wvdial connects, but then ppp gets launched and crashes

[DTi4565459@aol.com]

First, thanks to many who have tried to help me with multiple newbie 
problems.  I appreciate.

Now trying to connect to modem pool of my university ISP.  wvdial connects, 
but then says "Hummmm   Prompt detected" and launches ppp, and then ppp 
hangs, and starts trying all over again.

I found wvdial.conf and #'d out username and password, hoping that program 
would stop after connect, and let me enter name of server that I connect to 
at prompt.  However, wvdial won't even dial after that; because it wants a 
username and password.

So I looked at var/log ppp messages to try to get ppp to work.  It appears to 
be failing because of wrong parity parameters: 7 instead of 8.  Holy smoke, 
if win 3.1 terminal program can do it with no hassle, am I making progress??  
Tried to locate minicom, but I guess Potato distribution doesn't come with 
minicom.

Newbie still needs help.  TIA,  dave