[NBLUG/talk] Networking newbie

Troy Arnold troy at zenux.net
Fri Jan 6 12:21:02 PST 2006


On Fri, Jan 06, 2006 at 12:07:43PM -0800, A'fish'ionado wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> My family is considering signing up for the cheap SBC Yahoo DSL
> service. A Google search revealed a success story using the service
> with Linux (apparently you need some Windows-only software to set up
> the account, but not to connect once the account is set up).

I think you should look into http://www.sonic.net/sales/dsl and see if they
have anything competitive.  If the price is at all close I highly recommend
using Sonic.  You'll gain reliabilty, extra services (shell accounts, VPN,
usenet, etc.), good support and you'll be supporting an ethical local
company.

> What I would like to do is set up a home network, connect an old box
> running Linux or BSD (probably Linux, at least until I have a chance
> to get familiar with BSD) to the DSL line, and have it do IP
> forwarding so all the other computers in the house can connect through
> it.

> I've never set up a network before. :-P Basically, I would appreciate
> it if someone would tell me if what I'm planning is sane and point me
> at some good reading material. A quick Google search pulled up some
> articles that looked interesting, but only cover Linux 2.0/2.2. Any
> better suggestions?

Since it seems that cost is a major factor, I'd suggest just getting an 
inexpensive hardware firewall like those from Netgear, linksys and friends.
It's not as fun, but you'll save on electricity and noise.  

-troy



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