[Oberon] PPP

[eas-lab at absamail.co.za]

I'm taking this thread to the NewsGroup too.
Do any V4 users also use PPP ?

> cg> ... further dial-ups fail to dial the modem !! 
> .... the 'system' is caught in an unanticipated state.
> .... The modem lights react, but no dial tone is available.
> 
>  peter_easthope at gulfnet.sd64.bc.ca wrote:
> I wonder whether the modem simply fails to  
> get initialized properly again?  Also, I still
> don't understand very well what happens to a 
> serial port in this case.  PPP.Log should help.

I can't reset/initialise a modem more than by powering-down.
It could be of interest to use the V24 terminal facility at this stage
to manipulate the modem directly, i.e. not via the 'ppp & dialer'.

This can't be done.  And the reason why , is an example of what
I'm suspecting is the (seldom occuring) ppp problem which I described.

* After a ppp session, V24.Panel cannot be opened - need to first re-boot.
* Apparently V24.Panel wants the port to be found as being closed ?
* I use this: 
PROCEDURE CloseCOM2*;
  BEGIN PrtLine('Close COM2');
    V24.Stop(1)
  END CloseCOM2;
* after CloseCOM2, V24.Panel can open and close port(s), repeatedly.

That the ppp/dial-up sequence does not leave the 'system' in the
reset stage (of the FSM) when it's finished is what I'm refereing too.

With the ppp/dialer, serial-port, modem ... etc, you have several 
nested FSMs !

The 'fail to reset after unusual error' which I described in my
previous post, is analogous to the 'fail to reset for V24.Panel usage
after ppp-usage' which I describe above.

Debugging the 'ppp-hangs problem' is further complicated by:
* now that the weather changed, my system does not fail at the
    previously described critical point. { I could perhaps simulate
     a poor line to get back to the error.}
*  each test run cost an extra phone call charge.

What needs to be done is to ask at each state of the ppp/dialer:
if the line is cut now, will the system fail so as to be able to
restart ?  I.e. will it get back to the initial/reset state ?

The problem is not one of failure, which must be expected, but
rather one of how the failure is handled.

Parhaps M$-Win users accept that re-boot is the solution ?
I don't.


-- Chris Glur.