DSL Ideas and Suggestions :: AOL Dialer

Before you call me nuts, I have a goal, and now that DSL sees
LT / Agere controller-less modems, I have only one more
hurdel to over come.

My Goal: http://www.geocities.com/brucedp/mylinuxgoal.html

I have tried to install the aol dialer that out on the web with
no success.

If DSL included an AOL dialer, AOL users on old hardware could
"go linux" and achieve amazing performance.

Bruce in Silicon Valley, CA USA

Last I checked, AOL does not provide or allow for a way for Linux users to connect to their service.

-J.P.

AOL uses a proprietary dailer...and proprietary authentication

They suck! Doesnt any MAJOR ISP believe in the age old tired and true ppp connection...dang!

I bet AOL would have 5x the users if they would go away with that garbage and persue a standard yet secure ppp connection...just look at [shameless plug on] EV1.net in Houston! [/shameless plug off]

Brian
AwPhuch

There is an AOL dialer for linux, and it works moderately well, meaning that it's a pain in the butt to compile and install, but once you get it installed it works very reliably. It's called Penggy. It used to be called PengAOL for obvious reasons, but then I read somewhere on the internet a couple years ago that AOL threatened to sue it's creator because AOL did not want to have Linux support, and more specifically didn't want the AOL name in the program's name, so they changed the name to Penggy. You can still find the source for it on the internet if you search really hard for it, but it's hard to find. I would compile a .dsl file for it, but the problem is that if AOL threatened to sue Penggy's creator, they might threaten to sue me if I made a .dsl of it and it was distributed. If anybody knows the exact legal aspects that creating a penngy.dsl file could entail, and doesn't think it would be dangerous legally, tell me and I might just make a penggy.dsl. I won't if it could cause me or others legal trouble though.

Penggy isn't really hard to find. The first google hit was freshmeat's penggy page, which has a link to the defunct web page and another link to the CVS.
The problem i see is that it is 2 years old, which probably means that it won't work anymore. Just look at AOL's other big project, AIM. If you have a 3rd party aim client you have to update it every few months just to stay connected.

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