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baslinux - Re: [BL] serial networking and telnet server - the solution

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  • From: sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] serial networking and telnet server - the solution
  • Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 04:17:08 +0000 (UTC)

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

sindi keesan wrote:

You cannot use the same inittab for dumb terminal
and telnet server modes via serial cable.

You can use the same inittab if you use two different
serial ports: one for the dumb terminal, one for TCP/IP.

I don't have that many unused ports. I plugged an external modem into the other one. But I do get your point.


In all cases you need to set the port/line, speed,
and in the case of kermit tell it you are not using
a modem. Other com programs also need to be told
it is a direct connection. Steven likes commo.

Steven likes commo because it is relatively small and
works well as a dumb terminal. commo also uploads and
downloads (which not all terminal programs can do).

In theory kermit can do that but I don't know how over this sort of connection. It is easy when dialed in directly. kermit -is from the sending end and the other automatically receives.


Is there some way to switch back and forth using
command-line instead of inittab to start and end
agetty, rather than editing inittab and rebooting
to switch from dumb terminal to serial network mode?

Perhaps. Try executing agetty directly (with the same
parameters shown in /etc/inittab).
Just type out that line?


Or can I kill the agetty before setting up serial
network with ppp?).

You can kill it, but it will immediately be reborn.
If you look in /etc/inittab, you will see that agetty
is launched with the respawn setting. This means the
getty restarts automatically when terminated

If I don't use inittab but type it out CLI do I omit respawn so I can kill it?


pppd local crtscts /dev/ttyS0 11500 192.168.1.1:192.168.1.2

That line is wrong.
I suggest you use the line in /root/netsetup.

115200. Any other errors? You used clark:lois.

I don't know if it was necessary but I also did
ifconfig ppp0 192.168.1.1 and the same for .2

It's not necessary.

Steven could you write this up as a FAQ?

The most important bits are already in /root/netsetup

The part about securetty was not in netsetup,

It's not needed. Editing /etc/securetty is something
you do on a server. BasicLinux was designed to be a
client, not a server. I realize that some people are
using BasicLinux as a server, but that is not a normal
function of the distribution. In fact, using BasicLinux
as a server is very insecure (particularly if you run it
as root).

I am not worried about this. Is it any more insecure than going online with the server as root in the first place on a dialup connection?
This is handy so that two people can go online at the same time on one phone line. We could also do this with an ethernet connection (we have one 25' cable if we want to be in different rooms).

How would I fix things so user could do more, including write to a file?


or the fact that you cannot telnet with the same
inittab that you need for dumb terminal.

The inittab is not at issue. Your problem was that you
were trying to use a serial port for two different things.
You would get the same effect if you put a modem and mouse
on the same port.

I got the same effect one with dumb terminal and mouse on the same port.
You cannot telnet if inittab is set to use the same ttySx that you are trying to use with pppd.




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