Linux serial port gateway ?

[johnwebb]

A friend asked me if there was a way to access a serial port via the internet. What they have is custom dos app for inventory that they access via direct dial-in to several modems from remote locations using windows workstations and procomm or pcanywhere (not sure which). There local workstations access directly via serial ports. Is is possible to setup a linux box that could act as a gateway to allow access via the internet to the serial ports? The current dial-in method works fine but long distance charges are becomming a issue.

Thanks :]
John Webb

[The Whizzard]

I'm not sure if t can be done, but IPMASQing a SLIP connection sounds like what you need.
I had thought about this awhile back but haven't actually worked on it, yet.
Take a look through the SLIP and IPMASQ how-to's, they may give some clues what needs to be done.