irlandes
03-25-2002, 11:04 PM
I tried sporadically for over two years to connect to my internet service, attglobal.net. Because of a small but important detail that I didn't know, all my attempts were futile. I have never encountered anyone on attglobal.net who has connected with linux, so I want to post info on the problem for any future users.
I signed up for attglobal.net, then known as ibm.net, since it was the only service at that time which had servers over most places in the U.S. that I went on my travels, and also Mexico City and Puebla. Later, earthlink.net added servers in all these places, and also Bowling Green. OH, and Cordoba, Ver. in Mexico. Also, attglobal.net has no spam control at all, and support has been generally nonexistent in result.
My first attempt to connect with linux was with KPPP and an external modem in Mandrake 6.5. PPPD daemon died unexpectedly, with no clue as why this was so. Ibm.net had a couple tech letters they would send out on request, but these were worthless to someone new with no one-on-one help.
Later, attglobal.net added a tech URL, with details on ppp and slip, with dip recommended as easiest. I spent a lot of time on dip. I need to use an internal modem, since I travel a lot, and carry my Compaq Presario 1236 laptop with me. I downloaded the lucent modem (ltmodem 6.00a1) stuff, and got the drivers working, loading them with insmod in the correct order.
I spent a great amount of time fighting with dip. For example, att support had a lot of " and ' and )and } in their examples, that weren't supposed to be there. To eliminate each one was its own battle. This sort of documenting nonsense is inexcusable.
Minicom would dial; so would dip in terminal mode. But, auto mode seemed to be unable to execute a wait command, not to mention something tough like openlng the modem. Requests for help on several forums got no advice, except repeated claims I just didn't know how to do EXPECTS. Attglobal.net has no expects; minicom shows silence after connect. The computer needs to know what to send. Also, I was told dip is obsolete, and I should use something newer. That would have been great advice, but newer stuff wasn't working. (I do not mean to criticize. There is no way anyone who had never connected to attglobal.net would know how to do it. And, those who responded took their valuable time trying to help. No one can ask more than that.)
Finally, I tried ppp, per attglobal.net info. I think I was getting close, but did not know how to send the init string for the lucent winmodem. (Note just before I connected successfully, I found an sample chat script that might work, but it's moot now.) ATZ ATQ0V1E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 S11=0 +FCLASS=0 is an init string for lucent winmodem that I found somewhere on the Web, but I don't remember where, though it works fine.
When I signed up for earthlink, I followed the LNO KPPP HOW-TO, and connected on the first try. Since earthlink is also PAP authentication like attglobal.net, I wondered why I couldn't get on attglobal.net as well.
##########
After studying the dip script, on a hunch I typed into the userid box on KPPP, not the user id, but the useraccount and user id with a space between them. Like this:
usinet bmcgove
then filled in the password, and made the needed phone number change. Also, I just set DNS and IP to automatic, and on the first try, I was online.
############
Two years of failure because it was not obvious to me, and attglobal.net support either, apparently, that one needed to supply useraccount as a prefix to userid. Have a good laugh if you wish, it won't hurt my feelings. But I not only had no intuitive reason to know that minor if terminal detail. I have never seen anyone, ever, connected with linux by any means, though I read about it on the Web - via Win.
KPPP is really cool. One can set up more than one internet service, and select the one you want at connect time. There is a modem command tab during set up, which lets you send the correct init string. EXECUTE allows me to call a shell script that I wrote, before connect, to automatically insmod the lucent winmodem drivers in the correct order. I suppose I could call kmail automatically after connect, but haven't tried it yet. Or, maybe I could open Konqueror and Kmail before connect, in the same shell script I useto load the modules?
Kmail is sort of like my previously favorite Eudora Pro 3.0, except all differences I have discovered so far, show kmail as superior. One can set kmail to automatically collect mail from more than one mail server during one connect, or select among the choices. I am not sure about signatures. In Eudora, as I move around, I click in a tools menu box, and this changes the signature to tell people where I am. I'm not sure if kmail will do that, or if I need to make a completely different set-up for each geographic location.
I tried Netscape, but like Konqueror better, except I tend to hit the up arrow for BACK, which accomplishes little. I found a bookmark.htm file in Win, and copied it to linux. Accidentally, I did something which moved those zillion bookmarks to both Netscape and Konqueror. I THINK I found IMPORT in the Netscape menu, which opened a box of the bookmarks, then I THINK I found UPDATE in the menu on the box, and the box started going WAP! WAP! WAP! and when it stopped, there was a higgledy-piggledy collection of bookmarks under Bookmark in Netscape. When I opened Konqueror, there was a Bookmark-menu link to Netscape bookmarks. A heck of a mess, but all my bookmarks are there, which was a major worry of mine.
There may be a regular and logical way to move those bookmarks, but I don't know what it is.
As much as I like linux KPPP dialer, browser, and kmail, it may be several months before I make the change completely. I plan, after my next trip to Mexico, to update my laptop to a 20GB HD, and don't want more stuff to copy over into the new HD with Zip. (A 4GB HD with Win98 SE, and apps, and Drake 8.0 with Star Office 5.2 tends to be a bit tight.)
Also, there are things that do not seem to work in WINE. Things such as National Geographic back issue CD's, and World Book, and Streets & Roads. Eudora Pro 3.0 seems to work, though I have not tried it online. Also, the Guia Roji map CD's of Mexico City work great on WINE. But, until WINE works perfectly, I will still be dual booting. Although, maybe someday when more users have linux, these popular items will be ported over??
I signed up for attglobal.net, then known as ibm.net, since it was the only service at that time which had servers over most places in the U.S. that I went on my travels, and also Mexico City and Puebla. Later, earthlink.net added servers in all these places, and also Bowling Green. OH, and Cordoba, Ver. in Mexico. Also, attglobal.net has no spam control at all, and support has been generally nonexistent in result.
My first attempt to connect with linux was with KPPP and an external modem in Mandrake 6.5. PPPD daemon died unexpectedly, with no clue as why this was so. Ibm.net had a couple tech letters they would send out on request, but these were worthless to someone new with no one-on-one help.
Later, attglobal.net added a tech URL, with details on ppp and slip, with dip recommended as easiest. I spent a lot of time on dip. I need to use an internal modem, since I travel a lot, and carry my Compaq Presario 1236 laptop with me. I downloaded the lucent modem (ltmodem 6.00a1) stuff, and got the drivers working, loading them with insmod in the correct order.
I spent a great amount of time fighting with dip. For example, att support had a lot of " and ' and )and } in their examples, that weren't supposed to be there. To eliminate each one was its own battle. This sort of documenting nonsense is inexcusable.
Minicom would dial; so would dip in terminal mode. But, auto mode seemed to be unable to execute a wait command, not to mention something tough like openlng the modem. Requests for help on several forums got no advice, except repeated claims I just didn't know how to do EXPECTS. Attglobal.net has no expects; minicom shows silence after connect. The computer needs to know what to send. Also, I was told dip is obsolete, and I should use something newer. That would have been great advice, but newer stuff wasn't working. (I do not mean to criticize. There is no way anyone who had never connected to attglobal.net would know how to do it. And, those who responded took their valuable time trying to help. No one can ask more than that.)
Finally, I tried ppp, per attglobal.net info. I think I was getting close, but did not know how to send the init string for the lucent winmodem. (Note just before I connected successfully, I found an sample chat script that might work, but it's moot now.) ATZ ATQ0V1E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 S11=0 +FCLASS=0 is an init string for lucent winmodem that I found somewhere on the Web, but I don't remember where, though it works fine.
When I signed up for earthlink, I followed the LNO KPPP HOW-TO, and connected on the first try. Since earthlink is also PAP authentication like attglobal.net, I wondered why I couldn't get on attglobal.net as well.
##########
After studying the dip script, on a hunch I typed into the userid box on KPPP, not the user id, but the useraccount and user id with a space between them. Like this:
usinet bmcgove
then filled in the password, and made the needed phone number change. Also, I just set DNS and IP to automatic, and on the first try, I was online.
############
Two years of failure because it was not obvious to me, and attglobal.net support either, apparently, that one needed to supply useraccount as a prefix to userid. Have a good laugh if you wish, it won't hurt my feelings. But I not only had no intuitive reason to know that minor if terminal detail. I have never seen anyone, ever, connected with linux by any means, though I read about it on the Web - via Win.
KPPP is really cool. One can set up more than one internet service, and select the one you want at connect time. There is a modem command tab during set up, which lets you send the correct init string. EXECUTE allows me to call a shell script that I wrote, before connect, to automatically insmod the lucent winmodem drivers in the correct order. I suppose I could call kmail automatically after connect, but haven't tried it yet. Or, maybe I could open Konqueror and Kmail before connect, in the same shell script I useto load the modules?
Kmail is sort of like my previously favorite Eudora Pro 3.0, except all differences I have discovered so far, show kmail as superior. One can set kmail to automatically collect mail from more than one mail server during one connect, or select among the choices. I am not sure about signatures. In Eudora, as I move around, I click in a tools menu box, and this changes the signature to tell people where I am. I'm not sure if kmail will do that, or if I need to make a completely different set-up for each geographic location.
I tried Netscape, but like Konqueror better, except I tend to hit the up arrow for BACK, which accomplishes little. I found a bookmark.htm file in Win, and copied it to linux. Accidentally, I did something which moved those zillion bookmarks to both Netscape and Konqueror. I THINK I found IMPORT in the Netscape menu, which opened a box of the bookmarks, then I THINK I found UPDATE in the menu on the box, and the box started going WAP! WAP! WAP! and when it stopped, there was a higgledy-piggledy collection of bookmarks under Bookmark in Netscape. When I opened Konqueror, there was a Bookmark-menu link to Netscape bookmarks. A heck of a mess, but all my bookmarks are there, which was a major worry of mine.
There may be a regular and logical way to move those bookmarks, but I don't know what it is.
As much as I like linux KPPP dialer, browser, and kmail, it may be several months before I make the change completely. I plan, after my next trip to Mexico, to update my laptop to a 20GB HD, and don't want more stuff to copy over into the new HD with Zip. (A 4GB HD with Win98 SE, and apps, and Drake 8.0 with Star Office 5.2 tends to be a bit tight.)
Also, there are things that do not seem to work in WINE. Things such as National Geographic back issue CD's, and World Book, and Streets & Roads. Eudora Pro 3.0 seems to work, though I have not tried it online. Also, the Guia Roji map CD's of Mexico City work great on WINE. But, until WINE works perfectly, I will still be dual booting. Although, maybe someday when more users have linux, these popular items will be ported over??