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DSL and Debian questions



Hello all,

I'm contemplating getting DSL service through my local phone co.
Bellsouth (anyone have specific dealings with them re: DSL) and find
myself in total ignorance of what's involved, so please bear with me as
I ask these questions.

1.  The service comes with an external DSL modem.  I was under the
impression that DSL hooked up through one's ethernet card.  Since I
appear to be wrong, what does the DSL modem do and is it likely to be
GNU/Linux compatible?

2.  I installed the default kernel in my system and didn't set up any
networking stuff (currently using a dial up connection -- I'm presuming
that DSL is a kind of networking thing).  Where do I find the
information about these things and is there a Debian tool that will help
me configure whatever needs configuring?

3.  The webpage for Bellsouth DSL mentions three requirements (in
addition to MS or Mac) a)  USB (probably not currently supported in
Debian, eh?) OR b) ethernet card OR c) NIC.  My question: what is the
difference between ethernet and NIC?  Which should I get? 

4.  Another requirement was that I needed a dial up modem installed,
which I do have, but why would I need that?

5.  If the equipment they send doesn't work, I should be able to get my
own stuff, correct?  And hardware advice here?

6.  Any other advice, pointers, etc.

Thanks, I know this is a lot of stuff and probably tiresome, but I feel
totally lost.

David Bellows



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