Re: ADSL

[athos@rigel.cx]

Sera wrote:
SH> I'm a Linux newbie!  I've been trying to get ADSL to work on Debian, but to
SH> no avail.  I've used winipcfg to find out the information I need, but Linux
SH> is still having problems resolving webSite addresses, especially when I run
SH> dselect.  Some of the information that the network config file asks from me
SH> I also find confusing.  Like the gateway question and the Broadcast one, as
SH> well as the DNS Server.  I'm signed onto Sympatico and they're not helping
SH> with Linux config.  Is there any way you could give me some kind of
SH> step-by-step as to how you did it?  Or to help me out somehow?   If you need
SH> any more information,  let me know.

I'm using Sympaticwoe HSE with Linux, and didn't have too many problems getting
set up.

1. Sympatico is using a forced, but non-transparent www proxy. Before running
   dselect, you need to set the http_proxy environment varibale like so
        export http_proxy="http://chsmc.bellglobal.com/";
2. You cannot hardcode an IP address, or Sympaticwoe will terminate your account.
   You need to set up the DHCP client (it's one of the packages in dselect) to
   work with the network card that's connected to the HSE modem.  When you do
   this, you do not have to worry about DNS, gateway or broadcast addresses as
   the DHCP client will handle it automagically.

   The package you should be looking for is DHCPCD.

If you absolutely need to use the network (for example to get the DHCPCD client,
you can probably get away with hardcoding an address for a few minutes (don't
tell them I said this). If your IP is 209.226.x.y, then your (default) gateway
is almost always 209.226.x.1 and the broadcast address is 209.226.x.255. This
information should be available in the ipconfig information given under windows
as well.

This will, of course change come late August, when Sympatiwoe implements PPPoE.
This is (IMHO) a bad move one their part, and it looked for a long time as
though there would not be a Linux client for it, but after a small campaign by
several Linux users, Sympaticwoe's indicated there _will_ be one.  Of course, no
idea if we'll get the source or anything.

Once you've got it set up, you may want to look at squid and ipchains to set up
a transparent proxy so you don't have to muck around with all the various
settings in all the various applications that need to be told about it.

If there are any other questions, or if some of this is unclear, ask.

--
  |   Shawn Sulma, The Rigel Group
  |   mailto:athos@rigel.cx
_\|/_ http://www.rigelgroup.org/
--
"...handing C++ to the average programmer seems roughly comparable to handing a loaded .45 to a chimpanzee" -- Ted Ts'o