18.1. Introduction to PPP on Linux

Any Linux system with a modem attached can be configured so that other computers can dial up to it and start a PPP session, giving them TCP/IP access to the system and any networks that it is connected to. This allows it to act like a miniature ISP, and in fact some small ISPs have been run using Linux systems with multiple serial port cards as access servers.

Two separate programs are responsible for different parts of the dial-in service. The first is mgetty, which communicates on a serial port with an attached modem and instructs it to answer the phone. Once the server and client modems are connected, mgetty displays a text login prompt and waits for either a username or the start of a PPP session. A client ...

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