[ 1 March 1998
 The Linux PLIP mini-HOWTO is being converted to HTML or SGML,
 and will rejoin the mini-HOWTO collection as soon as this is done. ]
 -- Tim Bynum <[email protected]> ]

PPP-over-minicom mini-HOWTO                  Winfried Tr�mper <[email protected]>
---------------------------                  v0.0  09 December 1996

You want a menu-driven tool for dealing with PPP? An easy but powerful
database with telephone numbers of your ISP? Want to see what happens
when logging in? Then this mini-HOWTO is for you!


 1. Introduction

       PPP has become the standard network protocol for hooking up
       to the internet via dial-in connections. The associated
       daemon "pppd" ships with a very primitive tool for dialing
       which handles only very simple setups well.
       I will describe an alternate solution on the basis of "minicom".

       This document is a short version of the German "Internetanbindung
       mit PPP" ("http://www.uni-koeln.de/themen/linux/ppp/")


 1.1. The terminal program "minicom"

       "minicom" is a very sophisticated tool for dialing into
       other computers (ISPs or BBSs). It has a fancy colored menu,
       a telephone database and a powerful scripting language. Thus
       it is ideally suited for use in conjunction with "pppd".

       BTW, if you run "/sbin/mgetty /dev/modem" everyone with a
       valid account on your machine can dial in (e.g. using
       "minicom"). But thats another story. Please see the docs of
       "mgetty" for details.


 1.2. Feedback

       I'm only interested in feedback that improves this mini-HOWTO.
       I won't answer general questions about Linux, PPP, SLIP or
       networking.


 1.3. Known bugs

       At the time of writing, there seem to be some bugs in
       "minicom", "runscript" and the method described below:

             - "runscript" does not wait for external programs to
               finish

                       print "blah"
                       ! sleep 10
                       print "blup"

               This script exits immediatly (but not when straced
               ...)

             - "pppd" takes the serial device away from minicom
               (when not fed via stdin)


       It seems that Miquel van Smoorenburg (the author of minicom)
       is too busy to get his fingers on the above. So volunteers
       are welcome.



 2.0. Dialing with minicom

       Many guides on PPP recommend to leave minicom after it's been
       used for dialing. But there is really no need to leave this
       comfortable program ...


 2.1. Configure minicom

       Execute "minicom -s" and choose the menu item "Serial port
       setup". The first entry should be "Serial Device" this is
       the most important setting: the serial device your
       modem is attached to. (Any volunteers to mess up minicom to
       handle several serial devices at once?)
       Press <return> to confirm and <esc> to exit to the initial
       setup menu. Choose "Exit to minicom" and type "atdt99999".
       Your modem should start to dial immediatly and you should
       hear a click when the modem hooks up to the line. Of course
       "99999" is no valid telephone number.


 2.2. Starting PPP manually

       Maybe you've already tried to dial the telephone number of
       your ISP instead of "99999". Did you see funny characters
       on the screen after login in (if not, type "ppp")? They
       result from the "pppd" (or equivalent) started at the other
       end of the line. If so you can try to start the
       "pppd"-daemon on your side and evaluate the log-files
       afterwards.

       To start "pppd" inside minicom, you can define a new
       upload method (figure out yourself) or re-define the
       setting "kermit programm" from the configuration menu
       "Filename and paths":

               A - Download directory :
               B -   Upload directory :
               C -   Script directory :
               D -     Script program : /usr/bin/runscript
               E -     Kermit program : /usr/sbin/pppd file /etc/ppp/mini_options

       Now if you see those funny characters next time you dial
       to your ISP you can press <Alt-K> to start "pppd".

       The rest of this mini-HOWTO deals with automating the task
       of logging in and starting "pppd".


 2.3. Evaluating logfiles

       Although I do not want to explain how PPP is to be configured,
       I give a short tip how to read the log-file. To extract the
       essential information from the logfile "/var/log/debug" (or
       alternative "/var/log/daemon.log") execute the commands

               tail -n 40  /var/log/debug |\
                       grep -E " pppd\[[0-9]*\]:" |\
                       sed -e "s/^.*pppd\[/[/"

       You should see messages like

               sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <mru 296>]
               rcvd [LCP ConfRej id=0x1 <mru 296>]

       which indicate that we sent a config-request to set the maximum
       recieve unit (mru) to 296. The other side refects this setting
       ("configuration rejected"). In this case I just removed the
       option "mru" from "/etc/ppp/options" (see below).


 2.4. Configure a telephone number

       If the above was successful you may want to store a telephone
       number in minicoms database. Press <Alt-D> to pop up the
       dialing menu and use the cursor keys to select "Edit":

               A -  Name                : Xeno
               B -  Number              : 022039697303
               C -  Dial string #       : 1
               D -  Local echo          : No
               E -  Script              : /etc/ppp/login.script
               F -  Username            : ppp-382
               G -  Password            : top-secret
               H -  Terminal Emulation  : VT102
               I -  Backspace key sends : Delete
               J -  Linewrap            : Off
               K -  Line Settings       : Curr 8N1

       This is a sample entry to dial to one of my ISPs. The script
       "/etc/ppp/login.script" is shown below. Two special variables
       are passed to this script: $(LOGIN) and $(PASS) which are
       set to the values submitted as username (F) and password (G).
       This feature makes minicom somewhat flexible because you
       need only one script to automate your login to several ISPs.


 2.5. A login script

       "minicom" starts the login-script after it recieves the string
       "CONNECT". To be precise, "minicom" does not execute the script
       itself but calls the utility "runscript" as a sub-process for that.

       Below is a example I use for my ISPs.

               # v1.0, 20.08.96 Winfried Tr�mper <[email protected]>
               print ""
               print "Automatic login via /etc/ppp/login.script"

               ## uncomment if you need to press enter to get the prompt
               #send ""

               expect {
                       "ogin:"
                       "ogin>"
                       "sername:"
                       "sername>"
                       "NO CARRIER" exit 1
               }
               send "$(LOGIN)"
               expect {
                       "assword:"
                       "assword>"
                       timeout 20
               }
               send "$(PASS)"
               expect {
                       "port"  send "ppp"
                       "Start your PPP now"
                       "}!}!}"
                       timeout 10
               }
               print ""
               print "Now switching into ppp-mode ..."
               print ""

               ! /usr/sbin/pppd  file /etc/ppp/mini_options

               print ""
               print "the command   killall -TERM pppd   terminates pppd"


       The ability of "runscript" to call external programs is used
       to start "pppd". Copy your original options-file for ppp
       to "/etc/ppp/options.ttyS1"  (where you have to replace "ttyS1"
       with the device your modem is attached to) and delete  all
       lines from /etc/ppp/options that are specific to your modem
       (like "connect", "crtscts" or "modem").
       Put the options that should be specific to the ppp-connection
       via minicom in "/etc/ppp/mini_options". One of these options
       should be

               disconnect "chat '' '\d\d+++\d\dATH\r\c'"

       This is a must because "pppd" is fed via stdin and can't hang
       up the modem via "crtscts".


 2.6. Automated dialing on startup

       Use the option "-d" to dial a certain telephone number on
       startup of minicom.
       You may also try

               open -sl -- minicom -d 1

       To throw minicom at another console (see the Consoles-Many
       mini-HOWTO for details).


 2.7. Future extensions

       Because "pppd" is a daemon it is not designed for
       user-interaction or observation. Thats ok. After all, we're
       using a unix-like os ...

       The canonical solution is a backend. Any volunteers to hack
       up minicom?
       Fancy extensions would be:

             - automatic generation of the login-script by watching
               the user dialing in manually

             - automatic evalutaion of the log-files with
               correction of options

             - extraction of messages like shown in 2.3.


End of the PPP-via-minicom mini-HOWTO

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