Creating a Dial-up Connection with Linux

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PPP under Linux guide

Overview:

This document guide assumes a few things:

That you know how to get around in linux,
That you know how to edit files,
That your kernel supports asyncronous PPP (that's standard dialup).
That your modem works, and is supported by linux, and is accessible via /dev/modem.

The process of setting up PPP under linux, while somewhat hard to find out about, isn't all that hard to actually do. It consists of setting up the dialer, setting up the pap-secrets, and chap-secrets file, and the modem.

1. Setting up passwords

PPP requires authentication to build a connection. This is done via your username and password. (Replace username with your real username, and password with your actual password.) Place the following into /etc/ppp/pap-secrets:

"username"	*	"password"
*	"username"	"password"

The switching on the second line is to properly handle reverse authentications from the dialup equipment back to the local computer.

2. Set up the chat dialer

The "chat" dialer is used by ppp to dial up to the pop, and handle the modem handshake portion of the connection. Create the file /etc/ppp/chatscript, and put the following into it, remembering to replace PHONENUMBER with the actual phone number of the pop:

""		"ATDT *70,PHONENUMBER"
CONNECT		""

3. Set up the options file for PPP

Put these commands into /etc/ppp/options:

debug
asyncmap 0
crtscts
lock
defaultroute
modem
user YOURUSERNAME
57600
/dev/modem

4. Set up a connect script for PPP

This can be done by simply creating a file in /usr/sbin/ called "ppp-on" and put this in it:

#!/bin/sh

/usr/sbin/pppd connect 'cat -f /etc/ppp/chatscript'

And after doing that, make sure to make it executeable by running "chmod +x /usr/sbin/ppp-on".

5. Give it a try by running "/usr/sbin/ppp-on"