PPPproblems

["Ralph M. Deal" <deal@xxxxxxxx>]

Nice to be back in the country after a month in the Netherlands.
Before I left, I tried to install RH7.0 with no success for unknown
reasons.  Unfortunately, I left the 7.0 CDROM in the drive and during my
absence the system of course restarted due to power interuptions.  It had
partially installed 7.0 before bombing and thereafter, could not get back
to 6.2, even via an "update".  So I had to use custom install which let me
keep one of my LINUX partitions but wiped out /usr, /etc, and  home and so
I needed to set up the printer, the screen, the parallel port zip drive,
and the modem connection to MichNet.  

Well, the printer works fine, the screen
is not quite right (dark and bright lines alternating - must have the
wrong X11 settings but I'll get that I think), the parallel port zip not
yet and I'll have to find out which modules to install to make that work
(my notes on the process were of course lost), and I am having a devil of
a time trying to resotre my modem connection.  Now I've used the
control-panel and set up, I think, the dial up connections correctly (the
modem keeps connecting but not fully (ifconfig never shows a connection) -
don't know why) but no connection.   I suspect I've set up the DNS
connections incorrectly.  I'd appreciate someone pointing out to me simple
instructions on how to to set up the PPP configuration(s) correctly!

The sad thing about this experience is that I'm losing my enthusiasm for
introducing teachers to LINUX as a better alternative to M$.  If I have
this much trouble with RedHat, a supposedly simple installation, how can I
expect teachers with little computer experience to work with LINUX?

Looking forward to your enlightment,   Ralph  deal@kzoo.edu