It would appear that on Apr 28, Rogutės Sparnuotos did say:
Joe(theWordy)Philbrook (2010-04-28 02:21): <...>
When/if connected via dialup, I'll be paying by the connected hour, so I don't want anyone I don't trust with the root password to be able to use it...
Offtopic: This "anyone I don't trust with the root password" sounds strange to me. There should be only one root...
<Not so off topic...> ;-7 I did specifically bring up the concept of trusting someone with root access (and I wasn't referring to a limited sudoer) But be that as it may, while I can imagine a few circumstances involving more than one admin with root privileges, in practice I've only got my personal Linux box. And since my life partner isn't very computer literate, that means I'm the only one I trust with my root password, so I don't want anybody but me jacking up my back-up isp bill...
I'm hoping that All I'll need to do is open a terminal window, su to a root shell, type wvdial Then open a browser or email client in another window. And to be able to quickly pull the plug on the connection <...>
Actualy I'm thinking I should maybe get in the habit of doing that via $ su -c wvdial
Do I need to worry about wvdial and/or other dial-up ppp connection messing with the broadband Ethernet setup?
ISPs usualy charge per minute, so there is no need to be in a hurry pulling the plug. Are you really getting nervous when thinking about dial-up, or am I imagining things?
Not at all. It's been so long since I bothered that I've forgotten almost everything I ever knew about Linux dialup except about how much cooperation I'll get from the ISP's tech dept. right after a let the word "Linux" slip past my lips... So yeah, when you add to that a shoe string budget, I'm willing to admit I'm just a tad nervous.
wvdial will not touch any of your network related configs (only the ppp ones), so if you will not use any other tools, your broadband will be safe. At least after reboot.
Good. Then I can afford 'some' empirical testing after all. ;-)
From what I've found online, and what little I can remember, wvdial should be available for just about any distro. So if I keep it's set up fairly simple, I should be able to clone a successful implementation to the other Linux installed on my multi-boot laptop.
So yeah, as long as you don't count set-up utilities such as wvdialconf, and if need be, minicom, I don't plan on using any other dialup tools...
wvdialconf has to be run only once. It should ask you for the telephone number, user and password.
That's good to know. From what I read in the man page I was under the impression that it would only configure the modem part of the wvdial.conf and that I'd have to manually edit in the login data...
Later, to connect, you simply run wvdial and wait for the connection (it will fetch the DNS settings, set the default gateway etc.). Then pressing ^C, it will disconnect and change the settings back to what they were.
So then, I won't need to specify the DNS, AND it will restore any such existing settings. (I knew that wvdial was the one for me...)
But, if you do not test dialing-up at home, it is likely that something will go wrong when you try connecting at your sister's (and there won't be any internet connection to seek help).
Absolutely. That was my plan. Else I wouldn't have worried about some brain flatulence causing me to accidentally have the Ethernet cable connected, while wvdial was active.
And are you sure the modem in your laptop is working and recognized by linux?
Not yet! :-( But if I can't get it working I've got my old external serial modem in one of the assorted junk boxes that clutter up my office. What I won't find though, is the manual for it <sigh> (I'd much prefer to be able to use the built in... (fewer things to lug around and all that)
Could someone point me at the URLs of the other 'dialup' related documents that are supposed to be in the Arch Linux Wiki (since searching for 'dialup' didn't help me)?
Did you search for ppp?
Doh! And to think I didn't think of that. I knew I suffered from CRS... But now I'm thinking it must be getting worse... Actually though, I've never been particularly skillful at coming up with good search strings. But I still should have thought of that one. Thanks! -- | ~^~ ~^~ | <*> <*> Joe (theWordy) Philbrook | ^ J(tWdy)P | \___/ <<jtwdyp@ttlc.net>>