How to issue ATX3 to modem?

[John Talbot]

neil woolford wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-11-08 at 02:45 +0200, John Talbot wrote:
>   
>> I friend of mine is trying to use Ubuntu with his modem.
>>
>> He setup his modem by going to System->Administration->Networking
>>     
>
> It will work (though not in the original Warty release iirc), but as you
> have found is a little feature light.
>
>   
>> Unfortunately the country he's in is one of those that don't have a 
>> modem-compatible dialtone. So he tries to set the ATX3 command 
>> somewhere, but there was no place to put it in.
>>     
>
> This is also needed by people using 'call waiting' and voicemail
> services with BT in the UK.  I'd say that it is such a common gotcha
> (with other os's too) that it might be worth having ignore DT (ATX3) set
> by default...
>
>   
>> Then he saw there's a connection between this Networking Settings tool 
>> and the file /etc/chatscripts/ppp0 , so he tries to tweak that file.
>>     
>
> Yes, pretty much the right track.
>
>   
>> When he inserts X3 between AT and DT6187236 , the phone number is no 
>> longer recognized by Network Settings.
>>
>> So then he tries to insert X3 in some of the other strings, and he had 
>> no success in making this command pass through to the modem when he 
>> tries to dial from inside the Network Settings graphical tool.
>>     
>
> The syntax of /etc/chatscripts/ppp0 is not easy, it involves a 'call and
> response' layout of successive items on each line which isn't that
> clear.  I've never found a good reference for it either.
>
> The solution that worked for me was to replace the ATZ modem initiation
> command with ATX3, leaving all the spaces and quoting and line breaks
> untouched.
>
> Example;  first the original script;
>
> TIMEOUT 60
> ABORT ERROR
> ABORT BUSY
> ABORT VOICE
> ABORT "NO CARRIER"
> ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
> ABORT "NO DIAL TONE"
> ABORT "NO ANSWER"
> "" "ATZ"
> "" "AT&FH0L2"
> OK-AT-OK "ATDT08451400101"
> TIMEOUT 75
> CONNECT
>
> ....which should be what you had to start with (apart from the dialup
> number)
>
> Edited to;
>
> TIMEOUT 60
> ABORT ERROR
> ABORT BUSY
> ABORT VOICE
> ABORT "NO CARRIER"
> ABORT "NO DIALTONE"
> ABORT "NO DIAL TONE"
> ABORT "NO ANSWER"
>
> "" "ATX3"
> "" "AT&FH0L2"
> OK-AT-OK "ATDT08451400101"
> TIMEOUT 75
> CONNECT
>
> Which worked for me.  I emphasise the past tense, as I'm now happily
> using broadband.
>   


I was told that this doesn't work when he tries to dial with the 
graphical "Networking Settings" tool (or whatever it's called). This 
seems more or less to be the only glitch Ubuntu had for this starting 
user. There is one more in fact (keyboard language selection) which I'll 
post about in a new topic.



>> What are we to do? (We and all modem users in this country)
>>     
>
> Well, you could try the manual edit I suggest above.  It will work but
> is  a fiddle to do.  As you've got this far I'd go with it for now to
> establish a connection.
>
> What I would strongly recommend though is to try the Gnome PPP utility
> which is designed for the job;  it allows you to set and unset wait for
> dialtone, and *much* more from the gui.  (I'm not so keen on the
> superficially similar Modem Monitor applet.)
>
> HTH
>
> Neil
>
> PS Gnome PPP is available as a package in the 'universe' repository.
>   


I'll give it a try.
Though it's kind of bad publicity for Ubuntu to require from you that 
you download stuff over the internet before you manage to get your 
dialup connection working.
I'll try replacing ATZ with ATX3 myself, too, next time I see the machine.

Thanks,
- John