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Re: [debian-users] minicom or ISP? - No urgency - answer if you have time.



Hal Vaughan wrote:
On Friday 16 November 2007, Ted Hilts - Thunderbird Acct. wrote:
This question is informational and there is no urgency.

I'm not going to cover what has the first response has said, but I have a bit I can add:

When dialing up my ISP in an interactive mode providing user name and
password I get a third prompt with the prompt message "AiiNET".  So
now I get 3 prompts: "user name", "password", and "AiiNET" where
before I just got the 2 prompts "user name" and "password".  The ISP
would not help saying that they don't support Linux.

Do NOT EVER tell your ISP you're using Linux. Find whatever way you can avoid saying that. Tell them you're using an old DOS program or something. You could say you're using it as a requirement for your job. Yes, it's a lie, and I don't advocate that, but never tell any ISP you're using Linux. That's their immediate excuse to not help you and for everything to be your fault.


...Has anyone
else run into this situation where the "AiiNET" prompt occurs during
manual dial up? In the following paragraph I provide more detail.

Have you tried just asking them what to type in response to this prompt? Don't specify an OS or anything else. Again, you're just using a DOS prompt.

If that doesn't work, do you have any way of connecting with a Windows system and monitoring your transmission? Perhaps using something like Ethereal? (Does Ethereal watch dial up? Don't remember.) That might let you intercept what their software uses as a response.
I use a package called "minicom" on a Linux machine running Slackware
which is my lan gateway machine to the Internet via dial up to my
ISP. I don't think "minicom" is a debian package (but it may be by
some other name)..

Minicom is one of the best term programs out there. I used it a lot in testing and developing the software I use for the business I run. It is a Debian package and is a package in most distros. This is not a Minicom question. It's a "What response to I send to the AiiNet prompt?" question.

Have you tried just hitting "enter" and seeing what happens? What else do you use for connecting? Do you use a program like KPPP without any problem? If so, can you monitor what goes through the device and see what you get?

While Minicom is a great program, remember that dial up ISPs don't expect a text terminal. They expect a program that responds to their prompts, then establishes a PPP or TCP/IP connection (it's been so long I don't remember what they use!), so even if you respond to this prompt, you probably won't get anything useful to Minicom.

Hal

Thanks for your respnse. You more or less agree that the AiiNET prompt is coming from the ISP. The ISP technical support department head told me they have never seen the prompt and have no idea at all what it could be. In other words, they simply don't know and don't care to know and as you said they blame Linux for the problem.

BTW: Isn't it some form of discrimination to provide ISP services and support for Windozzzzz and Mac while turning a blind eye to Linux??? That's how my ISP behaves. I think that in Europe it is apparently law for computer manufacturers not to favor one OS over all the others? Also, I think in Europe it is against the law for a computer manufacturer to pre-load only Windozzzzz. So this is very much the same kind of problem with ISP providers -- would you agree?

Thanks also for all the advice, most of the tracking packages you mentioned are knew to me. Mostly though, I just wanted to be sure from where the "AiiNET" was originating.

Ted




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