From: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: X11v1.1,GCC2.2.2d,linux.98,ka9q all i need for slip connection?
Date: 6 Oct 92 08:43:13 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

djr48312@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (X X) writes:

>I'm using linux for 2 reasons:  One to actually learn more about OS's and I
>want to use it to connect to my universitys machines via slip connection.
>I have access already and all i have to do is get linux ready.  Ive installed
>x once but only got the grey screen and the cursor, no xterm's popped up.
>I have GCC2.2.2d, and am about to install ka9q this or next wkend.  Is this
>all Im going to need to make this connection?  How am I going to establish it?
>So far I believe you call with something like kermit, at the terminal you
>type slip then your address and passwd. Then you shell out and start your
>slip, then youd run X and Xhost +, then setenv DISPLAY what ever over on 
>the other machine.  Then you could run xterms from over the line.  I have
>the 14.4 modem with the 16550A uart ready and all the memory and speed ill 
>need.  Is this all I have to do to get this started?

I'd get X working on your machine first.  If you can't get xterm to
work locally, it's unlikely to work remotely.  Once X is working, ka9q
is all you need to run X applications over SLIP.  It's hard to tell
you how to make the connection, since it depends radically on what's
at the other end of the phone line.  If you've got a Cisco terminal
server, then "slip" followed by a hostname and password is one
possible configuration (though not the one we use).  If you're logging
into a Unix machine, then there's a quite different procedure, which I
think typically involves a special program "sliplogin".  I recommend
using kermit to start the connection and log in, etc. Once you get the
other end in slip, simply exit from kermit and run ka9q.  When you
have the procedure debugged, I'd write a script for kermit to do the
connection and call it from a shell script.  I have it set up so I say
"slip", it prompts me for a password, and that's it.  Then I run ka9q
and it starts up the network.  The details are unfortunately going to
depend upon your site.

You do not need xhost.  Indeed there is no access control when you're
using KA9Q.  You tell ka9q "start x".  At that point you'll accept any
incoming X connections.  It's sort of like doing xhost +.  They all
look like local connections to the X serve, which is why xhost doesn't
help. I normally do "start x" only when I'm going to want to start
some remote X sessions, and then do "stop x".  KA9Q will print out a
message whenever there is an incoming X connection, so there's no
danger that someone will sneak in without your knowing it, but of
course if they come in you'll still have to figure out a way to kill
them.  Note that "stop x" means to stop accepting new connections.
Existing connections continue to work.

Once KA9Q is running, telnet to the machine you want to do X stuff on
and log in.  Set DISPLAY.  Then escape back to the command level in
KA9Q and do "start x".  At that point you can start using X programs.
With a 14.4 modem I think X performance will be just barely acceptable
if you enable compression on both ends.  I find 9600 painful.  With
MNP5 compression, response becomes OK, though opening windows is still
slow.  14.4 with v.42bis compression (which seems to be present on
reasonable 14.4 modems) should begin to be acceptable.
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux