Index Previous Next

Homechoice: Unsupported Operating Systems

How do I connect to Homechoice using Linux?

1) Go to:-

http://www.homechoice.co.uk/fi/support/script.html

You should find enough information there to get you on your way.


2) This is easy. Simply run the following on the command line while logged
in as root (or, use the su command):

# pppd ttyS0 115200 local noauth defaultroute receive-all mtu 1492 connect ''


Note that:
  - ttyS0 is com1: under Linux (ttyS1 is com2...), and note capitalisation
  - the last two characters are each single-quotes: ', not a double quote

Depending on your distribution the pppd executable might not be in your 
path, in which case you'll need to enter the location explicitly.  For the 
most recent versions, you need /usr/sbin/pppd.  (The "connect ''" isn't 
actually needed unless you use the "call homechoice" method described below.)

At this stage, you should have a connection but no name service.  This
means that you can ping IP addresses with numbers, but not names.

Things that may or may not be worth trying if this does not work:

  1. Look in /var/log/messages.
  2. Kill pppd and do a cat /dev/ttyS0 to check that you see garbage
     that looks like PPP.
  3. Do an ifconfig to list your interfaces and do an ifdown on all the 
     interfaces except loopback and ppp0.
  4. Rename /etc/ppp to /etc/not.ppp.

You will also need to configure the servers listed in Section A, in particular
the DNS servers in resolv.conf.  An example resolv.conf is shown below, but see 
also question B6:

   search
   nameserver 10.16.124.20
   nameserver 10.16.124.22

Once you have resolv.conf set up, you should be able to access other Internet 
hosts by name.


(3) Another approach is to create a file called homechoice in /etc/ppp/peers 
which contains the command-line above but without the "pppd" at the front, i.e.:

ttyS0 115200 local noauth defaultroute receive-all mtu 1492 connect ''

However, there's no point trying this until you've got pppd working directly
from the command-line.

Next, make a file in the /root directory called hc with the following:

  pppd call homechoice.

(again, specifying the path to pppd if necessary)


Make this file executable by root only:
# chmod 744 hc


Now run the file from the /root home directory:
# ./hc


The "mtu 1492" in the pppd command line solves the problems connecting to
sites like www.slashdot.org for Linux users and was discovered by Meta Tech
and others.

Of course, in theory you should be able to connect to HomeChoice using any
UNIX based operating system provided that the computer has a serial port.