differences of cable and dsl for linux

[Kirk Wood]

On Sun, 2 Jul 2000, brent harding wrote:

> Which kind of network card is the best for use in linux? 
There are plenty of cards that work. I personally have used both DLink and
LinkSys cards without incedent. There is support for most any 3Com as well
and many others.

> What's the difference between setting up cable or dsl? 
Cable uses the same cable as cable TV. You share that with your neighbos
and anyone with curiosity and some knowledge can watch what you do on the
internet (But nothing you send without encryption should be considered
secret anyway.) DSL offers "dedicated" bandwidth but once you get to the
ISP is no different really. The only thing that varies is speed and
service.

>  Do all providers offer modems that hook to ethernet cards, or is usb
>  the only thing now? 	
Some use USB based modem and some use ethernet cards. Call and find
out. (But don't tell them why as Linux is not supported by many
companies.)

> Is it better to use a pci or isa card, I hear isa is easier to set up. 
> Do nonplug and play cards exist, or abilities to disable plug and play? 
I prefer PCI as it is just much better technology. But either will
work. Most PCI cards don't need to be changed from plug and play status.

> Are they speech friendly? 
I don't know that this is relevant. You setup the driver and it should
work.

> I may be getting dedicated access with a small provider in my
> area soon, if they offer it, and want to know how easy things will be. Is
> it possible to get around the blocked ports, if I need to use smtp, pop3,
> streaming audio, ftp, or http? 
It is possible to some extent. Any service can be placed on any port. But
if you use a non-standard port the rest of the world won't be able to
interface with you outside of changing their default. (Basically it is a
pain in the butt for anyone trying to use the services on your machine.)

> Is it easy to setup alternate ports if they block me to connect to a pop 
> server on the proper port? 
See above. The server part isn't too tough, but again your users...

> I hate webmail with java. 
Then don't use it on your machine.

> If alternate ports are needed, how would I get incoming mail to use
> them so my mail would work, ftp, http, etc? 
Again, moving the service on the server is often painless and just needs a
change of a configuration file. But the rest of the world will be
elsewhere. Basically, if you must do this at this stage of the game it
would be easier to just keep looking for something suitable for what you
want to do.

> I really don't like the idea of $300 a month colocation when I need access 
> to the computers I have, especially for ease of editing system files. I'm 
> somewhat new with running my own linux system, and don't know much about 
> routing mail to different ports and the like. 
I suggest you get either cable or DSL and stay with that. Based on what
your saying I don't think spending big bucks for colation would be a good
deal. In fact, if your just looking for a host for your own domain, I
would recomend going with a hosting service and let them sweat the
details. If your just looking to learn, $300 a month is a high cost of
learning.

> What if the provider gives ips like 10.0.0.x, how do I run stuff I want 
> seen from the internet?
Get a different provider, or switch plans. I would suggest you ask if they
are giving you a private IP address. If they don't know what that means
ask if this is NAT or not. Either of those mean you can't do what your
looking to. I suggest you get a service with a 30 day satisfaction
guatntee so you can ensure that you are not behind some firewall. It is
not a good place to learn trying to work arround a firewall.

Kirk Wood
Cpt.Kirk at 1tree.net