modem control: HELP ME SPOCK!

[Wayne Power]

I am admittedly a compu-novice.  Flaming my ignorance will be considered
ignorance.

I've got several Sun 2/120's with Zilog 8530's on the cpu and SCSI boards for
serial communications.  We are running release 1.1 of Sun 4.2.  The man page for
zs(4) says "with full modem control".  I think not.  Why?

        1.  The most benevolent of the local Sun technical people told me my
            problem was "a known bug in the 1.1 zs driver".  He suggested we
            buy 1.4.

        2.  I've tried every value from 0 through the moon for flags to the zs
            driver in the config file.  I get gettys on all lines with nothing
            physically attached to the port.

My understanding of "modem control" is admittedly sketchy.  I think it means
(among other things)...

        1.  If getty is not enabled in /etc/ttys, DTR will be low and hence
            appropriately configured modems won't answer the phone.

        2.  If no carrier is present (pin 8 is not high), getty will not be
            invoked even though /etc/ttys says 'invoke getty'.

        3.  If carrier drops, the current process group (especially the login
            shell) will die.


Why am I asking you folks?

        1.  I really need to have one of these 120's set up to talk on the
            phone for mail etc.

        2.  We are a poor company, unable to pay the suggested monthly tribute
            (Sun service contract) and alas, it seems Sun technical people
            require a P.O. to speak with us plebes.

        3.  Our assigned Sun sales person has been unable to return my calls
            for weeks.  I'd imagine he's busy selling their new Cray on a
            Watchstrap. :-)  All attempts to contact other Sun personnel have
            been met with request for system serial number followed by a
            request for a P.O. number before being allowed to speak with
            anybody who can tell me if what I think I want to buy will do what
            I want it to do.  :-(

My questions.

        1.  Does anybody out there have a Sun 120 running 1.X that does modem
            control on a zs?

        2.  If so 1.?

        3.  Is 1.? available.

        4.  Is my understanding of "modem control" even close?

A few facts for those who may be interested in helping.

    Configuration

        Sun 2/120, 2Mb memory, 142Mb Micropolis disk, 1/4" SCSI tape, currently
        running Sun 4.2 release 1.1.  Hayes Smartmodem 1200.

        We are not interested in running Sun 2.X at this time.

    Application

        Answer the phone and invoke getty so that UUCP may log in for mail and
        file transfer and so users can log in over the phone.  There are
        currently no plans to have UUCP dial out or to allow use of tip with
        this line.


Thanks in advance,

--wmp  (Wayne Power   decvax!encore!vaxine!wmp)
       (617) 667-7900