[NCLUG] Old newbie ... seeks counsel

Eric Brunson brunson at level3.net
Wed Oct 24 12:39:48 MDT 2001


My company provides dialup service for AOL customers (AOL doesn't own
any modems, they purchase managed modem ports from companies like
Level 3, Qwest, Sprint, etc.) and my job is to automate the customer
provisioning of our managed modem product, so I know quite a bit about
the behind the scenes implementation of AOL dialup service.

A great deal of the mechanics up using AOL dialup service is built
into their client, things like tunneling protocols, authentication,
etc.  Without going into details which could be construed as AOL
proprietary, suffice it to say that without an AOL client you cannot
dialup to AOL and use them as an ISP.  Whether you can access your AOL
email account from a non-AOL dialup, I have no idea, but it you can't
or won't use Windoze or MacOS, you can't use AOL as an ISP.

* JustBillH at aol.com (JustBillH at aol.com) [011024 11:05]:
> Dear nclug,
> 
> I have recently moved to Ft. Collins.  I am a retired engineer who has spent 
> the last 22 years of my usefully employed existence interfacing with a system 
> based on a mainframe using the UNIX OS.  I was a user ... and ran program 
> designed for the system specifically.  I don't pretend to be a programmer or 
> a computer guru.  However, I became reasonably adept at writing my own cutsey 
> scripts to perform some neat little tricks for my particular needs.  But, in 
> the crunch, I always had to defer to the SA.
> 
> My personal computers at home have been force fed the MS line of operating 
> systems ... continually evolving and each version costing more bucks than I 
> want to spend to keep the latest changes (mostly chrome and fuzzy dice) 
> current.  I made the break a couple years ago and setup one of my machines to 
> be a LINUX machine with the intent of learning to do the system 
> administration stuff and edify myself ... to be free of MS.  I've done a 
> mediocre job, but my system was up and running before I moved.  Currently it 
> is still packed in the garage and awaiting space in our new smaller quarters 
> while I make do with this laptop.  But, when I unbox it and set it up, I need 
> to get on line.  I have asked my ISP (AOL) for the information needed to set 
> up my web access and have been greeted with a stonewall of " Sorry, we 
> haven't a version of AOL for LINUX as yet."  Which wasn't the question I 
> asked.  I asked for an IP address and the e-mail interface address.  
> 
> I need advice in how to connect to AOL ... if any of your members have done 
> that ... or I need advice on a new ISP and all the appropriate instructions 
> to get hooked up with them.  I deeply appreciate any help given.
> 
> bill hendrickson (justbillh at aol.com)
> _______________________________________________
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> NCLUG at nclug.org
> http://www.nclug.org/mailman/listinfo/nclug


-- 
 Eric Brunson   brunson at level3.net   page-eric at level3.net  
tcA thgirypoC muinelliM latigiD eht detaloiv tsuj evah uoY



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