DSL guru

[Joshie the CK]

I need one. :)

Teach me everything.
I need to become proficient in, oh, 72 hours.. heh..

Actually I just have some basic questions..
Our phone company FINALLY got bullied into providing DSL, and now our ISP is setting us up, but I need to get this end up, and fast...

I'm going to be using a linux box as a router for the rest of the computers on the LAN, IP Masq-ing...

That linux box will need two network cards, now, is it best to buy two cards of the exact same type, two totally opposite cards, or does it matter? (I'd prefer to buy two linksys LNE100TX, as I know how to set those up really easy.)

Any tips/tricks for the first time DSL person? I gotta get this set up as soon as we get the modem and all, so my family doesn't throw a fit..

As for the router, will a P100 with a 1GB (maybe 3GB) Hard drive be sufficent for the task? I think I might be able to get it set up with 64MB of RAM... That should do it eh?

What about things I need to ask the ISP? Little bits of trivia I might need to know?

Thanks guys!

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by Joshie the CK:
best to buy two cards of the exact same type, two totally opposite cards, or does it matter?

technically it doesn't matter because either way can be done, but it is a little bit easier having two different cards, makes the setup slightly easier because it is obvious which one is eth0 and which one is eth1


Any tips/tricks for the first time DSL person? I gotta get this set up as soon as we get the modem and all, so my family doesn't throw a fit..

do you want to do it the "easy" way or the "guru" way?

As for the router, will a P100 with a 1GB (maybe 3GB) Hard drive be sufficent for the task? I think I might be able to get it set up with 64MB of RAM... That should do it eh?
that is overkill, more than enough. if it has 32mb of ram, don't worry about getting more. even 16mb is ok for this task

What about things I need to ask the ISP[/B]

pretend you are just setting up on a single winders pc, that has no USB port and that has all of the PCI slots filled. that way you have to get the external ethernet box, which is what you want.
if they are doing the install on-site, have a winders pc with w9x (or ME) available and just let them do their thing. after they leave is when you tear it up and make it right :D

dsl reports (http://www.dslreports.com) has some good forums about specific dsl stuff if you need other info, but keep in mind they are winders-centric, so come back here for the linux help

have fun, it is great connecting your home LAN to the internet with high-speed internet! :)

[EscapeCharacter]

assuming your isp uses pppoe all you will need to know from them is the dns servers and your username and password then goto roaringpenguin.com and install the pppoe dialer and build it install it, run the adsl-setup then you're done. good luck

[Joshie the CK]

Oh. I think I want to do this the guru way, in the end.. :) But I gotta get it up working, fast, before I start tweaking. heh heh..

And I'm not worried about hiding the fact I'm using linux, they don't seem to have an issue with it... Matter of fact the techie guy I was talking to wants to know if I get it working, and how I did, so he can tell anyone else who asks. :D

As for two different types of cards... Hrm...
I'm not sure what other card I'd get...
So I might just end up going with two of the same, and just working it out... Can't be THAT hard can it? ;)

[CMonster]

With Mandrake 7.2 it can be done point-n-click, I just set mine up yesterday in about 15 minutes (NICs already physically installed). I'm responding using the router box now.

I have a static IP but MDK 7.2 will do pppoe just as well without needing additional software.