Dialup problem SuSE 10

[captainquint]

From bash, as root, wvdial finds and dials my old serial controller PCI slot modem on /dev/ttyS2 but wvdial as non-root user ends with
the error that the 'device or resource is busy'.
From KDE, Kinternet tells me that permission is denied, and asks me if I'm a member of the group 'dialout'.
In /etc/group my username is shown in group 'dialout' wit 'x' and with '16'.
KPPP(version 1.6.something) downloaded with Windows and moved into SuSE 10 failed to install at dot slash configure, with the error that 'host' must be specified. Thanks for any clues helping this SuSE dial an old modem.

[Dapper Dan]

It's been a while since I used SuSE or wvdial, but as I remember, you need root privileges to run wvdial as a security measure. Even with kppp, you'll still have to sign in as su to dial if I'm remembering correctly. If you're dialing out after using wvdial as root and everything is working satisfactorily then I would just consider it a minor nuisance as it always is when inputting root's password which takes perhaps an additional 5 to 10 seconds.

Hmmm might break out my old Actiontec V92 serial modem and play with it some. I always did enjoy using wvdial...

[captainquint]

Thanks, and you must be right about wvdial, because, as root user, I tried in Fedora 4, and wvdial also said 'cannot open /dev/modem: device or resource busy'. But Nework Device Control in Fedora, and KPPP in Fedora (and in FreeBSD 5.1) lets me connect as non-root user. I wasn't concerned about the 5 to 10 second inconvenience of having to type root's password at the su: prompt, but was concerned that dialing in as root, even for a few seconds, could be a risk.
I just would like to learn any way of dialing as a non-root user, as I can do in FreeBSD and Fedora 4.
Somewhere back in Red Hat 6 or 7, I'm sure I used to type in
if-up ppp0
to dial and that command may not have been as root.