These notes describe the steps to take to set up your SGI workstation to act as a PPP client when dialing in to the ISU PPP pool. Many thanks to Louis Lam for putting the information together.

PPP Client

1. Make a SGI serial cable (either ask ERI or look at man serial for pinouts).
2. Install the following packages:
   For IRIX 5.3:
• eoe2.sw.ppp
• eoe2.sw.uucp


For IRIX 6.2 or later:

• eoe.sw.ppp
• eoe.sw.uucp
3. For IRIX 5.3, install Patch 517. Contact ECSS or the SGI Patch Archive for details.
4. Decide which serial port should be used.
   Usually port 1 is used as the alt console, and port 2 is used for printing. On a non-server SGI, you have the monitor anyway, and the alt console isn't really used, so port 1 can be used to connect the modem.
5. Modify the /etc/inittab file.
   For the port you've decided to use, modify the corresponding line in the /etc/inittab file to turn off that port. For example, if you're using port 1, you'll want to change the line:

t1:23:respawn:/sbin/getty ttyd1 co_9600 # alt console

to

t1:23:off:/sbin/getty ttyd1 co_9600     # alt console


Then use the command

telinit q  


to reset the port.

6. Setup the modem.
   The modem needs to be properly configured first. SGI provides a few scripts for selected brands of modems. These modems are Digicom, Hayes, Intel, MultiTech, Telebit, US Robotics, ZyXEL. For other modems, you may need to compare the SGI-prepared scripts and the modem manual to find out what needs to be done to the modem.
7. Create a uucp Device.
   Add a line similar to the following to /etc/uucp/Devices

ACU ttyf1 null 38400 212 x usr

note that usr is an entry in the /etc/uucp/Dialers file, not the /usr directory.

8. Create a chat script for the modem.
   Add a line similar to this to /etc/uucp/Systems

ISU Any ACU 38400 2684777 "" \r\c ogin:--ogin: Username assword: Password framing

where:

ISU

is a label you pick to identify the name of the uucp device

Any

is the time that the modem can dialout

ACU

is the device type as listed in /etc/uucp/Devices

38400

is the port speed. Use 38400 for 28.8kbps, use 19200 for 14.4kpbs.

2684777

is the phone number to dial (2684777 is the ISU PPP dialup pool phone number).

Username

is your PPP login account name.

Password

is your PPP login password.


The rest of the line is just the chat script. Depending on the PPP server you're connecting to, you may need to modify the chat script. framing is the text string sent out by the PPP server to indicate the connection has been made. On a SGI server, the frame is "starting PPP", on ISU-PPP, it's "Header"
Note: Since this file contains the username and password, it should be properly protected.

9. Create the ppp configuration file.
   Create the file /etc/ppp.conf with the following entry

   ISUPPP out remotehost=0,0
     localhost=0,0
     uucp_name=ISU
     add_route

ISUPPP is the label you pick to identify which PPP server you're calling remotehost=0,0 and localhost=0,0 means the server will supply these info uucp_name=ISU is the name of the uucp device you defined in step 6 add_route means add routing. Lines not starting on the first column is considered continuations of the previous line.
Debugging can be turned on by adding the option debug=X (X=1-5). Details of the commands can be obtained by reading the ppp man pages.

10. To start PPP, run the following command as root

     /usr/etc/ppp -r ISUPPP &

For even more details, look at the following web page:
Configuring and Debugging SLIP and PPP for SGI IRIX