Re: Worldnet.att.net via Linux PPP Connection
The following message was posted to the Caldera mailing list a while back.
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Ron Welch welch@cs.lmco.com Phone: (607) 770-3701 Fax: (607) 770-2056
Lockheed Martin Control Systems 600 Main Street Johnson City, NY 13790-1888
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Connecting Linux and AT&T Worldnet Services
AT&T's Worldnet Service uses standard PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) with
CHAP (Challage Handshake Authentication Protocol). While Windows 3.1x or
Windows 95 is required to register a new account, other operating systems
that support PPP with CHAP can be used once an account is registered.
Unless you have already configured your Linux system to use PPP to another
Internet Service Provider, connecting to Worldnet from Linux will take a
little bit of work (recompiling the Linux kernel). I list here a few reasons
why one might want to do this bit of work.
If you have used PPP to connect to other ISP's from Linux, and pretty much
know what you are doing try reading the Expert Notes below.
The Instructions
1. If you have not already done so, activate your Worldnet account using
the installation disks.
2. If you have already successfully installed and used PPP with other
ISP's, skip to step
3. Get a copy of ppp-2.1.2d.tar if your kernel is version 1.2.x, or
ppp-2.2.0e.tar for kernels >= 1.3.x.
4. Follow the directions contained within the ppp package for rebuilding
your kernel with PPP support and for installing pppd and chat.
5. Get a copy of the file WORLDNET\DIALER\REG.INI and use the settings in
the scripts below.
6. Add the following line to the file /etc/ppp/chap-secrets
7. 999999999@worldnet.att.net * "password" *
where 9999999999 has been replace by number on the "Name" line of
REG.INI and password is replaced the value on the "Password" line. The
quotation marks around the password are important to protect special
character that might appear in the password.
8. Create, the following script. I have given mine the name
/usr/sbin/ppp-on.
9. #!/usr/bin/perl
#
# Script to establish connection to WorldNet via PPP.
#
# Look at WORLDNET\DIALER\REG.INI and ATT.SR to get the following settings
#
$DOMAIN="worldnet.att.net"; # DomainName from ATT.SR
$SEARCH=$DOMAIN;
$NAMESERVER1="204.127.129.1"; # DNS_ADDR from REG.INI
$NAMESERVER2="204.127.129.2"; # DNS_ADDR_2
$NAME="999999999\@worldnet.att.net"; # LOGIN
$PHONE="6213400"; # Cambridge, MA # Phone from ATT.SR
$MODEM="/dev/modem";
$resolv = '>/etc/resolv.conf';
open(CONF,$resolv)|| die "Cannot open file: $resolv.\n $! \n";
print CONF "\#resolv.conf - created automatically by ".$ARGV[0]."\n";
print CONF "domain ".$DOMAIN."\n";
print CONF "search ".$SEARCH."\n";
print CONF "nameserver ".$NAMESERVER1."\n";
print CONF "nameserver ".$NAMESERVER2."\n";
$command="/usr/sbin/pppd name \"".$NAME."\"".
" -d connect \'/usr/sbin/chat -t 45 -v ABORT BUSY \"\" ATDT".
$PHONE." CONNECT \"\"\' ".$MODEM.
" 57600 noipdefault modem defaultroute crtscts";
#print $command."\n";
$ENV{'PATH'} = ''; # Make $ENV{'PATH'} untainted
system($command);
Executing this script should then startup up a connection to worldnet.
Give the script a permission of 4755 (chmod 4755 /usr/sbin/ppp-on) if
you want to be able to startup the Internet connection from accounts
other than root.
This script is a bit fancy in that it writes to the file
/etc/resolv.conf the domain name and the nameserver numbers. This can
be handy if you have several similar scripts for different ISP's, each
of which has it's own domain name and nameservers. If perl is not
available, or you want a simpler script, edit /etc/resolv.conf to
contain
domain worldnet.att.net
nameserver 204.127.129.1
nameserver 204.127.129.2
and use the following the following script startup PPP (replacing the
login name and phone number with appropriate values.)
/usr/sbin/pppd name "999999999@worldnet.att.net" -d connect \
'/usr/sbin/chat -t 45 -v ABORT BUSY "" ATDT1111111 CONNECT ""' \
/dev/modem 57600 noipdefault modem defaultroute crtscts
10. Optionally, one may optionally add a script to disconnect ppp. The
following is an example of /usr/sbin/ppp-off
11. #!/bin/sh
# ppp-down - simply kills the ppp-daemon
kill `ps -a | grep pppd | grep -v grep | cut -b 1-6`
Mail and News
The values of NNTP_HOST, SMTP_HOST, POP_SERVER, POP_PASSWORD, and EMAIL_ADDR
can be extracted from WORLDNET\DIALER\REG.INI and used in whatever pop-mail
and news software you choose. The Linux version Netscape 2.0 handles both
mail and news fine.
Ed Kelley's Visual Guide to setting up Netscape 2.0 under Windows 95 may
provide some guidance towards setting up Netscape 2.0 under Linux.
PPP utilities
A number of PPP utilities are available to enhance the use of PPP on Linux.
For example, I use tkppp to give a convenient GUI to start and stop my
Worldnet connection as well as to keep track of hours of usage.
Expert notes
If you are already using PPP to other ISP's there are essentially just two
possibly new things that need to be done. First, since Worldnet uses CHAP,
you must put your username and password (as found in REG.INI) into the file
/etc/ppp/chap-secrets like so: 999999999@worldnet.att.net * "password" *
Secondly, the chat script should only go as far as getting the phone dialed
in. CHAP will take care of passing username and password. For example:
usr/sbin/pppd name "999999999@worldnet.att.net" -d connect
'/usr/sbin/chat -t 45 -v ABORT BUSY "" ATDTthephonenumber CONNECT ""' \
/dev/modem 57600 noipdefault debug modem defaultroute crtscts
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Last Update 5 April 1996
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