Request - wvdial

[qb4]

Hello all,
My first post, I hope I'm doing it right.
Would it be possible to make a wvdial.tce for those of us who are stuck with dialup?
I did a search for wvdial, but maybe I am doing it wrong.
If I can get on the net with TC, then it is definitely a keeper, bye-bye Win98.
(no other Linux will run on my machine but TC).
Thanks.

[Jason W]

Hi qb4!
There seems to be some interest in dialup.  I remember when I was happily using a 32k modem.  Though I haven't used dialup in about 4 years, I will pull my hardware out of the attick and see what I can do.  I can sign up for Netzero or something like that and build and test some ppp apps.  Hang in there for a little bit, for it may take a few days or a week to get my feet wet again with ppp, but I will see what I can do to support our dialup customers.

JW

Oh, pppd is available in our tce repository, but I will see if I can't add some GUI utilities to our existing pppd setup.

[Jason W]

Hi qb4!
It's me again.  I built and tested wvdial.tcel and it works fine here to connect.  But here's the catch: my "free" dialup acces is a long distance number that costs probably about $15 or more an hour, so I don't have the best access to test it with.  So I am asking for your help.  Let us know if there are things that can be improved upon in the wvdial.tcel package I am about to upload so we can fix it.  I will work on more user friendly dial up stuff for newcomers and I appreciate your help in providing dialup acces in TC.  I am not seperating the development stuff as I said time is tight, but maybe that can come later.  Thank your for your support of TC.

By the way, it is now the /etc/wvdial.conf file that you enter your settings though it was compiled for /usr/local.  Maybe later can be built for /usr/local/etc/wvdial.conf   


Jason W

[qb4]

Hey Jason,
You are the fastest thing since the RoadRunner, and at Xmas too.. amazing!
Thankyou for that, I have grabbed it and will test ASAP, and report back.

Edit, short time later:  It needs libssl.so.0.9.8. Where can I find that, please?

[Juanito]

It needs libssl.so.0.9.8. Where can I find that, please?

..it's in the extensions section

[qb4]

Juanito,
Humour me please. Remember I'm new here.
Is there another extensions section than the one we are in at the moment?
If so would you please point me to it.
I have done a forum search for libssl without result.
If you mean in the repository, http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tce/ it is not there.

Also there is no wvdial.conf in /etc, it is in /usr/local/bin.
It is an ELF file and I can't edit it with Leafpad or the editor in emelfm2.

Help!

[Jason W]

openssl-0.9.8h.tcel   is the extension that you need to install.  I forgot to mention that when I packaged it. 

there is a binary called wvdialconfig ( I think that is the name, I am on Windows now ) that will create the /etc/wvdial.conf when it is run.

I will put all this into the info file and make a .dep file to automatically install openssl.

Also, upon further examination of docs wvdial seems to also depend on pppd.  I will work out the details this evening.

[kagashe]

wvdial is required not only for Dial-up but also by the people who use mobile phones and PCI/USB Data cards supplied by Mobile operators.

wvdial uses pppd to connect.

[qb4]

OK,

Installed openssl.
Configured wvdial.conf.
Wvdial couldn't find PPPD... had to add a PPPD Path to wvdial.conf.
Dial.. connect.. no /etc/ppp/pap-secrets.. I created one.
Dial.. connect.. PPPD died, exit code 242.

I'm learning fast, but now stuck at this point.

[Jason W]

I will try to better interweave wvdial with ppp, and see what needs to be done to make it easier to dial up.   

[qb4]

Well, I fired it up to try it again, and discovered that wvdial.conf and the other changes I made
didn't survive the power down.
I re-created everything, and saved backups external to TC.

Running it again, got exit code 2, (pppd options error, according to the man page at http://linux.die.net/man/8/pppd).

How to make changes save?

[Jason W]

I am getting the same error.  I tried dialing in with DSL linux using the ppp tool and the connection did not die though I could not send data.  There seems  to be something wrong in there somewhere.  I will troubleshoot and report back when I find some answers.

Backing up the /etc/wvdail.conf would save that file across reboots.  When I get this working I will put more into the info fille on setup and what files to back up.

edit:

Netzero's dial up tool (downloadable .deb version) does not connect either.  Dies just like wvdial/ppp.  So there is something wrong with the account or settings.  I will try other providers and see if I have better luck.

[Jason W]

I have had success with pppsetup, which I used in Slackware when I was on dialup and it makes the whole thing so easy.  I don't know what is the issue with wvdial but I have spent a couple of evenvings on it myself trying to get it to work and I don't want to waste anyone else's time either, so I think it is best to pull that extension and chalk it up to experience.  Maybe later someone else that uses dialup regular can make a wvdial extension.  There are just a couple of things such as device names in the pppsetup script that need adjusting and when I test it out for a while I may upload an extension for it.  It only requires bash and ppp.

My intentions were good but I stuck my foot in my mouth with wvdial.  Pppsetup takes care of the things that wvdial was lacking anyway.

[qb4]

Seeing as the error was related to PPPD options, I tried an options file (12 lines) from another distro.
It didn't make for any different result.
Was worth a try, anyway.

You have my admiration for wasting two nights on this, I wouldn't have.
I hope you are able to get pppsetup straightened out.

May the force be with you.

[Jason W]

A little frustrating as I counted my chickens before they hatched, but not a waste on my end.  PPPsetup works very well and as soon as a config directory issue is decided upon with pppd then I will retool the script, test, and upload the extension.   Supporting PPI mode is what is being worked out with pppsetup to save from having to back up files across reboots.  Hopefully that way ppp setups will persist across reboots without specifying files to back up if one is using mounted /usr/local.   That is the goal.