Internet connection

[Calum]

what a dumbass i am.
my internet connection knowledge goes as far as the M$ internet connection wizard (sheepish    )!

You fill in the 'phone number of yr isp, and yr login username, then when you connect, you type in yr password. the wizard dials the isp, checks the login and the password, and then any internet using app can go through the isp's connection.
Simple!

how do i do it in linux?
does it suffice to know the phone number, the login and the password?

I have a suspicion that linux' internet capabilities weigh about 20 stone to windows' 3lbs and 6 ounces, am i right? if so, how does it all work. i have actually looked in /usr/doc and not found much to enlighten me.
Also i thought if i asked here that the helpful phrasing you guys usually give would save a lot of time spent decrypting complicated technojargon in those readme howtos even if i did track one down!
Don't get me wrong, i'm off to search next for stuff about it but i thought i'd ask here first.

Also, just an aside, i just got a nameless generic 3 button mouse, and installed it on the windows side using a logitech 3 button mouse driver (windows didn't autodetect, or plug and play it), the middle button doesn't work, but hey, no big deal. so now my ps/2 glidepad, and my serial mouse work simultaneously.
now i installed it using the red hat new hardware wizard in linux, and now it has changed /etc/XF86Config to only have that serial mouse in it. (i think the whole 3 buttons are supported but have not thought of anything that uses the middle button to check it with yet), so now my glidepad doesn't work in linux. not really much sweat, i'm sure i can edit XF86Config to make the glidepad work again, but it will in turn, exclude the serial mouse!!!
in short, anybody got any idea how to get them both to work? i found out about gpm, but am hazy about how to use it to create the effect i want every time linux boots...

Now i am a trier, so i'll keep trying but if anybody happens to have gone down this road already, pls don't hesitate to share yr thoughts pls!
thanks muchly..........

[voidmain]

There is a graphical internet connection thingy like in Windows called "kppp" that works really well if you aren't into the pain of manually setting up ppp.  I think "kppp" is a RedHat developed app but should work on any RPM based Linux without too much trouble. I could be wrong, it may be part of KDE but I don't believe so. At any rate. It had been a while since I had set up ppp/dialup but by mere coincidence I've spent the last couple of days setting up a special purpose dialup machine (making PPP connections from a script and hanging up after key files have been transmitted on a regular schedule, which means I couldn't use kppp for that purpose).

[Calum]

thanks a lot, VoidMain!
what a dumbass i feel like!(i actually read something about kppp in the linuxquestions.org forum after i posted this but it wasn't very explanatory)
well, i will try that out in the next day or two and see how i get on, still it would be interesting to see how it can be done from the prompt... anybody happen to know of a good link to a document that explains this offhand?

[voidmain]

Search for information on "pppd", actually the man page is quite useful (man pppd). You would use pppd in combination with a chat program (not internet chat, but a modem chat program, see /usr/sbin/chat).  In place of "chat" you could use "wvdial", "minicom", "seyon" etc.  But I use "chat".  Usually your pppd config files will reside in /etc/ppp. The chat script and getting PAP/CHAP configured properly are the trickiest parts but once you understand what is going on, that is a piece of cake as well.  When you get everything set up right you can make a connection by executing pppd directly or from a script with a command line that might be as simple as:

pppd call myisp

or I used to set it up so I could use the standard "ifup" and "ifdown" scripts so I could make a connection with:

ifup ppp0

and drop the connection with:

ifdown ppp0

Good luck!

[ April 03, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]