of 5 letters.

To install this in BPQ you need to do the following.

  1. Download and install wordle.
  2. Install Inetd, and create a stream for wordle.
  3. Link a service port to Inetd stream wordle.
  4. Configure BPQ and add the application.

 

Download & Install Wordle

First thing is to go to the place where you want to put the wordle game.

For example the path to my BPQ applications look like this:

/home/pd5dj/linbpq/apps

All of my apps are installed in the apps folder.

So navigate to the apps folder, and download the wordle game:

sudo wget https://ve1lg.ca/packet_wordle.zip && sudo unzip packet_wordle.zip && sudo rm packet_wordle.zip

cd wordle

sudo chmod a+x wordle.sh (may not be nessacary)

Wordle is now ready to run.

You can test it by running:

./wordle.sh

 

Install InetD

sudo apt-get install inetd -y

Now configure wordle to start automaticly as a stream.

sudo nano /etc/inetd.conf

3 things are very important now before adding the stream

  • The stream name: wordle
    • case sensitive!, also remember this name you need it to configure a service port later on.
  • RPI Username (must match yours)
  • Path to the wordle app: /wordle/wordle.sh

Now go ahead and create the stream below this line:

#:OTHER: Other services

wordle stream tcp nowait pd5dj /home/pd5dj/linbpq/apps/wordle/wordle.sh

 

To see if Inetd works you can run the following command:

ps ax | grep inetd

The response should be something like the following.

539 ? Ss 0:04 /usr/sbin/inetd
1153 pts/1 S+ 0:00 grep –color=auto inetd

 

Link service port to wordle Inetd stream

Of course, BPQ needs to communicate with a stream.
This is possible by creating a Service port for this stream.

This port can be any free port in the system.
If you have chosen a port number, you must remember it carefully because you will need it to configure in BPQ later.

While configuring the stream we had to remember what the name of the stream was. In this case it was the stream: wordle

The port we are going to use is port 63001, which is a randomly selected free port.

Open the list of all services:

sudo nano /etc/services

Scroll all the way down to:

# Local services

And add the following rule:

wordle 63001/tcp

 

Configure BPQ32.cfg

Open your BPQ32.cfg

And look up your Telnet port configuration.

Important to remember here is the BPQ Port number: PORTNUM

In my case this is port 4. PORTNUM=4

Now we need to create a Command port, which will be important again when creating the application.

Search your telnet port config for the parameter: CMDPORT

If it is not there, it must be created.

The command port we need to create here is the port we previously created as stream service port, 63001
So we create the following:
CMDPORT 63001

Example of my Telnet Port configuration

;—————————————————————————————–
; Telnet Server Port
;—————————————————————————————–
PORT
PORTNUM=4
ID=Telnet Server ; Text displayed by PORTS command
DRIVER=Telnet ; Uses Telnet Driver
CONFIG
LOGGING=1
DisconnectOnClose=1 ; Disconnects channels if Telnet Connection Drops
TCPPORT=8010 ; TCP Telnet Port (normally 23)
FBBPORT=8011 ; TCP FBB Port
HTTPPORT=8080 ; HTTP Web interface port
CMDPORT 63001 ; Wordle Stream port
LOGINPROMPT=Username: ; Login Text showed upon connection
PASSWORDPROMPT=Password: ; Password Text showed upon connection
MAXSESSIONS=10 ; Max TCP Sessions
; CMS=1 ; CMS Enabled 1=Enabled, 0=Disabled
; CMSCALL=PD5DJ-10 ; CMS Callsign
; CMSPASS=XXXXXXX ; CMS Password
CTEXT=Welcome to PD5DJ’s Telnet Server\nEnter ? for list of commands\n\n ; Welcome text
USER=pd5dj,xxxxxxxx,PD5DJ,,SYSOP ; User define: (name,password,callsign)
ENDPORT

 

Now that we have done this, we will create the Application.

Scroll all the way down.
If you already have an application running, an additional one must be created.
A number of things are important to know about the command APPLICATION.

How does this command work?

APPLICATION needs several commands to operate.
I will only explain what the command does in this setup.

APPLICATION 3,WORDLE,C 4 HOST 0 K S

  • APPLICATION
    • This is the paramater command for assigning applications.
  • 3
    • Is the application ID.
      Each application has its own unique ID starting with 1.
  • WORDLE
    • Is the name used to call the application when you are connected to BPQ
  • C 4
    • Indicates on which port this application should be applied.
      In our case the Telnet port, PORTNUM=4, remember!?
  • HOST 0
    • Indicates which Host port should be used.
      CMDPORT 63001, remember!?
      But what does 0 stand for?
      0 is a position in CMDPORT starting at 0.
      Example: We need port 62055 from the following CMDPORT configuration: CMDPORT 62054 62055 63001 63010
      HOST 0 (62054)
      HOST 1 (62055)
      HOST 2 (63001)
      HOST 3 (63010)
      We then need HOST 1.
  • K
    • This means that we have to keep the application open as long as the user is connected.
  • S
    • This means that when the application is closed, the user is not immediately disconnected from the node, but returns to the node.

In this example we assume that you have not yet run any applications, nor have you created a command port yet.
the next Application will then look like this:

APPLICATION,1,WORDLE,C 4,C 4 HOST 0 K S

This is all!

To ensure that everything is installed properly and all services and configurations are taken over, it is wise to perform a complete reboot of the RaspberryPi:

sudo reboot

 

Once everything has started up again, log in to the NODE and start the WORDLE app (it is not case sensitive).

The following should be visible:

*** Connected to WORDLE

Welcome to PACKET Wordle, PD5DJ!