[PLUG] DSL Elementary Questions.

[Michael Smith]

Ok, there are 2 types of DSL: ppp over ethernet (PPPOE) and bridging.

In bridging, you have a "real" IP address and you just connect via your cisco
router.  Basically, the telephone line handles the physical layer of your
connection.  No problem since this is looking exactly like a normal LAN.  You
can disconnect your box, put a firewall in between your internal LAN and the
world, tell the firewall that it's got your IP address and gateway, and then
turn on NAT for the internal LAN.

With PPPOE, there is a ppp connection made via the ethernet link.  That way,
the ISP can make you verify your username and password.  That's why they like
it... from their point of view, it's easier to manage.  Unfortunately, most
ISP's use this.  There is software for PPPOE on linux, but I've never played
with it.  The physical setup is the same as for bridging mode, but you still
have to negotiate the ppp link, and that's where the problem is.

The easiest/best way is to just pick an ISP that lets you do bridging.  Failing
that, it's off to a web search for "PPPOE DSL linux".

--Mike

Bill Spears wrote:

> So I've got DSL from Qwest running on a Windows machine and I'd like to
> switch, slowly and carefully, to floppyfw.
>
> The way I understand it, DSL is like a lan and the modem provides a telco
> connection on one side an a lan connection on the other.
>
> What would happen if I took out the windows cable and put in one from a
> linux machine?  On a lan it would eventually adapt to the new MAC. What
> happens in the DSL context?
>
> What if I have a dual boot and I start the DSL connection under Windows, and
> reboot to floppyfw.  Would that work?
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG mailing list
> PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

--
"Ask a Soviet engineer to design a pair of shoes and he'll come up with
something that looks like the boxes that the shoes came in; ask him to make
something that will massacre Germans, and he turns into Thomas *Fscking*
Edison."  --Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon