Re: ISP does not 'support' Linux
I'll make some comments, in the hope that they'll help.
On Fri, Nov 29, 2002 at 10:35:01AM +0000, Chris Lale wrote:
> Here's an idea arising from the 'Non-Linux-aware ISP: please spoon feed'
> thread. How many ISP's helplines say 'we do not support Linux'? Most
> ISP's seem to have a webpage with connection instructions for Windows
> users. Why not instructions for Linux?
I remember they used to say (at least here in Brazil) that thre are too
many different ways to connect using Linux, and too many different Linux
distributions.
That does make sense, unfortunately: the help desk people are usually
not very technically-oriented; they are just people who can follow a
script (it's cheaper). It'd be difficult to make them learn all different
problems a non-knowlegeable Linux user may have when connecting.
Of course, an experienced Debian admin would probably not call them
except to get essential information (DNS servers, gateway, password,
etc), but what about the guy who's beginning with Linux (or some similar
situation)? What if the guy bought some book (like "Linux Unleashed")
that tells him do do things in a way that's different from what the ISP
would recommend?
It's not difficult for small ISPs to pay one decent admin to answer
difficult questions (and indeed, my ISP is great -- the guy even helped
me set up dialup PPP on a BSD box once). But the big ones just won't do
that.
I sincerely hope this will change. (Although I'm just fine with my
small-but-excellent ISP ;-)
Besides those reasons, I can think of two others, but I don't think
they're serious:
- Linux may not have a good reputation (it's the "hacker's" OS)
- The ISP may want to use a proprietary dialer for some reason
(Detailed accounting? Easier to setup? Some other reason?)
> Some thoughts:
>
> I know that the Gnome applet 'Modem Light' has a button that runs pon
> and poff. Is there an equivalent in KDE?
>
> I assume that other distros use ppp in the same way. Is that so?
Telling them "there's a stantard way to connect and solve problems with
the connection" would help a lot, I think.
I made some comments to the proposed method, and I hope they are useful;
those are the questions I'd ask if I was the manager in charge of your
request.
J.
> 1. You must have ppp installed on your computer. You must use the command line.
How will the helpdesk guy know if pp is installed? How will he help the
user install PPP (in all possible Linux distributions)? How will he know
if the kernel supports PPP?
> 2. Make sure that you are logged in as root. (This is normally achieved by
> switching user with the su command at the command line.)
Maybe there could be a problem here, but if the guy can't su-to-root, he's
got bigger problems than setting up PPP...
> 3. Run pppconfig. Navigate the menus using the spacebar, arrow, tab, and enter keys.
Will it always be available?
Will it always work the same way?
> 13. Make sure that your modem is connected and switched on. The modem must be a
> serial modem and not a 'Winmodem'.
How will the user know?
How will the helpdesk guys know?
On which serial port is it?
Maybe trying to autodetect it (w/ wvdial) would help tell if it a serial modem?
But -- is wvdial (or equivalent) always available?
===
I hope this helps somehow. I'd love to see ISPs being more Linux-friendly.
J.
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