- G N O K K I -
(C) Hugh Blemings, hugh@vsb.com.au 1999
Last update 26 January 1999
- Introduction -
This is the initial release of bits and pieces of source code that will
ultimately form gnokii, a Linux/Unix tool suite and modem/fax driver
for Nokia mobile phones, released under the GPL.
What you have sitting on your hard drive right now is very alpha, only tested
on two 3810 handsets connected to the Optus GSM network in Australia. Play
around with it, hack at it and see what you discover but please do so
in the knowlege that it comes with no warrany or guarantee - you use
it at your own risk.
At this stage the software supplied simply sets up communications
with the phone and monitors what happens. When messages occur that
are "understood" (eg incoming call) they are decoded into a human
readable form. Messages that are not understood are printed out in
raw hexadecimal form.
- Installation -
Review gnokii.c, make sure that the HANDSET_DEVICE define points
to the right serial port. You'll need r/w permissions on this
port.
Type make, all should build from there, it's very simple code
at present...
- How to help -
You can assist the development process and by making note of any
messages that occur and seeing if you can work out what they mean.
Noting that all testing thus far has been done on the Optus network and by
making local calls to/from the handset, results of calls to/from international
numbers are of interest.
Suggestions on changes to the code are welcome but don't spend too much
time in this area as;
1. It is very much a work in progress, the code I'm working
on now is somewhat more complete than what has been released
but isn't as tested.
2. I already know that it's ugly, and in places represnts poor
programming practice. See (1) :)
- Protocol Details -
The protocol used between the handset and the PC has been worked out
by a mixture of trial and error, monitoring the data that goes between
the 3810 and it's Windows 95 software and a few snippets of information
found on the 'net relating to older Nokia models. More of the protocol
has been investigated than is presently included in the software, including
the messages used to send and receive SMS messages and do actual data/fax
connections. However, they are not yet fully understood and hence have
been left out of the included code for now.
- To Do -
A lot. Ultimately I envisage a kernel driver that is loaded as required
that talks to the handset via the real serial port on one side in the
phone's protocl. The other side appears as a fairly basic serial port
that can understand AT commands and otherwise appear like a modem.
It has been suggested that conceptually at least the driver would behave
a bit like the parallel port IP interface (PLIP)
A command line tool would also be provided that would allow the phone
to be monitored, SMS messages to be sent and received etc. etc. Whether
this operates directly to the serial port or via the driver is unknown,
the latter approach would nessitate making up AT commands I expect.
In particular, I see being able to do something like
% gnokki --send-sms +61262576133 < msg.txt
as being nice...
Clearly, the tools should be written to allow GUI based wrappers to
be put together easily.
Discussion (on the list is suggested) about the form the tools might
take is useful and encouraged.
- References -
The web site for this project (basic though it is) is at;
There is a similar project underway for the 6110/5110 range of handsets,
discussions are underway to see about merging the two efforts.
The serial programming howto was valuable in cobbling together
serial code for both monitoring and the tools themselves. This
is the Australian mirror, there will be one nearby to you too :)
- Credits -
Thanks to Francois Dessart and everyone else on the linux-nokia
mailing list for their interest and input in the project.
- Release Notes -
19990126 Version 0.1.0
Initial release of monitoring tool - first rough incarnation of
gnokii - what will ultimately be the monitoring and programming tool.