Think, if you will, for a moment about the internet. Were you around before the World Wide Web happened? Those were the days of ftp, gopher, unix mail programs, and such. You needed a special program to view all those different kinds of documents available on the internet. Then, suddenly, along came "the browser" and the World Wide Web. What a change it made! Suddenly, we had a tool capable of handling the viewing of many document and image types. Suddenly, we had a tool that could also handle e-mail. Suddenly, we didn't have to worry about downloading. All of that could be handled by the browser, if we chose to use it. It was an incredible change in thinking. It revolutionized the internet and made it accessable to all of us ordinary folk.

Now, imagine, if you will, a packet radio "browser". This browser might be designed to do some of the things that bedevil regular packet users all the time:

• Keeps track of the network changes so you don't have to.
• Automatically searches out packet mail for you so you don't have to wait for it to download. It also provides mail fetch on-demand if you are expecting messages and a conventional mail-box available to other packet stations.
• Downloads packet bbs bulletins while you are doing other things, so you don't have to sit there and wait for a network that is too slow. It also provides bulletin fetch on-demand if you suspect that bulletins need checking.
• Delivers packet mail direct to another station in your area, bypassing the bbs, if you so choose. But, it will also use a bbs, and works the same way, no matter what flavor the bbs might be.
• Provides an address book with aliases, such as "Washington County EC".
• Provides for standard mail forms that are familiar to anyone who uses internet e-mail.
• Provides varying levels of security and authentication for use during emergencies by emergency centers, shelters, and the like.
• Provides NTS-compliant message structures, if desired.
• Makes possible simple mail distribution among groups, clubs, etc, even if most of the stations do not use PacketScape.
• Works transparently in a wide variety of networks so that the user does not have to be intimately familiar with the details of a particular network. It also means that familiarity with one kind of network does not become a handicap when required to work in another kind of network.
• Provides an "Instant Messenger" style converse, including multi-station round-table and transparent interfacing to network-based converse servers.
• It provides a terminal window, so that you can bypass all of the fancy stuff, if its ever necessary.
• Essentially identical GUI versions operating in Windows, Mac OS (Classic), Mac OSX, and linux so that the user does not have to know, or care, anything about the kind of computer being used.
• Works with a wide variety of TNCs, including software-based ones, transparently, so that the user need not know, or care, about this detail.
• Provides information about setting the radio frequency and other radio details.

This is a pretty grand list of things to include in a packet browser. Is it possible? What might it look like? Lets start with the easy side - bbs bulletins.

Think of bulletin "topics" as usenet groups and a bbs as a usenet server. If you use this part of Netscape, or any of the other browsers, the interface can be virtually identical. One difference would be a topic of "all" that causes all bulletins to be fetched. Here, "subscribing" simply sets a topic filter on a per-server (bbs) basis. For any bbs designated as a server, the program connects periodically (at an interval the user might specify) and downloads the bulletins that meet the subscription list. The bulletins are kept in a database, ready for reading at any time. If desired, ageing criteria might be set to discard bulletins older than the specified age.

Packet mail can be handled, in much the same functional way, as bulletins. Certain bbs stations are set as "mail servers" (just like you would specify a POP server for your internet mail). Individual patcket mailboxes could also be specified as a mail server; there is no reason to limit this process to a full forwarding bbs. The program would periodically connect to the mail servers to check for mail addressed to you. Mail retreived would be put into a database, similar to the one for bulletins, to be available the next time an operator checks. Some kind of alert would indicate that there is mail waiting.

Sending mail offers some different challenges. The form for creating the message and addressing it is one issue. Getting it delivered is another.

If you have questions, comments, or ideas about PacketScape, please do contact me by e-mail

Updated September, 2007