Hi, If I remember correctly, you're using wvdial. If so, put an ampersand (&) at the end of the command-line. It might look like: wvdial & That'll let you have your prompt back. Next, log out of root, and log in as yourself. BTW, a good way to get root access when you need it is to use the "su" command. SU allows you to switch to another user. The default for the su command is root. To get root's environment in addition to root's user and group ID's, use the minus sign after the command. It would look like: "su -", without the quotes. When you exit the shell, you'll be yourself again. Also, using your own user once connected would simplify the use of ssh providing that your name is the same on your provider and your local system. HTH. Bill On Tue, 15 Oct 2002, Anna Schneider wrote: > > All right, so now I can dial in, yay, but I can only access my modem as > root. My other user identity can't find the modem. How do I make the > modem findable to my other user so that I'm not getting online as root all > the time? > > thanks.