Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ICAEN.UIOWA.EDU!dbfunk
From: dbfunk@ICAEN.UIOWA.EDU (David B. Funk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: siologin_modem problem, Help
Message-ID: <8902010530.AA01015@icaen.uiowa.edu>
Date: 1 Feb 89 04:03:27 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: Iowa Computer Aided Engineering Network, University of Iowa
Lines: 51

WRT posting <18300002@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu> from Leland Ray <lray@civilgate.ce.uiuc.edu>
about the siologin problem from <133000001@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>

> In the configuration file for siomonit, rip out the "-dialin." The
> resulting login prompt will be much closer to (though not exactly)
> what you want and expect.

Yes, this will cure the problem of being bombed out by line access
code entry failures, but it will introduce a new set of problems
if you really have a modem connected to the Apollo. You will lose
the modem control action of the DTR/DCD lines.

When a modem is connected to an Apollo and the "-dialin" attribute
is set in the "siomonit_file" then the DTR & DCD lines are used
to control the connection. The Apollo will assert DTR, which is a
"go-ahead" signal to the modem.  When the modem detects a caller's
carrier it asserts DCD, this tells the Apollo to initiate a login
sequence. (This is why you don't need to bang on the "return" key.)
If the user gives a "logout" command, then the Apollo drops DTR as part
of its logging out process. When the modem sees DTR drop, it "hangs up
the phone" and breaks the connection. If the user just hangs up the
phone, with out giving a "logout", the modem drops DCD. When the Apollo
sees this change, it gives the user's shell a stop fault to make it
exit, freeing the port for the next user to login.

Without "-dialin", if a user's call gets disconnected (due to a hangup
or noise on the line) the login shell is still left active. Then the
next user to call in will be connected to the previous user's shell.

The ideal answer would be to provide DTR/DCD modem control without the
line access code checking. The current version...

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!! I've just found what you're looking for!!
There is an undocumented option to siologin called "-access_retry"
that lets you set the number of tries that you get to enter the
line access code. This option must be followed by a number to
set the try count on a "-dialin" line, in the "siomonit_file".
An example of its use would be:

-repeat /dev/sio1 -dialin -access_retry 10 -n siologin_1  /com/sh

This would give you 10 chances to enter the line access code before
it bombed you out. If you give it a value of zero, it will not ask
for the line access code at all, just go directly to the "Please log
in:" prompt. However, be aware that you have only 2 chances to give
it your login ID & password before it bombs you out. So if you have
the spurious "return" problem, that I mentioned in my previous posting,
you'll be no better off. In that case you'll want as many tries as you
need to eat up the garbage characters.

Dave Funk