[ILUG] Followup 1: Naive ADSL/WiFi questions (long (sorry!))?

[Frank Duignan]

RTL8139's have worked well for me in the past.

On 16/08/07, Brian Foster <blf at utvinternet.ie> wrote:
>
> about six weeks ago I asked a set of naïve questions
> about switching from a 56K dialout straw to ADSL for
> my SUSE 9.1 system.  I was broadly advised to stick
> to wired ethernet, among many other very helpful hints.
> many thanks!
>
> three followup questions ...
>
> for assorted reasons, I've only now gotten around to
> looking into the matter of a network card for my PC.
> today, locally, I found three different PCI cards,
> all using the RealTek RTL8139 chip, a chip YaST2
> lists as supported:  the "Ovsilink EVO 8139 ITX"
> (a bargin at 10€), and some fairly anonymous units
> by "Heden" and "Bluestork".  baring information to
> the contrary, I'll probably try the "Ovsilink" (all
> three units to their credit, list Linux as supported).
>
> 1st, any comments one way or the other?  good or bad?
> ( as soon as I can connect via my straw I'll double
>   check these units myself — apologies for not doing
>   some research here first! )
>
> 2nd, a possibly trickier question:  it's a c.12 metre
> cable run from the phone socket to the computer.
> should I go for a 10m cable from socked to ADSL modem
> (and then a 5m(?) cable to the computer), or visa-versa
> (5m to the modem and 10m to the computer)?  the latter
> would position the modem in an inaccessible location,
> so I'm inclined to go 10m phone-modem and 5m modem-PC.
> ( I can get all the implied 5m and 10m cables easily,
>   which is why I am restricting my question to those
>   two lengths.  to the best of my knowledge (my notes
>   are incomplete ;-\ ), all the cables are shielded. )
>
> 3rd, my (current) test plan — prior to arrival of the
> modem — is to use my printer (an HP 6180) as the peer.
> is there any difference between a cable (cat 5,
> I presume?) that connects PC-printer to one connecting
> PC-modem?   ( I'm thinking in RS-232 terms here, where
> there _is_ a difference:  PC-printer is DTE-DTE (hence
> needs a null) while PC-modem is DTE-DCE (no null). )
>
> I throughly forgot to research the 3rd point, so again
> apologies for asking before looking.
>
> cheers!
>         -blf-
> --
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> Experienced (>25 yrs) software engineer:    |        Montpellier, FRANCE
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