To setup kppp under linux to dial into HAL-PC click on the start menu button (In KDE it's the button with the big "K" on it ) on the left side of the taskbar and go to Internet > kppp.

If you are running Gnome for the desktop the start menu button is the one with the footprint on it on the left. In the start menu go to KDE Menus > Inernet > kppp

For all other window managers besides KDE you must have the following installed: QT Libraries, KDE Help, KDE Libraries, KDE Base, and KDE Network. Open up a shell (Command Prompt) and type "kppp &" at the "$" prompt. Luanching kppp from the shell will work for all window managers including KDE & Gnome. During the install if you chose to install KDE along with Gnome then the KDE stuff will automatically show up in the Gnome menu. If you are running a window manager besides KDE or Gnome then you might want to add it to the start menu of your default window manager or place an icon on your dektop.

A message box will pop up about a new help feature. If you don't want this to pop up again then check the box.

If you are running Red Hat there will probably be a message about a "lock" in the /etc/ppp/options file. This will keep kppp from working so you will need to edit this file with a text editor and delete the word "lock" and save it.

Click on the "Setup" button to configure your hardware and setup a HAL Net account.

To setup a new account for HAL Net click on the "New..." button.

Fill in the information for the "Connection Name:" "Phone Number:" and "Authentication:" as seen above. If you want it to remember your password check the "Store password" box. If you have call waiting place a"*70," in front of the phone number to disable it.

On the "IP" tab click the radio button for "Dynamic IP Address"

ON the "DNS" tab enter "hal-pc.org" in the "Domain Name:" box. Enter the number "204.52.135.2" in the "DNS IP Address:" box and click "Add". Repeat for "204.52.135.1".

On the "Gateway" tab click the radio button for "Default Gateway" and check the box for "Assign the Default Route to this Gateway".

Leave the "Login Script" and "Accounting" tabs alone. Click the "OK" button to save the account information.

On the "Device" tab you will need to set up the serial information.

These are the equivalents of the COM ports under DOS-Windows.

COM 1 - /dev/ttyS0
COM 2 - /dev/ttyS1
COM 3 - /dev/ttyS2
COM 4 - /dev/ttyS3

You can also use the /dev/modem device but this is only a link to the real device. To set this up you must create the link in the /dev directory with the following command at the prompt:

$ cd /dev ; ln -s ttyS1 modem

This will assign the modem device to COM 2.

Set "Flow Control:", "Line Termination:", "Connection Speed:" and "Modem Timeout:" to the values above. Check the "Use Lock File" box.

You will need a hardware modem with the ability to manually set the COM and IRQ ports with jumpers. It is possible to set up an ISA Plug & Pray modem but you must set the COM and IRQ using the ISA-PnP utiltiy at boot up. A PCI based hardware modem can also be setup using the "setserial" command at boot up. Check with the manufacturer for Linux compatibility and configuration.

Most Winmodems® will not work with Linux. There is a driver for some Lucent chipset based Winmodems® and more drivers may be available in the future. I DO NOT recomend using Winmodems® because of poor performance and reliability problems. Save yourself the trouble and buy a hardware modem. Linmodems.org has some information about using software based modems under Linux.

Instructions on how to setup Plug & Pray and Winmodems® is beyond the scope of this document. Contact the manufacturer for specific info and check the web for additional info.

ON the "Modem" tab set the modem volume to the middle position and the "Busy Wait:" anywhere from 3 to 10 seconds depending on the condition of your phone line. If you wish to disable call waiting globally for all dial-up accounts click on the "Modem Commands" button and append a "*70," to the end of the "Dial String" like this "ATDT*70,". The "Query Modem" button will send AT commands to the modem and will return a response for each command issued. Use this to see if the COM & IRQ has been properly set and that you have selected the correct device on the "Device" tab.

On the "PPP" tab Set the "pppd Timeout:" to 30 seconds. The rest of these settings are personal peferences. I ask that you do not use the "Automatic Redial on Disconnect" feature in the case you walk off with your computer connected to HAL Net. HAL Net will disconnect after 15 minutes of inactivity. HAL does not want your machine to be dialing in every 15 minutes with no activity on the line. When done click the "OK" button. You are now ready to connect to HAL Net.

Enter your UserName in the "Login ID:" box and PassWord in the "Password:" box and click the Connect button. If you have trouble connecting with your UserName and PassWord try to login with the UserName of "test" and the PassWord of "Verify". If test/Verify works and you can get to the www.hal-pc.org website there is probably a problem with your UserName and PassWord. You will need to contact HAL-PC to get the problem corrected.

You can create a shortcut in the start menu or on the desktop that will automatically connect to an account that you have added to the kppp dialer. By adding the switch with the connection name when executing kppp like this:    kppp -c "HAL Net"     will automatically dial when clicked on. If there are spaces in the connection name then the connection name will need to be put in quotes. The connetcion name used with the command line switch must match the name exactly with what was used when creating the connection in kppp.

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