vTunnel - TCP-based Linked Card Emulator

vTunnel can be used to add bridging over the internet to any existing OpenOS software that uses linked cards.

Despite originally being written for Minitel, vTunnel implements a fully-functional linked card emulator and a server that will run under most unix-likes (OpenBSD is currently somewhat flaky, Linux is recommended).

The protocol is documented here

Setup

Server

Requirements

Some form of unix-like
Lua 5.2 or 5.3
Luasocket

Running the server

At present, all you need to do is run bridge.lua, for example:

lua53 bridge.lua [port] [timeout]

Client

OPPM

oppm install vtunnel

Manual

Install vtunnel.lua to /etc/rc.d
Install interminitel.lua to /usr/lib

Running

vTunnel is invoked as follows:

rc vtunnel start <server address>:<server port>

This will create a virtual linked card component connected to server_address:server_port.

Configuration

vTunnel can also be configured to start automatically. First, one would enable the rc service:

rc vtunnel enable

Then, edit /etc/rc.cfg and add a line as follows:

vtunnel = "server.address:port"

Leaving it as default will result in vTunnel connecting to the public SKS bridge.

Minitel configuration

Disable minitel with rc - rc minitel disable
Enable vtunnel with rc - rc vtunnel enable
Enable minitel with rc - rc minitel enable

This will ensure that Minitel starts later than vTunnel, allowing it to see the virtual tunnel component.

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