Configuring Kppp to connect to the Internet

A lot of people thanked God (as well as the guys behind KDE) when kppp came to the scene. The entire process of connecting to the Internet using a dial up connection was simplified to a very great extent. I shall show you how to configure kppp to connect to the Internet (connect to your ISP).

Setup :

ISP Name : powersurfer.net

ISP telephone No. : 172355

My username & password : 'namexxx' and 'passxxx'

Procedure :

1. Run Kppp from the K menu or by typing kppp at a shell prompt. You will get a window with a Connect To field along with Login and Password fields. There is also a Setup button. Click on this button and you will get a new 

Configuration window. 

This new window has many tabs.. like Account, Device, Modem...

2. On the 1st tab Accounts , click on New and select Dialog Setup. In the new window that appears titled New Account, type a name for your connection such as Power Surfing.

Add the New Telephone No :172355.

In the Authentication tab see that PAP is selected (My ISP uses PAP.. check with yours..)

In the IP tab & Gateway tab , no changes are required.

In the DNS tab enter the name of your ISP such as powersurfer.net in the Domain Name field

The Login Script, Accounting and Execute tabs require no changes.

3. Now back to the kppp Configuration window on the 2nd tab, Device select /dev/ttyS1 if your modem is connected to the COM 2 as mine is. If you are not sure check Article "Windows COM Ports equivalent in Linux" on this site.. 

Flowcontrol and Line Termination require no changes.

Select the connection speed. Mine is 57600 since I have a 56k mode external modem.

Do not check the Lock File and select a lengthy Modem Timeout.. 99 seconds.. since some ISPs require more time to get connected.

4. In the 3rd tab Modem, change the modem volume as required. If you want to check your modem you can click on the Query Modem button and it should return a lot of results, if your modem is found and is working properly. This is very good way to figure out if kppp has detected your modem and can communicate with it or not.

5. The Graph tab requires no changes. 

6. In the Miscellaneous tab, increase the pppd timeout to 60 seconds ..so as to allow maximum time in case of any problems. Also check Minimize Window on Connect to mimic the Windows default behaviour of the Connect Dialog Box. Show Clock should also be checked since it shows the total time elapsed since you connected to the Internet

Thats all the configuration that needs to be done..

Click on Ok button and you will come back to the original window. In this select Power Surfing in the Connect To field. Enter your Login ID and Password (namexxx and passxxx in my case). If you want to see what happens as you connect you can check the Show Log Window.. but that is not required as such.

Finally click on Connect button. kppp shall dial and connect to your ISP. 

Once the connection has been established this window shall minimize and you can open your browser and start browsing.. The above instructions let you connect to the Internet as the superuser. In case you want to connect as a normal user then read the Note below. 

Note : What is explained above is applicable to the superuser. For normal users there is a different method to setup Internet access. In case u have a standalone machine at your home where you are both the superuser as well as the normal user, there is a very simple way to get your user account to access the Internet. Login as the normal user and then open a shell window. Type 'su' at the prompt . It shall ask your for the superuser password. Enter the password and you shall be granted superuser rights. Run kppp at the prompt. In case it gives you an error about SetUID for kppp then you will have to log in as root and check the SetUID checkbox for kppp file using Konqueror or some other File Manager. This has to be done only once. Log out and login as the normal user run kppp. This time there will be no error and you can connect to the internet. You will be able to browse the net. Once u disconnect then leave the super user (within the shell window that had opened) mode by typing 'exit' in the shell window. Thats all.. Its a work around method but it does no harm since you are the only user on your machine. The actual method involves creating a group and making that particular user a member of that group and allowing that group access rights to the Internet. 

sorce: www.codecoffee.com