EzPPP Script Manual

To create a script with EzPPP, you must begin by creating a new account. Clicking on the "Login Script" tab gets to the script editing window, pictured below.

The script above is for a simple (and very common) standard UNIX login where the PPP session begins as soon as the password is verified.

A line in a script is entered by first selecting the type of script entry from the popup box at the top of the window ("Expect" in the picture above). The text entry box to the right is then used to enter the string, and the Add or Insert buttens can then be used to add to the script list.

There are five different types of script entries:

Expect: Wait until the string specified is received, then proceed to the next script entry.

Send: Send the specified string followed by a carrage-return linefeed. You can simulate hitting the Enter(sometimes called Return) key by sending a blank string.

Pause: Pause for the number of seconds specified. Anything received during a pause is buffered and searched by the next "Expect" later in the script. BUG WARNING! If you type a non-numeric number terrible things could happen.

Hangup: Hangs up the modem.

Answer: Waits for the phone to ring, answers the phone, and waits for the modem to connect.


So let's make a simple login script. First use a terminal program, such as Seyon, to connect to your ISP. Let's say your username is 'bob' and your password is *ugh* 'gandalf'. You see:


Welcome to InternetConnect!  You are caller #38472374

hal9000 login: bob
password:
~^{{{{{}}~

The garbage on the last line is the PPP starting up. Hangup now.

Your script will want to first wait for the last letters you see before you type in your username, in this case "hal9000 login:". To do this you use the "Expect" type of script entry. It's best to use only one word in a Expect, and try to avoid using the first letter in a line, because some fool at the ISP might come along and decide to capitalize it. I personally use the smallest expect sting I can get away with without causing a match too early. The string "ogin:"(don't type the quotes!)is a good choice for this situation. Type it in the text box and hit the add button.

Next, you must send you user name. Select "Send" from the popup box and type "bob" for the string. Hit the add button.

We now Expect the text "assword:", or "word:" would work fine.

Now Send your password "gandalf". This is the end of your script.

What happens next is EzPPP waits for the ISP to send the first PPP packet, and then starts up the pppd daemon.

If you mess up and add something to the script you don't want, just highlight it and hit the "Remove" button.

Please feel free to comment on this document. I'm trying to make it as new-to-Linux friendly as possible.


Last modified February 10, 1997
Jay Painter