The K Desktop Environment

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3. Setting up kppp

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO READ THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ! THANK YOU!

In order to set up kppp, start kppp and push the Setup button on kppp's main window. A new tab dialog will appear.

3.1 Accounts

This dialog will display the accounts you have created. You must create at least one account. The ``Reset Button'' will reset the accumulated cost for the selected account to zero. Typically you want to press this button once a month after having consolidated your telephone costs.

3.2 Device

Modem Device

Select the device appropriate for your hardware.

Flow Control

Select from Hardware (CRTSCTS), Software (XON/XOFF) and no flow control. The recommended setting is Hardware flow control.

Line Termination

Choose the correct ``Enter'' character sequence for your modem. Most modems will use ``CR/LF''. However some modems need a different setting. If you experience trouble while running a script: Play with this parameter.

Connection Speed

Choose from the list of connections speeds supported by your serial port.

Modem Lock File

Enter the path-name of the desired modem lock file. This is typically /var/lock/LCK..modem and you shouldn't change this to anything else unless you know what you are doing. Programs such as mgetty depend on the existence of such lock files and kppp will not work with mgetty if the lock file name is not set correctly. If you leave this edit-box empty, kppp will not attempt to create a lockfile. Make sure that you don't use the option "lock" to pppd if you entered a modem lock file and thus want kppp to lock the modem, since the pppd option "lock" will induce pppd to try to lock the modemdevice. However since kppp already locked the device pppd will fail and kppp will display "pppd died unexpectedly". Make sure that you have permission to write to the lock file directory or kppp will display the error message:"Can't create lock file".

Modem Timeout

This is the time in seconds that kppp waits for the ``CONNECT'' response from your modem after dialing into another modem. (Typically a modem of your IPS's modem pool ) I recommend a setting of about 30 seconds.

3.3 Modem

Modem Commands

This will bring up a dialog which you will need to fill with modem commands appropriate for you particular modem. If you own a Hayes compatible modem you most likely won't need to change any of the defaults. I encourage you however to read about the Hayes command in the Appendix of this documentation. The information supplied there should also be of help in case you experience trouble setting up a stable connection with your ISP's modems.

Query Modem

Pushing the Query Modem Button will induce kppp to ask your modem to identify itself. On success your modems response will be displayed in a dialog. This may or may not prove to be informative depending on your modem.

Terminal

Pushing the Terminal button will bring up a mini terminal. You can use the mini terminal to test your modem and experiment with the negotiation protocol for initiating a ppp connection with you ISP. You no longer need a terminal program such as minicom or seyon.

3.4 PPP

pppd Path

Specify the location of your pppd binary. It is very important that you are sure that this is in fact the pppd binary and not a pointer to a script which invokes pppd. Otherwise kppp will not function properly.

pppd Timeout

kppp will wait this amount of time after running the script and starting pppd for pppd to establish a valid ppp link before giving up and killing pppd.

Automatic Redial on Disconnect

Selecting this will have kppp try to reconnect in case you inadvertently got disconnected while online.

Show Clock on Caption

This will have kppp display the time connected on the caption of the kppp window displayed while being online.

Disconnect on X-server shutdown

Checking this option will cause kppp to terminate the ppp link, disconnect the modem and terminate accounting in an orderly fashion when the X-server shuts down. This is useful if you are prone to forget to shut down kppp on X-server exit or simply don't want to have to worry about disconnecting your connection. If you don't want kppp to hang up the modem on X-server exit, you should leave this checkbox unchecked. Be aware however, that if you have accounting enabled, and you don't want kppp to hang up on X-server exit, you will have a nonterminated accounting entry in you accounting logs, when the X-server exits and kppp terminates.

Minimize Window on Connect

kppp's window will be minimized after a connection has been established. The elapsed connection time will be shown in the taskbar.

Dock into Panel on Connect

If this option is chosen kppp will dock into the panel where it will be symbolized by a small animated icon. Use the left mouse button on this icon to restore kppp's window. The right mouse button will open up a popup-menu that offers to restore the window, show further transfer statistics or close the connection. This option overrides Minimize Window on Connect.

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