Tenon Intersystems : PPP : MachTen PPP Client

MachTen PPP Client Setup

The first step in setting up a PPP client is to connect a modem to your Macintosh. The recommended procedure is to use the Communications ToolBox to handle the modem configuration. Test the modem connection by using the tip command to dial out:

tip cm.out

If you wish to access the serial ports directly, the Macintosh "modem" port is "ttya" and the "printer" port is "ttyb". The tip commands are:

tip ttya

tip ttyb

MachTen supports hardware flow control for the devices "/dev/ttyfa", "/dev/ttyfb", "/dev/ttycfa" and "/dev/ttycfb". See Serial Device Files for more information. It is very important to select the correct device interface file for your modem.

If you are using the Communications ToolBox, using the "cm.out" line will cause an Communications ToolBox dialog to appear.

Adjust the settings for your modem and dial out.

You should then see your remote system's prompt.

IMPORTANT! While you have your remote system's prompt, pull down the MachTen File Menu and select the last item in the menu.

You will be presented with a standard "Save" dialog.

Save cm.out1 into your dev folder. Use cm.out2, cm.out3, etc. for dial-outs to other phone numbers. To exit the tip program, press the <return>-<~><.> keys, and then press <return> again.

The file /etc/remote controls which lines are accessable to the tip command. The first few lines already have entries. You will have to add more entries if you have more dialouts. The /etc/pppclient script does not use /etc/remote.

Once dial out access has been established, it is time to edit the /etc/pppclient script. You will probabley want to print out this script and study it a bit before making any changes. It contains complete instructions.

In a nutshell, you must set your dialout line to the "LINE" variable and your login account and password to the "CHAT" variable. There is a debugging flag which is initially set to "DEBUG_ON". The pppd program will send many messages to your console when a client connects. This can be disabled by setting the "$DEBUG_OFF" to the "DEBUG" variable.

You should use the tip command to manually login to your PPP server so that you can take exact notes on the interaction before trying to compose the chat script.

To terminate a PPP connection from MachTen, first determine the process number for the pppd program by typing the following command:

ps -ax

Terminate the pppd process by typing the following:

kill -HUP <pid>

where <pid> is the process number of the pppd process.

Running the /etc/pppclient script when a PPP connection is already in place will return status information about the connection.

Note that /etc/pppclient can be run from /etc/rc.local to start up a connection at boot time. It can also be run from crontab to ensure that connections are re-established if the line drops.

The default configuration is for the PPP server to supply the client with a dynamic address. There is a "CLIENT" variable in /etc/pppclient which can be set to a static address for the client.