Modem

1999-04-30: SUSE 6.1 Started with YaST, which seemed to do no more than set the /dev/modem. I manually reset /etc/rc.config to do /dev/cua1, since this was the redhat solution.

Next, copy from redhat:

/etc/resolv.conf (NOTE: in /etc/rc.config: CREATE_RESOLVCONF=no)

search seanet.com
nameserver 209.244.0.3
nameserver 209.244.0.4

I tried using the redhat isapnp.conf, but the boot process complains about "ISOLATE", so I renamed it to isapnp.conf.maybe.

So next I looked for alternatives. Found wvdial. Per its /usr/doc/packages/wvdial docs, I ran the config -- it found the modem at /dev/ttyS1. So I changed /dev/modem to point there. Then read the man page and tidied up the /etc/wvdial.conf. It ran perfectly. I was a bit worried about using Ctl-C to kill it, but that's what authors say, so we'll run it in foreground in a "root" window for now, and Ctl-C when done.

...After more fooling around with permisions, I turned to the PPP-HOWTO, which suggests using sudo. To edit /etc/sudo I needed visudo. Wasn't able to convince visudo to use emacs (via export EDITOR=emacs), so used vi commands. Put pppd and wvdial in the cmd group, and trusted users in the user group. It worked well enough to run wvdial and pppd, but it apparently refused to read the /etc/wvdial.conf file. Stuck with running wvdial from root for now.

Looked at kppp, but couldn't quite get it to work. Need to find documentation on the scripting, compared to the std Linux ppp-on and ppp-off.

...Finally found a combo of permissions for wvdial:

/etc/
-r--------   1 root     dialout       218 Jul 22 22:51 wvdial.conf

/usr/sbin/
-rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        21648 Apr 30 16:42 chat
-rwsr-xr-x   1 root     bin        119092 Apr 30 16:42 pppd

/usr/bin/
-rwsr-s---   1 root     dialout    101668 Apr 30 17:26 wvdial

Only users in the "dialout" group can run it.

1999-12-19 SUSE 6.3 overwrote the wvdial.conf. So I copied the seanet-specific data back. Then added hgg9140 to uucp group in /etc/group.

2000-07-17 SUSE 6.4 overwrote the wvdial.conf. So I copied the seanet-specific data back. Then added hgg9140 to uucp group in /etc/group.

Mail

1999-04-30 Setup Netscape's Messenger. Can send/receive to seanet.com. Tried out gnome's balsa and kde's kmail. Didn't get either completely setup. Not worth the hassle of learning another approach.

2000-08-22 Now using gtk's spruce, with external fetchmail.

News

At first, emacs gnus wouldn't work. Then I realized my default was

(setq gnus-check-new-newsgroups nil)

So commented that out and it ran ok. Did "all groups matching" for ^comp, ^rec, ^sci and selected some favorites, Then uncommented the gnus-check-new-newsgroups line. Later found I could control full lookups via the customization menu on a session basis. So 1x/month, I look for new stuff.

Creator: Harry George
Updated/Created: 2001-01-07

Table of Contents

Modem

Mail

News