windows client on a linux dsl connection

[jeremy goodrich]

I know have, thanks to all the people with their tips and advice, a perfectly running linux box, connected via adsl, and cruising along at a decent speed.

The next step for me is connecting my portable, which is a windows 98 machine, to the linux box, which I want to run as a gateway.

I don't have any idea where to start on this step in the process...I'm going to surf around google for ideas...also there is an internet connection wizard with Mandrake Linux 8.0 I'm going to look at that, too.

[sugarkane]

>internet connection wizard

I had bad problems using that - I advise you stay well clear :)

Are the machines networked yet?

[theperlyking]

Have a search on google for the ip-masquerading howto, it will tell you most of what you need to know.

[jeremy goodrich]

No, the machines aren't networked yet.

I need to learn that first, I'm guessing? I feel like I'm swimming blind in this linux stuff...

So, if I look for ip-masquerading, that has to do with the lan, the internet connection, or both?

[sugarkane]

Yup, you need to do the networking first :)

Masquerading is the next step - it allows other machines on the netwrok to connect to the internet through the linux box. It's fairly simple, despite all the stuff you'll read that makes it sound more complicated than it is...

[jeremy goodrich]

I know have a package called "pmfirewall" and I'm trying to configure it with my linux box.

Is there anyway to have a lan and the intenet connection going through the same nic? If so, care to share the way of setting that up?

I do have a second NIC, but it's Netgear FA311, which apparently won't work with anything so new as Mandrake 8.0 (my version of linux).

[jeremy goodrich]

Okay, more reseach says that it will work on the kernel version 2.4.2 thanks to a nice individual that created a patch.

I compiled the driver file ? with gcc, which included a .c .h and .o file. It had a makefile with a description of what to type at the command prompt, which I did.

Now, I don't know how to find the package I just compiled, and I've tried a few times since to detect automatically the 2nd nic card without success.

So, where do driver files go? After being compiled so they can become part of the system? Do I need to recompile the kernel? How do I do that?

Hmmm...I know this is a lot of questions, but at the end of this, we should have a very nice step by step instruction set for all those others wondering around, without linux, and wishing they were :)

[sugarkane]

The driver should have been installed by the makefile into /lib/modules/your_kernel_release/net/

A module is loaded into the kernel dynamically as it's needed, so you don't need to recompile the kernel.

If all has gone well, you should be able to associate the new module with your nic using Linuxconf (run it either from DrakConf, or by typing 'linuxconf &' as root.)

Click on the Networking tab, then 'Host Name and IP Network Devices'

You'll then get a new window where you can set the main hostname, plus IP addresses etc for up to 4 nics. Your driver should be available from the 'kernel module' drop down - although the name will not necessarily be obvious ;)

Does this get you any further?

[jeremy goodrich]

Yes, but unfortunately, it seems that the netgear fa311 doesn't really work on mandrake 8.0. I've heard from one annoymous source on a discussion from a month ago that "it worked fine, and was auto detected" but from a friend tonight, said 3 of them didn't work on redhat 7.1, which is one version shy of the 7.2 that I believe mandrake is based on.

So yes, that does get me to where I am now: thinking drop it, for 25, get another nic, according to rumore linksys seems to be great.

I guess the lesson to be learned is unfortunetly, stay away from the netgear fa311. Perhaps that is why Verizon gives them away, because they know it will give *nix users trouble :) ?

[sugarkane]

Yup, I'd go for another more standard nic. I've had good success with 3com905 and Intel Pro 100. Cheaper ones that seem to work OK are ones based on the realtek 8139 chip.