Warning: As of FreeBSD 8.0, device nodes for serial ports have been renamed from /dev/cuadN to /dev/cuauN. FreeBSD 7.X users will have to adapt the following documentation according to these changes.
The following are tips for getting your host to be able to connect over the modem to another computer. This is appropriate for establishing a terminal session with a remote host.
This is useful to log onto a BBS.
This kind of connection can be extremely helpful to get a file on the Internet if you have problems with PPP. If you need to FTP something and PPP is broken, use the terminal session to FTP it. Then use zmodem to transfer it to your machine.
Actually, the manual page for tip is out of date. There is a generic Hayes dialer already built in. Just use at=hayes in your /etc/remote file.
The Hayes driver is not smart enough to recognize some of the advanced features of newer modems—messages like BUSY, NO DIALTONE, or CONNECT 115200 will just confuse it. You should turn those messages off when you use tip (using ATX0&W).
Also, the dial timeout for tip is 60 seconds. Your modem should use something less, or else tip will think there is a communication problem. Try ATS7=45&W.
Make what is called a “direct” entry in your /etc/remote file. For example, if your modem is hooked up to the first serial port, /dev/cuau0, then put in the following line:
cuau0:dv=/dev/cuau0:br#19200:pa=none
Use the highest bps rate your modem supports in the br capability. Then, type tip cuau0 and you will be connected to your modem.
Or use cu as root with the following command:
# cu -lline -sspeed
line is the serial port (e.g., /dev/cuau0) and speed is the speed (e.g., 57600). When you are done entering the AT commands type ~. to exit.
The @ sign in the phone number capability tells tip to look in /etc/phones for a phone number. But the @ sign is also a special character in capability files like /etc/remote. Escape it with a backslash:
pn=\@
Put what is called a “generic” entry in your /etc/remote file. For example:
tip115200|Dial any phone number at 115200 bps:\
:dv=/dev/cuau0:br#115200:at=hayes:pa=none:du:
tip57600|Dial any phone number at 57600 bps:\
:dv=/dev/cuau0:br#57600:at=hayes:pa=none:du:
Then you can do things like:
# tip -115200 5551234
If you prefer cu over tip, use a generic cu entry:
cu115200|Use cu to dial any number at 115200bps:\
:dv=/dev/cuau1:br#57600:at=hayes:pa=none:du:
and type:
# cu 5551234 -s 115200
Put in an entry for tip1200 or cu1200, but go ahead and use whatever bps rate is appropriate with the br capability. tip thinks a good default is 1200 bps which is why it looks for a tip1200 entry. You do not have to use 1200 bps, though.
Rather than waiting until you are connected and typing CONNECT host each time, use tip's cm capability. For example, these entries in /etc/remote:
pain|pain.deep13.com|Forrester's machine:\
:cm=CONNECT pain\n:tc=deep13:
muffin|muffin.deep13.com|Frank's machine:\
:cm=CONNECT muffin\n:tc=deep13:
deep13:Gizmonics Institute terminal server:\
:dv=/dev/cuau2:br#38400:at=hayes:du:pa=none:pn=5551234:
will let you type tip pain or tip muffin to connect to the hosts pain or muffin, and tip deep13 to get to the terminal server.
This is often a problem where a university has several modem lines and several thousand students trying to use them.
Make an entry for your university in /etc/remote and use @ for the pn capability:
big-university:\
:pn=\@:tc=dialout
dialout:\
:dv=/dev/cuau3:br#9600:at=courier:du:pa=none:
Then, list the phone numbers for the university in /etc/phones:
big-university 5551111 big-university 5551112 big-university 5551113 big-university 5551114
tip will try each one in the listed order, then give up. If you want to keep retrying, run tip in a while loop.
Ctrl+P is the default “force” character, used to tell tip that the next character is literal data. You can set the force character to any other character with the ~s escape, which means “set a variable.”
Type ~sforce=single-char followed by a newline. single-char is any single character. If you leave out single-char, then the force character is the nul character, which you can get by typing Ctrl+2 or Ctrl+Space. A pretty good value for single-char is Shift+Ctrl+6, which is only used on some terminal servers.
You can have the force character be whatever you want by specifying the following in your $HOME/.tiprc file:
force=single-char
You must have pressed Ctrl+A, tip's “raise character,” specially designed for people with broken caps-lock keys. Use ~s as above and set the variable raisechar to something reasonable. In fact, you can set it to the same as the force character, if you never expect to use either of these features.
Here is a sample .tiprc file perfect for Emacs users who need to type Ctrl+2 and Ctrl+A a lot:
force=^^ raisechar=^^
The ^^ is Shift+Ctrl+6.
If you are talking to another UNIX® system, you can send and receive files with ~p (put) and ~t (take). These commands run cat and echo on the remote system to accept and send files. The syntax is:
~p local-file [remote-file]
~t remote-file [local-file]
There is no error checking, so you probably should use another protocol, like zmodem.
To receive files, start the sending program on the remote end. Then, type ~C rz to begin receiving them locally.
To send files, start the receiving program on the remote end. Then, type ~C sz files to send them to the remote system.