On Sat, 19 Dec 1998, Paul Thompson wrote:

> I have the following setup. A LC475 (full 68040 with 36mb of Ram) with 
> netbsd 1.3.2. This computer is running ipnat and connecting to the 
> internet. I also have a Toshiba laptop with NT, this laptop connects to the 
> NetBSD machine via ethernet and onto the net without a problem. On top of 
> that I have a powerbook with a serial connection via a old laserwriter 
> cable into the printer port of the 475. I can connect using either zterm or 
> pppd to the 475 from the powerbook.
> 
> However: (yes there had to be a catch) how do I run multiple copies of 
> pppd? If I login using pppd over the serial cable, then try to start pppd 
> to access the net it tells me that it is already running, but *IF* I start 
> the internet connection first THEN connect from the powerbook over the 
> serial line it works. This isn't the desired situation because I plan to 
> put my spare modem onto this line, dialin then out on the otherline.
> 
> More detail on the serial line pppd, I'm using an account with has 
> /usr/sbin/pppd as it's shell, In the home directory I have placed a .ppprc 
> file that contains settings such as IP #s. I figured I'm not going to run 
> an ISP so I wont waste my time working out dynamic settings. :-)

Both the pppd which fires up when you come in from the other mac and the
pppd which you want to connect to your isp will use the same .ppprc, and
so they'll probably get in each other's way. From man pppd:

              Pppd reads options from the files /etc/ppp/options,
       ~/.ppprc  and  /etc/ppp/options.ttyname  (in  that  order)
       before  processing  the  options on the command line.

I'd suggest putting all the settings in options.ttyname, and just know
that serial port X will be for going to the isp, and port Y will be for
the other computer to dial into you.

> Also, does anyone have a script/program that can keep an internet 
> connection up? I have a isp that kicks users off after 3 1/2 hours online, 
> doesn't matter what you're doing either. What I would like to do is have 
> the 475 detect that the line went down and bring in back up again.

If you have a dynamic IP address, you can't. You could write scripts which
would get you back on the net ASAP when you get logged off, but unless you
magically got the same dynamic IP address, you're hosed.

With a static IP address, you can use the Dial on Demand pppd kit on puma
to just dial in when needed.

Take care,

Bill