Re: GNOME and PPP - suggestions for way forward

["James M. Cape" <jcape jcinteractive com>]

bratsche@dfw.net wrote:
> 
> The PPP Dialer applet that comes with gnome-core has been removed for the
> next release. Does the Modem Lights applet have any uses other than
> dialing into PPP shells? I've never seen this applet.
> 
> There is a new PPP dialer applet that is distributed in the gnome-network
> package, starting with version 1.0.2. It has some of the properties of the
> applet you described.
> 
> Your suggestions for the statistics is appreciated also. This is something
> that is planned to be added sometime I think.
> 
> Thanks,
>   Cody
> 
> On Sat, 29 May 1999, James Green wrote:
> 
> > Dear all,
> >
> > I've been playing around with the ppp and modem progs that come with
> > gnome. I want to quickly congratulate those who did gnome-ppp - it worked
> > first time, unlike other scripts and setup-tools that give failure notices
> > from those in #linuxhelp.
> >
> > Now, it seems bizarre to have THREE (count 'em) apps/utils to perform
> > modem/ppp operations. Could we not get rid of modem_lights and PPP-Applet
> > and just expand gnome-ppp (it works, why break it?)?
> >
> > I propose (and I have no idea what's in CVS, i'm using the latest
> > stable tarballs):
> >
> > - Gnome-PPP should be like the DUN in Windows95 in that it is available
> >   both as an application and as a menu-driven system from the panel.
> >
> > - Get rid of modem_lights and PPP Applet
> >
> > - in Gnome-PPP have an option to display an applet icon with Rx/Tx modem
> >   lights (damned useful for those unfortunate souls with internal modems)
> >
> > - when menu-clicked have a Connect To:-> submenu listing all known
> >   possible connections (I have at least four different telephone numbers
> >   to my ISP so if one fails...)
> >
> > - When 2x Selected (double-clicked) it connects to the default connection,
> >   else cancels if attempting to connect/dialing/negotiating, else
> >   disconnects
> >
> > - on Menu-click has a menu option to open a window full of statistics such
> >   as:
> >
> >   * Time connection began
> >   * Time last connection closed
> >   * Current time on-line
> >   * Last known connect speed (e.g. 52k)
> >   * Total number of bytes received/transmitted
> >   * Status, PID and Device (as per current gnome-ppp)
> >   * Current negotiated speed (is this possible?)
> >   * Highest speed (normally the initial connect speed by may differ)
> >   * Local ip address
> >   * Remote (NAS) ip address
> >   * ip address(es) of the DNS server(s)
> >
> > - When attempting to connect, it does a little animation (panel)
> >
> > - Connect/Disconnect/Cancel Menu entries.
> >
> >
> > I would do this lot myself, but am only now going through the gtk
> > tutorial, so it'll be a while before I start developing anything (I have
> > got something in mind for *all* you web-developers out there, more soon).
> >
> > Comments, suggestions?

Well, despite what others have suggested, I personally do *not* want the
modem_lights applet removed. It is the most useful of the PPP dialers in
gnome-core. A spinning globe with a big "G" on it? No offense, but how
useful is that? modem_lights allows me to see connection time,
throughput, and a short history, and I don't have to click on any menus
or buttons to do it.

    Jim Cape
    http://www.jcinteractive.com

    Less is More. Learn it. Use it. Get an X Terminal. :-)