Re: Cox cable modem and debian **FINALE**
On Thursday 16 August 2001 16:38, dman wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 16, 2001 at 04:11:48PM -0700, Jaye Inabnit ke6sls wrote:
> Greetz,
>
> I have been running myself through the ringer trying to get debian to log
> onto my new Cox Communications cable modem using @home. I was given a new
nic
> (Dlink dfe-550tx) that wasn't supported by linux. I found a site and pulled
> down source and attempted to build it for use on my 2.2.17 kernel (didn't
> happen) then finally pulled down kernel 2.4.7, where it is supported. I can
> boot up 2.4.7 and it sees both my nics (realtek and Dlink) and run pump but
> it fails every time.
>
> At this point, I removed my lan from my realtek and started attempting to
get
> pump to use that card (cat5 connection). It still failed.
>
> I purged then re-installed pump and tried again using 2.2.17 kernel.
>
> Finally, I rounded up an old win95 laptop. I had a TRENDnet pcmcia dual-nic
> and loaded up windoz drivers for this. What a pain! Anyway, after dozens of
> reboots and locating my very old win95 cdrom, was able to get the nic
working
> in this computer. Finally I loaded up some of the software Cox@home gives
> you. It tried and died and would not get online with the cable modem. Huh.
. .
>
> A call to local cable buddy. We ponder the windoz network settings. Should
> work. Using Winipcfg, I released all, then renewed all - fails. . . Finally
> he asks, what's my Identity setting? I looked at my booklet and told him
what
> it said. He informs me that isn't right, it has to have at least this many
> digits (forgot what number). I look at my reciept and there is a CX number.
> Is this required? Yes(!) he reports.
>
> I set the new identity tab, boot a few more times and it still fails. Then
he
> asks again what number I was given and then reports, that it is not
correct!
> . . . Okay, he gets on the telephone and comes back in a minute and says I
> had the wrong number and we type in the new number, boot. Bingo, I am now
> online with the cable modem with a DHCP'd ip address.
>
> So, now I KNOW the cable modem works. I can smirf as fast as the old lap
top
> can go.
>
> Back to my nics. I rename my computers HOSTNAME to the number and re-run
> pump.. It fails. Next I issue the pump command using the -h hostname and -i
> interface, and it still fails.
>
> This is where I am. Sorry about the long post, but wanted to include the
> background of where I've been.
>
> Also note, I have read the cablemodem-howto at linuxdoc.org and not just
the
> @home entries, but all of them... I'm stumped.
>
> Any help would be very greatly appreciated.
>
> thank you
> | I just carried over another windoz desktop (wife sure liked seeing this!)
> | and fired up win98. The NIC on this box is part of my lan so I removed
> | the lan settings from the nic and set them up as I did on the lap top.
> | Without shutting off the cable modem, I was able to gain my ip and was on
> | the net with it.
> |
> | I will 'assume' this means the MAC isn't an issue - that the cablemodem
> | and @home dont care about the nic in use. So, this means that I can get
> | two differnt windoz boxes to work but sadly, not debian at this point.
>
> At least you aren't pulling your hair out while it is the ISP's fault :-).
>
> | I am lost in this netherworld at this point.
>
> I noticed you were using pump to try and get the dynamic IP, etc. How
> about trying dhcpcd? I haven't used pump myself, but dhcpcd is
> working well on my ADSL connection.
>
> -D
I want to thank those kind beings who helped with good ideas from this list.
I was able to download dhcpcd from potato and run it without success. After
reading man pages, this command worked for Eureka's Cox@home network:
~ tty3> dhcpcd -h CX0000000-A -D eth0 (as root) Where CX0000000-A was my
supplied 'dns' that the Cox tech wrote on my paper reciept. Note, the
original IDENT I was given was not correct. I am lucky to have a friend
working for Cox locally and with his assist, he learned my REAL IDENT and
gave it to me. Here, it's required to use the -D (note uppercase) aurgument
for dhcpcd to nogotiate the link. It is instantanious.
I renamed my local hostname to this IDENT - I will learn if it is required
when I bring the nets back up next week after I finish remodeling the back
of our home.
It DOES NOT matter what nic's you use. The nics address will not matter to
Cox@home servers. You can fire up a laptop and use it, then move it to a
desktop and use it. So MAC addresses won't be an issue (this is VERY good).
Cox will not supply you with a REAL smtp or pop3 address. You are given a
small booklet that tells you to run outlook and IExplorer (evil, so evil!).
Then tell you your smtp and pop3 servers are: mail. I talked to a user in
Arizona who told me to go on IRC, once I joined the channel, he used my login
to learn my domain, which is eureka1.ca.home.com. Once I installed it, mail
was working.
After getting online, we upgraded to woody. dhcpcd is not in woody. Be
advised. I pulled down potato's and dpkg'd it . .
The nics are an issue now, I will be building a router/firewall box from an
old p90 which will free up my box for more playing. Once up, I'll learn
whether I am in full duplex or half and work from there.
The nics issued by Cox@home are Dlink DFE-550TX (unsupported in 2.2.x
kernels), but source is available to build your own. I wasn't able to get the
code to run here though. 2.4 kernels have support built in for these nics, so
look for 'Sundance' in your menuconfig options. For now, I have some old
realtek's that work.
Hope this helps others as they migrate from dialup to alternate means of
bandwidth. It's plenty evil to deal with these suppliers, but we don't have a
free network of our own yet . . .
tatah and thank you all once again!
--
Jaye Inabnit\ARS ke6sls\/A GNU-Debian linux user \/ http://www.qsl.net/ke6sls
If it's stupid, but works, it ain't stupid. SHOUT JUST FOR FUN.
Free software, in a free world, for a free spirit. Please Support freedom!
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