[pri.gnhlug at iadonisi.to: Dialup with RH72]

[Paul Iadonisi]

Figured I'ld try this list to.  Any ideas?

----- Forwarded message from Paul Iadonisi -----

Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 20:37:52 -0500
From: Paul Iadonisi
To: gnhlug at zk3.dec.com
Subject: Dialup with RH72
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X-List-Info: gnhlug at zk3.dec.com; Majordomo 1.92

  With all the recent talk about gpg/pgp and how easy it is to forge email,
some people are surely going to think this message is forged.  Paul Iadonisi
is actually going to gripe about Red Hat. ;-)
  For a moment, pretend I am a newbie Linux user (all right now, stop the
snickering).  I want to configure dialup internet access (I SAID, stop that
snickering).  I don't ever want to see no stinkin' command line.  So I
follow the documentation for getting online (Getting Started Guide, Chapter
Five).  I got through the Internet Configuration Wizard and enter my
provider's name, phone number, my login and password and I'm done.  Or so
I thought.
  The next subsection of the manual talks about the Network Administration
Tool (neat), so I try that.  This tool seems to be more comprehensive, so
I try tweaking various options in the GUI like adding usepeerdns and
defaultroute (like a newbie would really know this), but I don't think
I'm doing anything useful.  I give up, save what I have and try to see
if I can initiate a connection.  The manual says that just launching an
internet application like Mozilla will initiate a connection, but it doesn't.
  I search through the Gnome foot menus and find the RH PPP dialer (gee,
what's PeePeePee, anyhow?)  I try that and I get a list of 'interfaces'
to choose from, whatever they are, but I pick ppp0 since that's what I
set up earlier, or that's the closest to the PPP dialer that I just clicked
on.  I now get a stupid little window with nothing to click on and a right
click just lets me do some more configuration (am I done *yet*?).  The
'connect to ppp0' and 'disconnect to ppp0' are both greyed out.
  So how the *&^^# to do I connect?

====

  Now stop pretending and remember that I'm a Linux guru^W^Wexperienced Linux
user (;-)).  I know enough to type 'ifup ppp0' and tweak the ifcfg-ppp0
file in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts until it works right.  But why all
these fancy gooies if they don't do what they're supposed to?
  Am I really that clueless when it comes to navigating GUIs that I'm doomed
to forever resort to the command line.  Not that that bothers me, really,
I'm just trying to come up with a setup that's not scary for the computer
newbie.
  Or is what I think it is -- that Red Hat needs to do a lot more work to
make this useable for the average non-techie user.  I know it's not their
current focus, but they do seem to be putting a lot of work into the deskop,
so why not get it right?
  Any ideas?
-- 
-Paul Iadonisi
 Senior System Administrator
 Red Hat Certified Engineer / Local Linux Lobbyist
 Ever see a penguin fly?  --  Try Linux.
 GPL all the way: Sell services, don't lease secrets

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----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
-Paul Iadonisi
 Senior System Administrator
 Red Hat Certified Engineer / Local Linux Lobbyist
 Ever see a penguin fly?  --  Try Linux.
 GPL all the way: Sell services, don't lease secrets