Dominus/DSL/linux

[CMonster]

Tell me more - what were the special considerations for Linux and DSL - I should have DSL next month.

[Dominus]

1. Make sure the NIC you're supplied with can be used in Linux. If it is unsupported, you may want to go and pick up an ISA NE2000 clone at your local computer store. They're dirt cheap, and you can get them right off the shelf.

2. Make sure that your ISP doesn't use some exotic M$-only tunneling protocol, or if they do, then make sure that you make them get you a client for Linux.

3. Get a sheet of paper with all (and I mean ALL) pertinent information about their network. DNS servers, hostnames, domain names, DHCP servers etc.

4. Most DSL\Cable providers use DHCP to provice you with all the info you need automatically during startup. Usually that works fine, and without hassle, but if not, use the list of info you got beforehand to set everything manually. I'm not sure how a manual setup will work with a dynamic IP, but it's what I had to do in order to get my single dynamic (pseudo-static)IP to work properly.

All in all, the procedure should be pretty simple. Is this your first install of Linux? Or do you know your way around?

[CMonster]

Dominus,

Thanks for all the good information. I have been playing with Linux for about 18 months. Right now I am using Caldera Open Linux 2.2, which has support for a whole bunch of NICs - the PCI NIC I have in there now works just fine on my home net, do you think I will have any trouble with using that one? Maybe I will have to add a second one to keep the home net functional.

I will get a full information sheet from Pacific Bell and let them know in advance what I am planing to do with it.

Thanks again,

George

[Dominus]

As long as the NIC you have now works fine, adding a second won't mess it up. Really, the only network cards that aren't supported are the really cheap PCI cards that use cheapass chipsets, which are basically the couterpart of Winmodems. If you have a home network, how are you planning to set up the DSL? Is it going to be physically connected to the Linux box? Or is the Linux box going to access it throught a Proxy server? The info that I gave you so far was under the assumption that you were going to have the DSL connected directly to the Linux box. If you have it connected to another computer, then most of the info I gave you doesn;'t apply.

[CMonster]

Thanks,

Yeah, I will have it directly connected to a dual boot box.