[plug] problem attempting to connect ppp through cdma modem

[Hendrik Strydom]

On Sun, 2006-07-16 at 05:14 +0800, David Buddrige wrote:
> Hi guys,
> 
> I am able to communicate with my cdma modem using minicom, but when I
> attempt to use it via kppp to connect, I get the message:
> 
> "unable to create modem lock file"
> 
> does this sound familiar to anyone?

Your user probably has no write access to the lock directory,
probably /var/lock.  Do not change the ownership of this directory - you
may well find stuff breaking if you do (also things you can't see like
security).
I do not use kde and therefore do not have kppp installed to look at its
specific settings.  
Does it work when you run kppd as root?  (For testing only - do not work
as root).  
I am not sure if kppp takes parameters - if not you can simply switch
user to root in a shell and then run kppp,
i.e. 
su - 
(supply root password)
kppp

In this case, depending on your security, you may have to do a 
xhost +localhost
before you switch to root in order to allow kppp to connect to your 
display.
Also FC4 may well have Selinux running by default, so you may have to
relax a few things in the selinux profile.  If this interferes you
should see Selinux messages in the system log.

Also, if you use kde you should have kinternet as well, which presents
itself as an internet connection icon in the system tray.  This
historically had a setting to let non-root users start and stop network
devices.  I suspect it simply runs the connections via sudo, which is
often the best way to do some things.

Unfortunately I am not able to supply much more than a rough pointer at
present - hope this helps to some extent.

BTW, where (in which suburb) do you live?

Regards
  Hennie