Joe(theWordy)Philbrook (2010-04-28 02:21): <...>
I searched the wiki for wvdial and all I got was instruction for configuring non-root access (which is the last thing I want. 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...
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 (stopping the ISP's connect time clock) by switching back to the root shell that started wvdial and hitting ^C... (that is of course after a root shell runs wvdialconf and then edits the wvdial.conf to include the appropriate DNS server, user and password data etc...)
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? 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. wvdialconf has to be run only once. It should ask you for the telephone number, user and password. 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. 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). And are you sure the modem in your laptop is working and recognized by linux?
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? -- -- Rogutės Sparnuotos