On 8 Nov 1999, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote:
> Omer Zak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > Suggestion for a project for a youngster who is looking for a niche which
> > would give him satisfaction, fame and riches:
> >
> > How about developing PPP configuration scripts for the other
> > distributions?
> >
> > Then the Technical Support would need only to tell the newbie to download
> > the script from their Web site and run it and answer its questions (of
> > course, presented in a nice GUI - which Tk and Python can easily provide).
>
> This is nice, but why lock it to a GUI or to Python which may or may
> not have been installed by the user? And what will Dorit do, being
> restricted to the command line? And we don't want to forget the poor
> chap with a 386 that can't run X, or the luser who misconfigured his
> or bought unsupported hardware.
You are right.
The basic configuration script's GUI varieties should be similar to the
Linux kernel configuration scripts - a version with X-Window GUI, a
version with CURSES based GUI, a version which asks you yes/no questions
and proceeds accordingly (this one would be helpful for Dorit and for
blind persons).
> How about a simpler solution? What is needed is a set of ppp options
> files and chat scripts, and we can assume that the user can edit a
> file somehow. Then it is a matter of writing and testing a set of
>
> /etc/ppp/peers/netvision
> /etc/ppp/peers/actcom
> ..
> /etc/ppp/chat/netvision
> /etc/ppp/chat/actcom
> ..
>
> and spelling out the permissions (well, assuming ppp is installed and
> compiled into the kernel, /dev/modem has to be there, etc, this has
> also be mentioned).
[... rest of technobabble was snipped ...]
The proposed solution is more complicated than what I intended it to be.
The script should check whether ppp is installed, build /dev/modem as
necessary, auto-detect the modem, install all needed /etc/ppp/peers/* and
/etc/ppp/chat/* files, etc.
> anyone who is not a total idiot can fill in the <NUMBERG> <YOURUSER>,
> and <YOURPASSWD> in the chat script, and start pppd as
The script should prompt the user for those details and fill in the chat
scripts. Users who contact the ISP Technical Support for a fee - do so
because they don't master vi and don't bother to RTFM.
> Admittedly, *maybe* some modems need a different set of options
> (are there such that can't deal with crtscts?), but I expect that
> there will be very few basic option sets, enumerable.
Have the installation script take care of all those pesky details. Is it
possible to test the modem and automatically determine whether it supports
crtscts etc.?
> Again, if the user doesn't know how to install PPP or how to compile
> the kernel, we can assume that someone has done it for him. And I
> believe we can expect the ability to edit a text file and to chmod
> according to instructions.
<sarcasm>
Yeah, and the user can also be expected to be fluent in English.
</sarcasm>
--- Omer
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