Stopping X

To stop X and get back to the text-based console, you have to list the last application that was in the .xinitrc file. This last application could be the window manager, an xterm, or just about any application. When you quit X Window by stopping this application, you return to your character- or text-based terminal.

Another way to kill the window manager (and X) is to use the Ctrl-Alt -Backspace combination. This is not the preferred way of doing things because a more graceful way is to have the window

manager be the last program started in the .xinitrc file, and exit from it to stop X and get back to console.

Running X

At this point, you should be able to type xinit at the prompt and have X Window on your monitor. You have two options in starting X: Use the xinit program or use the startx shell

script. The advantage to using the xinit program is that you can easily start X Window. The advantage to the startx script is that you can make modifications to how the environment variables are treated in bringing up X. With xinit, you are stuck with the defaults. In most cases, the defaults are what you want anyway. The xinit program executes statements in the order they are found in the .xinitrc file.

Once you have set up an XF86Config file, you probably want to run X. This is not done by running X, but by running startx. When running it for the first time, use the command

$ startx 2>&1 > Xstartup.log

This command gets a log file of the X startup by redirecting all output from stdout and stderr to a log file, Xstartup.log. If you encounter problems, the information in this file will help

you get a clue as to what happened.

If you encounter any problems, please look at the XFree86 documentation files in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc. These files provide a lot of information on what to do if problems occur. For more information, also look in the FAQs that are mentioned in those files.

Once you are in the environment of the window manager you chose in the .xinitrc file, you have to conform X Windows System's way of moving around. Please see the next few chapters to learn how to work with windows with three window managers: mwm, olwm, and

fvwm.

Setting Up Your XFree86 System

This section covers another one of the more difficult,time-consuming, and frustrating parts of installing XFree86: setting up a XF86Config file.

If you have XFree86 3.1.2 and your graphic card is listed in the Hardware-HOWTO file (see Chapter 1, "Introduction to Linux"), you should use the XF86Config program to do your configuration. This XF86Config program is a comfortable and safe way to set up your system. If your graphics card is not listed, you have some work ahead of you. check the section called "The XF86Config File" in , "Configuring X Window on Linux."

One final check that you should do is to follow the link of /usr/lib/X11/X to the correct server. If you have an SVGA card, this link should be set, via an intermediate link if any, to /usr/bin/X11/XF86_SVGA. If the link does not point to the right server, make it point to the correct server in /usr/bin/X11.

Types of servers in XFree86

Type of server | Name

Color SVGA server | XF86_SVGA

16-color (S)VGA server | XF86_VGA16.

Monochrome server | XF86_Mono

S3 accelerated server | XF86_S3

8514/A accelerated server | XF86_8514

AGX support | XF86_AGX

Mach8 accelerated server | XF86_Mach8

Mach32 accelerated server | XF86_Mach32

Mach64 accelerated server | XF86_Mach64

ET4000/W32 accelerated server | XF86_W32

The flag (-r) for the gzip command tells it to recursively create all names and paths for the files in the tar file. The -c option will send the contents out to the standard output from

where it will be piped to the tar command. The flags for the tar command tell tar to extract (x), be verbose (v), all files while preserving original ownership (o), from the file , designated by

the standard input (-).

To install the binary distribution manually

To install the binary distribution manually, perform the following steps:

* Log in as root or become root if you already are logged in.

* Copy all the release's tar files to floppies or the hard drive, or know their location on the CD-ROM. If the CD-ROM or hard drive is not mounted, mount it now and ensure that you can get to the files from within Linux. Determine from Table 21.2 the name of the server type you need. For example, if you are using a color VGA monitor, you would want to use the XF86_SVGA server; for monochrome monitors including some EGA monitors (Do people still use them?), you might try XF86_Mono. You do not have to choose the server this minute, but realize that you can use only one of these servers.

* Create the directory /usr/X11R6 (don't worry if it's already there).

* Change your current working directory to /usr/X11R6 (cd /usr/X11R6).

* Run umask 022 to make sure all the files are writable.

* Run the following command on each *.tgz file to unzip and install its contents: gzip -rctarfilename | tar xvof -

Installing XFree86

Xfree86 can be installed from the Red Hat CD-ROM using the RPM tool. The release is located in the /RedHat/SRPMS directory and is approximately 35MB. Installation from the CD-ROM or a hard drive is the only practical approach.

If you are downloading XFree from the Internet, the major files needed are listed in Table. . Some distribution files for XFree86 available for FTP.

Filename | Description

X3128514.tgz | Server for 8514-based boards.

X312AGX.tgz | Server for AGX-based boards.

X312Ma32.tgz | Server for Mach32-based boards.

X312Ma8.tgz | Server for Mach8-based boards.

X312Mono.tgz | Server for monochrome video modes.

X312P9K.tgz | Server for P9000-based boards.

X312S3.tar.gz | Server for S3-based boards.

X312SVGA.tgz | Server for Super VGA-based boards.

X312VGA.tgz | Server for VGA/EGA-based boards.

X312W32.tgz | Server for ET4000/W32-based boards.

X312bin.tgz | The rest of the X11R6 binaries.

X312cfg.tgz | Config files for xdm, xinit, and fs.

X312doc.tgz | Documentation and manpages.

X312inc.tgz | Include files.

X312lib.tgz | Shared X libraries and support files.

X312fnt.tgz | Basic fonts.

X312ctrb.tgz | Selected contrib programs.

X312xtra.tgz | Extra XFree86 servers and binaries.

X312lkit.tgz | Server linkkit for customization.

X312fnt75.tgz | 75-dpi screen fonts.

X312fnt100.tgz | 100-dpi screen fonts.

X312fbig.tgz | Large Kanji and other fonts.

X312fscl.tgz | Scaled fonts (Speedo, Type1).

X312man.tgz | Manual pages.

X312pex.tgz | PEX binaries, includes, and libraries.

X312slib.tgz | Static X libraries and support files.

You can find the most recent versions on most Linux sites. You can find the C library (libc) and the dynamic loader (ld.so) in the GCC directory on the same Linux sites.

Introduction to XFree86 and X11

X11 is a windowing system for UNIX clone operating systems. The X Window System with source code was issued by the MIT Consortium along with a set of original copyright notices. The

X11 release on which XFree86.3.1.2 (or greater) is based is X11 Release 6.

The MIT Consortium's work is continued by the X Consortium, which just released an updated X called X11R6. Most commercial releases of Linux already include X11R6.

Some XFree86 servers are partly derived from X386 1.2, which was the X server distributed with X11R5. However, many servers have been developed in the past few years. Although the source and installation trees retain the X386 name--simplifying maintenance of the source trees--there is no connection between XFree86 and the commercial X386 product sold by SGCS. The XFree86 Project maintains technical contacts in an effort to keep changes that affect the user from diverging too radically from the workings of the products. Neither group is involved directly in the workings of the other. In the past, the XFree86 development team had several problems because it was not a legal organization, which made it impossible to become a member of the X Consortium, Inc. Not being a member was detrimental because new releases are provided only for members by the X Consortium before the official release date. This reason, along with several others, led to the founding of The XFree86 Project, Inc.

Installing X Window on Linux

This details the way to install X Window system for Linux. This version of X Window for Linux, called XFree86 Version 3.1.2, is an enhanced version of the X Window System Version 11 Release 6 with support for many versions of UNIX, including Linux. XFree86 supports considerably more hardware than the video hardware supported by the MIT standard release of X Window.

Please note that even though I try to cover all the bases for installing X11 on your Linux system, I cannot cover all the hardware out there for PCs. In other words, this is moot if you happen to have that one video card this version of XFree86 on Linux will smoke! So read all the items here

carefully and see how they apply to your hardware. You could also check , "Types of Linux Available," for the listing of the hardware supported by this version of Linux. Check the HOWTO files for Hardware and Xfree86 for more up-to-date information.You can use the terms X, XFree86, X11, and X Window interchangeably, if you do not care about legal issues. Actually, however, XFree86 refers to the product of The XFree86 Project, Inc.

You can also look at the installation documentation files and other manuals that come with XFree86 in your /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/etc directory. The main directory path is /usr/X11R6 for access to this tree, so that we are compatible with UNIX installations of X11R6. To read these documents, you need a working man program, as well as the groff package for formatting documents. Note that groff is required often to read man pages, so you should install the groff package, even though some distributions regard the groff package as optional.

What's a Linux Release?

A Linux release is a set of files for a complete Linux system. Various changes made by the Linux community are incorporated into each release.

Linux releases are identified by numbers. These numbers are of the form X.YY.ZZ, where X is between 0 and 9, and YY and ZZ are numbers between 0 and 99. Generally, the higher the number, the newer the release. Some release numbers also include pNN, where NN is a number between 1 and 20. These refer to patches to a specific Linux version (a patch is a fix or an update to the software). For example, 0.99p15 would mean the fifteenth patch to the Linux release 0.99.

A release consists of several components called series of disks, or a collection of disks. For example, the X series of disks comes on 10 disks. Each series is referred to by its name. A

name generally tells you who put the software together and what its date is.

Some of the releases of Linux are as follows:

* The Red Hat Software Inc. Release This is a release of Linux from Red Hat Software Inc. The latest version is 3.0.3, which is included on the CD-ROM at the back of this book.

The highlight of the installation package is the Red Hat Packet Manager (RPM). Using the RPM enables you to safely install and uninstall packages. By far, the uninstall capability of the package is the best feature because most upgrades to critical packages require a complete Linux installation. Red Hat Linux is also notable for the ability to install from an X session, assuming the video card and monitor are supported by Linux.

* Slackware

This is a popular release of Linux included with this book's sister books: Linux Unleashed Second Edition and Linux System Administrator's Survival Guide. You can get versions

of this release on CD-ROM from various vendors for about $25. The primary distributor for this release is PatrickVolkerding, who can be reached at volkerdi@mhdl.moorhead.msus.edu.

* The Softlanding Linux System Release (SLS) This release consists of about 23 disks for Linux and 10 for X11. The first disk (a1) must be "rawritten" (using rawrite.exe in Chapter 3, "Installing and Updating Linux") on floppies, and the rest of the images must be put onto

DOS-formatted floppies using the DOS copy command. This release contains all the software package(s) you need to get started with Linux, and for newcomers it is easy to install.

The SLS release can also be found at tsx-11.mit.edu in the directory/pub/linux/packages/SLS and on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/SLS. By snail mail, SLS is available from Softlanding Software 910 Lodge Ave. Victoria, B.C. Canada V8X-3A8 (604) 360-0188

* The TAMU (Texas A&M University) Linux Release This release is supposedly like the SLS release, but it has some different software packages and a different installation procedure than SLS. The installation procedure is the main difference from SLS. A single boot diskette,

which boots directly into an automated installation program, is used. This installation program asks a few questions about the desired configuration and sets up everything, including your file systems, booting from the hard drive with LILO (see Chapter 5, "Odds and Ends") and a simplified X configuration. This release is a full-featured package, including X Window, emacs, networking tools, boot utilities, and a list of sources for all installation programs without any use restrictions. TAMU is available from sc.tamu.edu in

pub/free_unix4.

* H.J. Lu's bootable rootdisk This is a release of the Linux kernel and basic binaries on

a single floppy. It, along with Lu's gccdisk, libdisk, and so on, is good for upgrading or installing a basic Linux system by hand. It's not recommended for newcomers, because there's no real install script; it's mostly meant as an upgrade of the basic system software.

H.J. Lu's bootable rootdisk release is found at tsx-11.mit.edu: inthedirectory/pub/linux/packages/GCC.

* The Manchester Computing Centre Interim Release This is the fabled MCC-Interim Linux release, which was originally the de facto standard Linux distribution. This release has almost all of the important Linux software, such as Slackware, but does not contain emacs or X Window.MCC-Interim can be found on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/distributions/MCC and also at ftp.mcc.ac.uk in the directory /pub/linux/mcc-interim.

Special Requirements for X

Your 4MB of RAM will make X run very slowly. You should have at least 8MB of RAM for running programs in X. You will need another 6MB to 10MB of disk space for the GCC compiler in addition to X if you want to develop applications for X.

Do not try to bring up an Xserver that does not support your hardware. There have been

cases where damage has resulted from pushing the monitor (especially fixed-frequency

monitors) beyond its capabilities.

As far as mice go, Linux supports both serial and Bus varieties. For the serial mice, you can use Logitech, Microsoft, MouseSystems, or compatibles. The following Bus mice are known to work: Logitech, Microsoft, ATI_XL, and PS/2 (aux). There you have it, a brief introduction to an operating system that could very well change the way you program. Now for getting

yourself ready for Linux.

Other Hardware Requirements

Linux will also run on a number of laptop machines (some laptops use certain software interrupts to power the memory, and Linux doesn't work well with these systems to date). The best way to find out if Linux will run on your hardware is just to try it out.

At the time of writing, Linux doesn't run on an IBM PS/2 computer.

There are other hardware drivers currently under development for Linux. To use these drivers, however, you usually have to patch them into your kernel code, which assumes that you already have a running Linux system (a kind of chicken-and-egg problem if you have not already installed Linux). In such cases, you can install whatever Linux you happen to have and then apply the patches with the Linux patch command.

Then there is the issue of tape drives for Linux. There is a working QIC-02 device driver for Linux, supporting Everex/Wangtek cards. There are additional patches for the QIC-02 to support Archive SC402/499R. You can find them in /pub/linux/alpha/qic-02 directory at tsx-11.mit.edu server. (There have been reports of some bugs in the driver, but you can back up and restore.)

Most of the newer tape drivers are all for SCSI drives, so if you have a SCSI tape drive, chances are that it is supported.

Hardware Requirements

Now that you know a little about the good and bad points ofLinux, let's see what's required in terms of hardware.

Unlike some other versions of UNIX for the PC, Linux is very small. You can run an entire system from a single, high-density 5.25-inch floppy. However, to run a complete Linux system, there are other hardware requirements.

Linux, by its very nature, is continuously expanding, and more features are added every day. However, hardware compatibility is limited to that hardware the developers themselves have access to. For instance, if none of the Linux developers has access to the WhizBang Slice-O-Matic T3222 Ethernet card from a no-name manufacturer, then chances are it isn't supported.

On the other hand, there are many generic drivers for hardware, such as the IDE disk driver, which should work with all IDE hard drives and adapters regardless of manufacturer. Of course, the developers of the drivers couldn't test their software against every IDE device on the market, so they assume the IDE standards are followed by manufacturers. If a device doesn't work, it's probably because the manufacturer deviated from the standards, or added features the generic drivers can't handle.

A good place to look on the CD-ROM is in the /docs/howto directory for the Hardware-HOWTO file. This file will list a lot of the supported hardware for Linux.

If your favorite peripheral isn't supported by Linux, all that's required is to write a kernel driver for it. This may be easy or difficult, depending on the hardware and the technical specifications that are available. For example, some hardware developers prefer to write their own drivers for MS-DOS and Windows, and not release specifications for third parties to write their own. Therefore, writing drivers for Linux will be difficult, if not impossible.

The following is a rough guideline of some hardware requirements for Linux. You do not have to follow them directly, but this list should give you a rough idea of what's required:

parts of Linux

* Some of the features on your favorite UNIX system may not be available for your Linux system. Your choice in this matter is to either write the application yourself, convince

someone else to write it, or find an alternative process (the easiest out in most cases).

* As with software, some of the hardware in your machine may not be supported by Linux. Again, your choices are to either write the driver software yourself or get it from somewhere

else.

* You do have to spend some time and effort managing your Linux machine. You do develop a knack for fixing problems from experience. However, only with experience can you learn to recognize common problems and find or develop solutions.

important features of Linux

* Full multitasking and 32-bit support. Linux, like all other versions of UNIX, is a real multitasking system, allowing multiple users to run many programs on the same system at

once. Linux is also a full 32-bit operating system, utilizing the special protected-mode features of Intel 80386 and later processors and their work-alikes.

* The X Window System. The X Window System is the de facto industry-standard graphics system for UNIX machines. A complete version of the X Window System, known as XFree86,

is available for Linux. The X Window System is a very powerful graphics interface, supporting many applications.

* TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) support. This is the set of protocols that links millions of university and business computers into a worldwide network

known as the Internet. With an Ethernet connection, you can have access to the Internet or to a local area network from your Linux system. Using SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) or PPP (Point to Point Protocol), you can access the Internet over phone lines with a modem.

* Virtual memory and shared libraries. Linux can use a portion of your hard drive as virtual memory, expanding your total amount of available RAM. Linux also implements shared

libraries, allowing programs that use standard subroutines to find the code for these subroutines in the libraries at runtime. This saves a large amount of space on your system; each application doesn't store its own copy of these common routines.

* The Linux kernel uses no code from AT&T or any other proprietary source. Much of the software available for Linux is free. In fact, a large number of utilities in Linux are developed by the GNU project at the Free Software Foundation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. However, Linux enthusiasts, hackers, programmers, and recently even commercial companies from all over the world have contributed to the growing pool of Linux software.

* Linux supports (almost) all of the features of commercial versions of UNIX. In fact, some of the features found in Linux may not be available on other proprietary UNIX systems.

* GNU software support. Linux supports a wide range of free software written by the GNU Project, including utilities such as the GNU C and C++ compiler, gawk, groff, and so on. Many of the essential system utilities used by Linux are GNU software.

* Linux is compatible with the IEEE POSIX.1 standard. Linux has been developed with software portability in mind, thus supporting many important features of other UNIX standards.

* Virtual memory support. Linux utilizes all of your system's memory, without memory limits or segmentation through the use of a virtual memory manager.

* Built-in support for networking, multitasking, and other features. You'll see this touted as "New Technology" in systems such as Windows NT. In fact, UNIX (and now, Linux)

has implemented this "new technology" for more than 15 years.

* Linux is cheaper to get than most commercially available UNIX systems and UNIX clones. If you have the patience and access to the Internet, the only price you pay for Linux is

your time. Linux is freely available on the Internet. For a nominal fee of anywhere from US $30 to US $90, you can save yourself some time and get CD-ROM or floppy-disk distributions from several commercial vendors (or from this book).

What Do I Get with a Linux System?

Linux is a freely distributable version of UNIX developed primarily by Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Linux was further developed with the help of many UNIX

programmers and wizards across the Internet, allowing anyone with enough know-how and gumption to hack a custom UNIX kernel the ability to develop and change the system.

UNIX and its clones have long been perceived as large, resource-hungry, disk-devouring systems. Linux is not such a beast. It is small, fast, and flexible. Linux has been publicly available since around November of 1991. v0.10 went out in November of 1991, v0.11 in December of 1991.

There are very few small bugs now, and in its current state Linux is mostly useful for people who are willing to port code and write new code. Because Linux is very close to a reliable and stable system, Linus decided that v0.13 will be known as v0.95.

Formatting a Partition

In BasicLinux, use the following command to place a Linux file system a partition /dev/hda3 and determine if the partition has any bad sectors.

mke2fs -t /dev/hda3

In Debian Linux 2.2 and 3.1 the equivalent command would be

mkfs -t ext2 /dev/hda3

The BasicLinux command mke2fs automatically makes a Linux file system while it is necessary to tell mkfs in Debian that we want a Linux (i.e., ext2) file system.

In BasicLinux you can make and mount a second 4 meg ramdisk (again, solely in the computer’s memory) using the commands

mke2fs /dev/ram2 4096

mount /dev/ram2 /mnt

This will give you practice without damaging the file systems on the computer’s

actual hard disk(s).

Command (m for help)

You should not run this program on anyone else’s computer and you should use use it only to determine the layout of the drives on your own computer unless you have backed up all your files! To exit fdisk without doing damage, enter the command q. The discussion below assumes that you want to modify the partitions or create new ones on a computer on which you plan to install a ‘real’ version of Linux.

Before proceeding further, you should copy down on a piece of paper the above information not only for the disk you are planning to restructure but for all disks on the computer. You can find the total size of the disk in bytes by multiplying 16065 by 512, in the above case, to obtain the

number of bytes per unit (or cylinder), and then multiply that number by the number of cylinders. To find the size of any partition, multiply the number of cylinders in the partition by the number of bytes per cylinder calculated above.

To delete a partition press d and then, when prompted, the number of the partition, where /dev/hda1 is the first partition and /dev/hda2 is the second partition, and so forth. Deletion of any partition marked ‘extended’ in the right-most column of the partition table will automatically delete any partitions associated with the blocks that are in that extended partition. If you are going to set up Linux on the disk you should delete all partitions unless you are doing the initial install from a DOS partition. In that event you should leave as is an appropriate DOS partition that you or someone else should have previously set up using DOS FDISK. Indeed, you can even have on that partition MS-Windows 95/98 which you can install Linux from and then keep and use on occasion for browsing the Web, etc.

To add a partition press n. You will be asked whether you want to add a primary or an extended partition. Press p to create a primary partition. You will then be asked the number to give the partition. Start with 1, assuming that your previously created DOS partition is not partition 1. You will be asked to specify the first cylinder of the new partition—you can usually use the default here and press ENTER. You will then be asked to specify the last cylinder or the size in either cylinders, kilobytes, or megabytes. To pick the last cylinder, just enter the number of the cylinder. Alternatively, to set the size in cylinders and let the program find the last cylinder, enter +nnn where nnn is the number of cylinders. To set the size in megabytes, enter +nnnM

where nnn is the number of megabytes.

Using Linux fdisk

To find out what partitions exist on a computer and to modify those partitions you need to use the Linux fdisk program. To start fdisk enter the command (I again ignore the command prompt)

fdisk /dev/hda

where hda refers to the first hard disk drive on the computer. To work on the second disk drive, change this to hdb. You will receive the reply

Command (m for help):

and after typing m your screen will appear as follows:

Command (m for help): m

Command action

a toggle a bootable flag

b edit bsd disklabel

c toggle the dos compatibility flag

d delete a partition

l list known partition types

m print this menu

n add a new partition

o create a new empty DOS partition table

p print the partition table

q quit without saving changes

s create a new empty Sun disklabel

t change a partition's system id

u change display/entry units

v verify the partition table

w write table to disk and exit

x extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help):

To find out what the existing partitions are on the hard disk, press p. Your screen will appear as follows.

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 789 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/hda1 * 1 382 3068383+ b Win95 FAT32

/dev/hda2 383 550 1349460 83 Linux

/dev/hda3 551 567 136552+ 82 Linux swap

/dev/hda4 568 789 1783215 83 Linux

Telnet: Reading Your Mail

When you are connected to the Web and have the appropriate privileges from your ISP you can use the telnet command log on to your ISP and work as an ordinary user on that machine. If the ISP has the program pine installed you can use it to check your mail. Suppose, for example, that you have a CHASS account. Log into CHASS using the command

/# telnet chass.utoronto.ca

and reply to the prompts with your username and password. To read your mail, enter at the % command prompt the word pine:

/homes/username % pine

It will be obvious how to proceed from the options on the screen and the help menu along the bottom of it. If you are a University of Toronto student or faculty member and have

a UTORDIAL account you can read mail you receive at that address by executing the command

/# telnet log.agent.utoronto.ca and responding to the login prompt with the relevant digits of your library card and typing your password when asked. Then select the option ‘1. UTORmail via Pine’ by pressing the ‘1’ key but do not press ENTER. You will be asked to enter your password a second time. After that you use pine in the same way as in the CHASS account.

Getting Connected to the Internet

If you are thinking about setting up a Linux distribution for yourself, the most important hurdle will be setting up a dial-in connection to access the Internet. The connection will use the Point-to-Point Protocol, otherwise known as PPP. If your computer is hardwired directly to a network, you should have been using Tom’s distribution thus far if it automatically detects your ethernet card and establishes a connection. In Debian Linux you will be prompted to establish this connection in the process of setting up the system. If you have to work through a modem, setting up an Internet connection is less transparent and can be quite difficult if you are dealing

with a university network whose service may be free and not-for-profit, with the result that university personnel have no incentive to support anything but MS-Windows operating systems.

It turns out that an Internet connection can be established rather easily in BasicLinux. After the system loads, execute the command

/<#>pppsetup

and you will be presented with a screen giving a number of options. Choose ‘2. Edit your PPP settings’. You will be prompted to modify a number of files. The first one will appear on the screen as follows:

#!/bin/sh

#

# substitute your ISP's telephone number for 087304484

#

# if your ISP uses PAP/CHAP then remove the last two lines;

# otherwise, substitute your username/password for ichi/xxx

exec chat \

TIMEOUT 3 \

ABORT '\nBUSY\r' \

ABORT '\nNO ANSWER\r' \

'' \rAT \

TIMEOUT 30 \

OK ATS11=55 \

OK ATDT087304484 \

CONNECT '' \

ogin ichi \

word xxx

If your Internet Service Provide uses either the PAP or the CHAP protocol your task is dead-easy. Simply do as instructed and press the Ctrl and x keys simultaneously to save your changes and exit the screen. If your ISP requires a text dialogue, as do the University of Toronto Systems, things can get quite complicated. To proceed, you must be using the version of BasicLinux obtained from my website.