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

[paul at clubi.ie]

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007, Timothy Murphy wrote:

> I never found an ethernet card that did _not_ work with Linux
> (unlike WiFi)

Wifi support is much better these days. Still have to be check out 
what you're buying, but.

Just buy Intel, hey presto.

> Incidentally, don't all computers nowadays have ethernet built-in?

Many yes. And laptops all have wireless.

> I'm not an expert at this, but don't you have to put a "splitter" 
> on the phone line somewhere, to split computer and phone(s)?

No you don't have to, if you don't intend to use voice. Otherwise, if 
you forget the splitter, then you'll hear the screech of DSL (you can 
only hear the very bottom of the DSL band) when you put handset to 
ear ;).

> I don't imagine the distances you are talking about would matter, 
> in any case.

Flat-ribbon telephone cable, that's the common kind for indoor, 
telephone extension cable: Yes it matters..

Use twisted-pair (Cat-3 or up) if you want to run more than a few 
metres and want to avoid problems. Definitely use twisted-pair for 
multi-metre runs.

I've got a 5m odd run over cheap flat-ribbon, it works but it can be 
flaky about sync'ing and drops out sometimes. It doesn't go near any 
power circuits though..

> I assume all ethernet cables are equivalent.

No they are not. ;)

> Incidentally, some older ADSL modems use PPPoE,
> which inolves painful work under Linux.

PPPoE:

a) Is supported fine on Unix systems, and has been for ages (nothing
    painful about it really)
b) Is how Eircom deliver their wholesale DSL

regards,
-- 
Paul Jakma	paul at clubi.ie	paul at jakma.org	Key ID: 64A2FF6A
Fortune:
Are you sure the back door is locked?