Using the modem

[mpnash]

For info, I originally set up my father's TiVo using internal modem dialing into pl.net (PlaNet) and that all worked first time. I assume PlaNet use simple plain text (login) authentication, as I didn't need to do anything to the default /etc/ppp-options nor /etc/pap-secrets files on the default oztivo 1.6.2 image.

So now a question...

Which ISP do you intend to use? I have had difficulty in finding a decent isp in NZ which will work (xtra works but too expensive!).

Dad recently ditched PlaNet, so I'm now trying to help him change it to use an existing xtra dialup account instead. Explaining how to do this all over the phone is a little tough (explaining vi commands is a lotta fun!), but we thought we'd give it a go...

We set up hyperterm over serial, and I talked him through changing the /etc/tclient line to contain xtra's dial-in number, user, pass. All looked good, so he rebooted and forced a call. This rang but failed with an 'ISP not answering' type message in the TiVo System Info screen.

So I said look at /var/log/tclient and he described entries something like:

Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Trying to login
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Login is complete.
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Modem dialcode is 1
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: CallStatusReporter: Phase: Calling, Status In Progress
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: CallStatusReporter: sending message "CL|31"
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: CallStatusReporter: Phase: Start_PPP, Status In Progress
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: CallStatusReporter: sending message "ST|33"
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Going to start pppd.
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Pppd:Start: enter
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Pppd::Start: fork()ed (pid = 178)
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Pppd::Start: storing child pid as 178
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Pppd::Start: waiting for PPP - 1
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[178]: Pppd::Start: fork()ed (pid = 0)
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[178]: Pppd::Start: spawning pppd 
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Pppd::Start: waiting for PPP - 2
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Pppd::Start: waiting for PPP - 3
...
Mar 29 21:13:58 (none) comm[150]: Pppd::Start: waiting for PPP - 10

and then some sort of error message, which I guess suggests that it seemed to time out when trying to establish the PPP connection (am I right?). Note, I checked that the xtra dialup account authenticated OK from MSWndows.

So from here, I'm wondering is it as simple as following some of the instructions at:
http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/vie...thBuiltinModem
i.e.
(a) editting /etc/ppp-options to change the line:
user oztivo
to
user ISPUSERNAME
(b) changing the default /etc/pap-secrets file to instead contain the line:
ISPUSERNAME * ISPPASS
(c) I assume we do not need to alter the DialPrefix in rc.sysinit since the modem worked before and the call seems to happen...


AND/OR...
Do I also need to talk him through the tivoapp mod (ouch!) at
http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=1213
From catdog's comment about xtra above, am I right in thinking that the tivoapp mod is not needed for xtra dialup?

EDIT: the tivoapp mod *is* required for NZ xtra!

I guess we'll try changing the ppp and pap files first and see if that works.

Sorry for this lengthy tome, but any info/advice greatly appreciated.
Martyn.