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0248294

Cancelled
Original poster
Jan 10, 2016
713
868
Recently, just for fun, and after having a chat with some people about dial up internet, I figured there should be a way to set up a dial up (or in correct terms, a dial in) server to recreate how for most people the Internet used to work in a small scale. I already had a phone exchange that could be used to generate a dial tone and to connect two modems together, so I started reading up. After reading some Linux guides, just for fun, I took my Sonnet Encore upgraded PowerMac G4 Quicksilver, installed Ubuntu Server 14 (Debian, or any other Linux version would have worked as well, as all that was needed is the command line interface), and followed some guides. I eventually do plan on writing my own, as I had to refer to several guides and forum posts to get it working, as some information was out of date. But, with a little utility called mgetty, as well as the ppp utility, I got it to work, and here is the videographic evidence! :)

The Clamshell iBook is on the second internal line of the phone exchange, and the Quicksilver on the fourth. So, the Clamshell dials 4 to connect to the Quicksilver, and then the (in?)famous dial up sound is heard, and the Quicksilver forwards its Ethernet connection to the Clamshell via the phone line, allowing it to go online. I then browse to a dial up friendly website, countrybus.org, recommended to me by @LightBulbFun, which slowly but surely loads. I plan on eventually redoing this setup on a Transmeta Crusoe based HP thin client, as it's completely silent and is far less power hungry than the PowerMac, for those moments I want to browse the World Wide Web like it's 1999, but it was fun getting this to work with only PowerPC based hardware.
 

galgot

macrumors 6502
May 28, 2015
485
898
Nice !! :) Love it.
I've used the trick of setting up a pppd server on a iMac G5 to connect old PowerBooks through serial cable (via an adapter), works a bit the same. But what I miss is the sound , it's part of the thing :)
Please write a tuto how you set up this.
 

Dronecatcher

macrumors 603
Jun 17, 2014
5,209
7,783
Lincolnshire, UK
In theory then, could this be configured so that if you were mobile with a Win 98 laptop connected to an old Nokia (with built in modem), you could dial home and surf the web?
 

0248294

Cancelled
Original poster
Jan 10, 2016
713
868
In theory then, could this be configured so that if you were mobile with a Win 98 laptop connected to an old Nokia (with built in modem), you could dial home and surf the web?
If I were to wire it in to my phone line, there's a potential for it. I don't know if the VOIP to GSM conversion the phone call goes through ruins the connection or at the very least makes it slow, but it could be possible. Heck, I could pay for a second phone line just for that use if I wanted to.
 
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