>For the most part (barring weird console problems - don't ask) this is
>the only problem I've had with the alpha kernels...
On my systems I've run almost every kernel from 2.1.24 up to 2.1.42 and
pppd-2.2.0f has worked for me without crashing. In 2.1.42 it's not
correctly recognising carrier loss (I have not yet got around to tracking
this problem down), but it has not done anything worse than failing to
recognise lost carrier.
I suggest that you post more information on libraries etc to allow
someone to help you. I'll make a serious bug report about losing carrier
if the problem still occurs when I test 2.1.43.
Russell Coker