- Start KPPP as described above, and you'll see an empty utility with only a few options available:
- In the "Accounts" tab, click "New..." to add an account. In the new window, the first tab called "Dial" has some general information about the entry we're creating. Enter a name (anything you want) in the "Connection Name" box, enter your local access number into the "Phone Number" entry box, choose "PAP" for "Authentication", and decide if you want the password saved.
- In the "IP" tab, choose "Dynamic IP Address" (even if you have things setup with us as static, setting it this way will ensure things work if the IP ever needs to be reconfigured on our end).
- In the "DNS" tab, leave these blank or if your version has a selection for automatic select automatic or server assigned.
- In the "Gateway" tab, select "Default Gateway" and turn on the option to "Assign the Default Route to this Gateway".
- An "Accounting" tab is available for keeping track of phone costs, but settings in that tab are up to you. Click "OK" on the "Edit Account" window to get back to the configuration steps, which should now show the entry you created.
- Back at the Configuration window, the "Device" tab should be set to the desired settings of the device to be used, including using a lock file to prevent other applications from disrupting the connection.
- The "Modem" tab can be used to set the modem volume and init strings, as well as test to be sure you're using the correct device to use the modem. Others like "PPP" and "Graph" allow you to change how the KPPP window acts after it's connected. The "About" tab shows information about the authors. Click "OK" to save the settings of the connection you made.
- Enter your Login ID and Password at the prompts in the main window.
- To dial the created entry, click the "Connect" button in the main KPPP window. For troubleshooting, you can watch the script as it parses by clicking the "Log" button.
- To hangup, click the "Disconnect" button in the KPPP connection window. Stats like IP addresses and data flow can be found by clicking the "Details" button.
Troubleshooting
- KPP requires the "pppd" executable (normally "/usr/sbin/pppd") to be SETUID root and be world-executable ("chmod 4111 /usr/sbin/pppd"). In some distributions (like RedHat 6.1) this is not set but the menu entry mentioned above is a script that will ask for the root password before running KPPP. When installing KDE in older distributions, or to allow all users to dialup, you'll need to set the suid bit.
- Check that the file "/etc/ppp/options" exists but is empty. KPPP uses the 'pppd' daemon which requires this file, but entries here will override any arguments given by KPPP itself. See the help documentation (with the "Help" button on the main KPPP window) for more details about this.
- Check for other applications that may be using the modem or that have placed a lock file on it (usually in the "/var/lock" directory). Also check permissions on the device used for the modem.
