Re: diald - we don't need no steenkin' diald!

[Bruce Smith <bruce@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> i got PPP running on my system last night. it had been totally frustrating
> as i found everything i did not working. and i had actually RTFM (Read The
> Fine Manual). i eventually learned to look at /var/log/messages for status.
> (did you teach me that?) and found the ppp software was getting io errors
> from the hardware.

Yes, my mini-howto mentions "/var/log/messages".

I want to make one point to be sure there is no confusion.
My mini-howto is only to get "dial on demand" working with PPP.
It assumes you have PPP and IP Masquerading ALREADY WORKING.  
There are other howto's from other people on PPP and IP-Masq.  
I don't want to duplicate all of that in my howto.

This is NOT a beginner's howto, and wasn't intended to be.

> so i built a test floppy with nothing but MSDOS & a teeny terminal program
> on it. i used that to determine that the modem that had been working the
> last time i'd tried it a year back was hosed. (vague memories of a plug and
> play modem came to mind.)
> 
> anyhow, i recommend that every serious Linux installer guy build a floppy to
> test whatever bit of hardware is nettling him.
> 
> i suggest using MSDOS since it is too simple to screw up. my trials and
> tribulations with installing Linux give me an appreciation for the critical
> necessity of knowing *exactly* what hardware is under the hood. i've made a
> notebook where i store the exact model number and manufacturer along with
> whatever resources (io addresses, irq, dma, etc.) it requires. since i buy
> generic junk, it also means i have to figure out what exactly is the main
> chip at the heart of my lash-up.

That's a good point.  Another reason to use MSDOS is because most new 
Linux users are more familiar with it since it's been around longer.

I used to use Dos/Windoze to verify hardware when I first stared with
Linux.  Now that I'm more comfortable with Linux, I rarely do that.

> after you prove that the hardware is working as you expect. THEN it makes
> sense to run whatever configuration software the manual, FAQ, HOWTO or
> whatever recommends to tell Linux what you have just verified.
> 
> In my case, that seems to be what it takes to get things working. (i also
> lost a lot of sleep getting X configured and now it is running pretty
> sweet.)

There is no doubt that Linux can sometimes be frustrating at first.
It is a lot more powerful OS than Windoze, and because of that it
can be more complicated at times.

It has made great strides in the "new user friendly" catagory lately.
It's when you "get off the beaten path", with software that doesn't
come pre-setup and pre-installed, or you want to do something "custom"
is when the fun really begins!   :{)

> another general principle that i am on the verge of believing is that one
> ought to start out thinking about trouble shooting and gaining visibility
> into the problem *before* one embarks on a Linux-install crusade. for
> example, i'm about to rebuild the kernel. i've never done so before. how
> will i prove its stable? how will i prove that my goal (getting
> ip_masquerade working) has been achieved? the most valuable section of my
> SAMBA book has been the section entitled "troubleshooting"

IMHO, the only way to really learn about such things is by doing it.
Follow the instructions, and do it yourself.  If you have problems,
go to www.dejanews.com and see if anyone else has had the problem 
and how they fixed it.

And I really mean "do it"!  Don't just read about it, don't watch
someone else do it, but do it yourself.

I'm curious, how far did you get?  Did you get demand dialing to work?

--------------------------------------------
Bruce Smith                bruce@armintl.com
System Administrator / Network Administrator
Armstrong International, Inc.
Three Rivers, Michigan  49093  USA
http://www.armstrong-intl.com/
--------------------------------------------