[Solved] Connecting to Netscape Dial-Up

xiii1408 · 2015-12-19 19:58:42

I need to connect to Netscape dial-up in Linux. I've done quite a bit of research on this without much success, so I'm posting here to ask for any advice, comments, suggestions, or moral support you can offer. Also, I hope anyone attempting to use dial-up in a similar way will find this useful (documentation is slim).

Quick note: Netscape dial-up is owned by AOL. Although I haven't tried AOL, the dial-up procedures are likely identical.

Here's my progress so far:

1) I've purchased a dial-up modem, the TRENDnet TFM-561U, which has great Linux and Windows support. The Linux module, cdc_acm, is in the kernel by default, and it creates a serial device, /dev/ttyACM0, when you plug it in. Applications that use the dial-up just write and read from /dev/ttyACM0. It works great. Windows support is also apparently built into the kernel (using Windows 8).

2) WvDial works well with the modem. It automatically detects it and creates a suitable configuration file for the modem in /etc/wvdial.conf. WvDial sends simple text commands over serial, directing the modem to dial and log in to the ISP. After it successfully logs in, it starts a piece of software called PPPD, which initiates a PPP connection (the data link protocol dial-up uses). That's the basic flow for WvDial: intelligently handle login prompt (kinda feels like Telnet or SMTP), then start a PPP session.

My WvDial configuration looks like this (my password is no longer Hai_Guyz12 ):

[Dialer Defaults]
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Modem Type = USB Modem
Phone = 18655257978
ISDN = 0
Username = benjifun93@netscape.com
Init1 = ATZ
Password = Hai_Guyz12
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
Baud = 460800

3) WvDial dials the Netscape ISP fine and sends the username and password when prompted. However, the Netscape ISP then asks for something extra, which WvDial doesn't know how to respond to. The Netscape ISP asks for a "host." When this happens, WvDial sends the default phrase, "ppp," meaning "I want to start a PPP session." Netscape complains that it can't find the "ppp" host, then WvDial starts pppd and "hopes for the best." Here's what that looks like:

--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.61
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT18655257978
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT18655257978
CONNECT 9600
CCC UQKT2 Welcome to knx2-dial1 
login:
--> Carrier detected.  Waiting for prompt.
login:
--> Looks like a login prompt.
--> Sending: benjifun93@netscape.com
benjifun93@netscape.com
Password:
--> Looks like a password prompt.
--> Sending: (password)
Host: 
--> Hmm... a prompt.  Sending "ppp".
ppp
Translating "ppp"
% Unknown command or computer name, or unable to find computer address
--> Found a good menu option: "translating".
--> Don't know what to do!  Starting pppd and hoping for the best.
--> Starting pppd at Sat Dec 19 14:07:30 2015
--> Pid of pppd: 5338
--> Using interface ppp0
--> pppd: [7f]
--> pppd: [7f]
--> pppd: [7f]
--> pppd: [7f]
--> Disconnecting at Sat Dec 19 14:07:45 2015
--> The PPP daemon has died: A modem hung up the phone (exit code = 16)
--> man pppd explains pppd error codes in more detail.
--> Try again and look into /var/log/messages and the wvdial and pppd man pages for more information.

4) Bummer. It doesn't work by default. But we can load up minicom and enter in raw text to see more clearly what's happening. Here's a minicom session where I just type commands directly to the modem. I put in some comments so it's more clear what's going on.

ATZ        ; Attention, modem!                                                                  
OK         ; Modem says okay.                                                                 
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0      ; Modem, I wish yee to activate these technical settings.                                    
OK                                     ; Okay, dude.       
ATDT 18655257978                       ; Modem, dial this number pls.                    
CONNECT 115200                         ; You're connected with this here Baud rate.
CC UQKT2 Welcome to knx2-dial2         ; Welcome to the knx2 dial-up station!
login:benjifun93@netscape.com        ; What's your login? (I type in muh login)
Password:Hai_Guyz12                  ; What's your password? (I type in muh password)
Host: dunnowut2puthere                 ; What's your host? (I dunno what to type here)
Translating "dunnowut2puthere"         ; (Presumably translating dunnowut2puthere into an IP address)

% Unknown command or computer name, or unable to find computer address ; Host not found!

5) So, very clearly, there's some "Host" I'm supposed to give Netscape. This is non-standard (at least for WvDial), so it's causing problems. However, if I can find out what I'm supposed to say when asked for a host, then it's very trivial to get WvDial to say the right thing. So I need to get creative.

6) Ideas: presumably, each dial-up number may serve multiple ISPs. So maybe the "Host" is the hostname or IP address for my specific ISP's host. Or, maybe (and this would be trickier), it's *my* hostname or IP address, and I'm already supposed to be connected to a PPP session by now and have a hostname or IP address. Either way, got to figure it out.

7) So, there's a proprietary piece of Windows software, the "Netscape Dialer" which you use to connect to Netscape dial-up in Windows. This software connects successfully, so maybe if I figure out what it's doing, I can get WvDial working. I set up a Windows VM in VirtualBox, where I connected the serial device COM1 to my Linux box's /dev/ttyACM0 device through a Host Pipe. This means Windows can talk to the modem through COM1 as a regular modem, and I can listen in on what's happening through the pipe. This is super cool, and I'm glad VirtualBox can do this. The Windows VM connects successfully to Netscape this way, and I'm able to record the conversation. The conversation is here: http://hastebin.com/ibozoruyew.xml.

8) The output is pretty scattered, and I wasn't able to get much out of it. You can clearly see the login, password, and a few other things (WINBLOWZ is my VM's hostname). I tried a bunch of the IPs and hostnames I see in the output, but no dice. Maybe some of you can make more sense of it. This is definitely a login sequence that worked, though.

9) Next, I tried decompiling the Netscape dialer with Hex-Rays. I don't want to post the output here because of copyright and licensing concerns, but it was a ton of C++. I'm still looking through the code, but it's not very promising, .

So that's where I am. I expected connecting to Netscape dial-up in Linux to be very simple, and it appears that it should be, but I can't for the life of me figure out what response to give when asked for a "Host." If any of you have experience with dial-up, are able to decipher the communication log above, or simply have any suggestions or moral support, please post.

For those of you trying to deal with similar stuff, I hope this post is more useful than a lot of the forum discussion and documentation that exists on dial-up. https://xkcd.com/979/

Last edited by xiii1408 (2015-12-21 17:51:54)

xiii1408 · 2015-12-21 03:15:11

Solved this issue today. The fix is surprisingly simple. (1) have WvDial initiate PPP immediately upon connecting and (2) put your password all in lowercase. I am able to successfully connect to Netscape dial-up with the following WvDial config:

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATZ
Modem Type = USB Modem
ISDN = 0
Phone = 1-865-291-6700
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
Username = benjifun93@netscape.com
Password = hai_guyz12
Baud = 460800
Stupid Mode = 1

jasonwryan · 2015-12-21 03:20:55

Nice. Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-12-19 19:58:42

[Solved] Connecting to Netscape Dial-Up

#2 2015-12-21 03:15:11

Re: [Solved] Connecting to Netscape Dial-Up

#3 2015-12-21 03:20:55

Re: [Solved] Connecting to Netscape Dial-Up

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