"Wiretapping" my internet connection

Here is an update. I finally figured out that what I really want to do is to
get Jeremy Bentham's book about putting a web server on a PIC board. I'm not
sure how far along this will put me towards my original goal, but this project
is just too goofy for me to pass up. And I have resigned myself to the fact
that I will probably have to get a c compiler to make it all work. There's
always a catch.

 

Correction. I just discovered that I will be able to use FREE GNU C. I guess
that clinches it. Maybe I'll put it on a wireless, and sew it into my cap.

 

You might not know what you are looking at. The PPP protocol is well
known and documented, unless your connection uses encryption. Even if
this is not the case, the PPP protocol 'encapsulates' several higher
level protocols, such as ethernet (sometimes), IP, and TCP or UDP. And
then there's the application layer on top of that. If you are using
something like MSN, I'm not certain that the protocol is standard PPP
(Microsoft re-inventing standards? Go figure.)

At any rate, you might be better off studying the RFCs that describe the
protocols involved before trying to sniff the RS-232 stream. Odds are
that any platform you use to develop an application will have all the
protocols supported in some libraries and drivers.

 

Im not using hyperterminal its an awful program. Just used that as an
example that anything would do the job.

 

That's a clueless statement. RS-232 is the connector (it _must_ be 25
pins, and most PCs use a 9-pin connector), the pinout and the voltage
levels. RS-232 doesn't specify if it's synch or asynch, or what the
baud rate is, but the maximum is 20,000; clearly, all modern modems are
higher than that.

So, by RS-232 standards, everything about a PC's serial connection is in
violation.

would be PPP and in

Outside wrapper? You don't know what you're talking about.