h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Got SuSE Linux 9.0 running fairly happily and got the net stuff setup and so forth.
But I want to set it up to dial my works support dial in. Done the main bit of configuring the number but our works dial up, like many, uses RSA securid and does this via a terminal window. In windows this is simple as you just check the 'Show Terminal Window' option. Is there something comparable to this in Linux? At the momenht it dials up and then gets confused cos it doesn't know what the other end is doing when it tries to get the terminal window secure login!

Sounds like you need to delve a bit more into what your linux box actually does when it dials up to connect somewhere.
On windows what happens when the terminal window comes up? Does it ask for a login and password or something else?

You probably need to look at 'man chat' to find out what goes on under the hood of your connection and how to configure it.
Having a terminal window open and doing 'tail -f /var/log/messages' while you connect will show you what you send to the remote end and also what the remote end replies with. This is useful in conjunction with what chat script was configured and you can try and work out what needs changing to get things working.

Well, in windows it dials in and brings up a small terminal window. But not as in a normal terminal window but more a sort of dialogue thing. It asks for a username, a domain and the securid passcode (which is a number synchronised between their server and a little credit card sized thingy I have that displays a changing number). Once that has been accepted it says so and tells you to close the window. It then does the normal windows authenticating bit. Its an extra level of security. I don;t really know that much about it to be honest! Whats with the reference to chat? Not sure what you mean?

Chat is a program that linux uses to interact with the modem and send stuff down the line depending on what is sent to it.

Not sure at all how you would do what you want to do but I do think there is a way to get there. That way will probably mean you need to know more about what's goining on under the hood to configure it.
I need to think and search the web some more but my brain is being frazzled on a course at the mo.

http://mailto:[email protected][email protected]

Martin Curran: Linux bod
Gordon Hulmes: Internet bod

*Hopes you know to use a 'dial-back' modem - wo*k has more money than you for phone bills.*

Hi Jab,

Nah, I just claim my phone bill back from work. Never that much anyway.

I take it the email addies are for me to send my query to?

Phil, y'see this is where I know my *nix knowledge is lacking. I thought the modem/internetty thing wasx KPPP.

Hi Icotan, yeah the links are for you, sorry about putting http:// before the mailto:

So you claim the cost back eh, well 'in the day' bean counters would moan about paying peoples phone bill, so we circumvented their involvement. It also added security, the wo*k end knew who it was going to dial, from a safe list.

Back then we has specific software under DOS and even specific hardware; we had to have a Tseng Labs ET4000 chipset video card for the 132 character display.

Homewo*king - wave of the future, always on the break. So good luck!

Not knowing something isn't a problem, asking the questions isn't a problem, not asking the question is a problem
You asked the questions Ictoan, so there's no problem so far.

As I now know that you're using KPPP (and no doubt the rest of the KDE suite) I can get you more specific answers.

What I was going on about is the sort of stuff that KPPP automatically sets up for you when you use the wizard. There is a whole set of stuff going on in the background that you don't see, so why should you know it's there.

On the KDE site (http://www.kde.org/ ) there is a whole load of documantation including a handbook on KPPP, which goes into much more detail than you need to just connect to a normal ISP and surf the web (http://docs.kde.org/en/HEAD/kdenetwork/kppp/index.html )
Included in there is information and examples of setting up the connection with the dialog screens rather than using the wizard, which like anything is a more powerful way of doing it but more complex and difficult to learn.
At http://docs.kde.org/en/HEAD/kdenetwork/kppp/account-login-script.html there is somewhere down the page an example (example 4.4) of what you seem to be wanting to do. The page does explain what's going on in the example and why it does what it does and hopefully help you out.

Have you been able to do what you want yet Ictoan?

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. hadn't spotted the previous post so no, haven't done it yet. Been busy doing an entry for the guide and decorating my house. Oh, and working

Will let you know how it goes with the Linux

OK, thought I'd check back to find out if it worked or didn't
Don't do too much of that w*rk stuff will you

Well, been playing with this on and off for a bit now. Found out that even though the works servers don't do call back, they are still RAS servers. And the quotes I get on Linux and windows RAS servers is that no one has them working properly yet. I certainly don't! Anyway, shall continue to play but since the end of this month is the last time I will need to dial in there (our place lost the contract and I am moving to another project) I shan't be putting too much effort in, more an exercise in learning than anything else!
So thanks for all the help on here!