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- Cable-Modem-mini-HOWTO
- Vladimir Vuksan, vuksan@veus.hr
- v2.6, 26th February 1998
-
- This document attempts to answer basic questions on how to connect
- your Linux box to cable modem or cable Internet provider.
-
- 1. Introduction
-
- The main goal of this document is to get your system running with your
- cable modem, and cable internet provider. Unfortunately, many ISPs
- that provide cable modem services, give you Windows and Macintosh
- software only.
-
- This document attempts to explain how to setup some cable modems and
- internet providers in Linux, the tricks to get them working correctly,
- and the traps not to fall down. It is hoped that this document will
- assist you, however we make no claims for the validity of the
- information contained within.
-
- 1.1. New Versions of this Document
-
- New versions of this document will be periodically posted to
- comp.os.linux.answers. They will also be added to the various
- anonymous FTP sites who archive such information, including:
-
- ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
-
- In addition, you should generally be able to find this document on the
- Linux Documentation Project page via:
-
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/
-
- 1.2. Feedback
-
- Feedback is most certaintly welcome for this document. Without your
- submissions and input, this document wouldn't exist. So, please post
- your additions, comments and criticisms to vuksan@veus.hr.
-
- 1.3. Contributors
-
- The following people have contributed to this mini-HOWTO.
-
- ╖ Dan Sullivan, dsulli@home.com
-
- ╖ Andrew Novick
-
- ╖ Michael Strates
-
- 1.4. Standard Disclaimer
-
- No liability for the contents of this documents can be accepted. Use
- the concepts, examples and other content at your own risk. As this is
- a new edition of this document, there may be errors and inaccuracies,
- that may of course be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution,
- and although this is highly unlikely, I don't take any responsibility
- for that.
-
- Also bear in mind that this is NOT official information. Obtaining
- official information is usually an impossibility with many ISPs. Much
- content in this document are assumptions, which appear to work for
- people. Use the information at your own risk.
-
- 1.5. Copyright Information
-
- This document is copyrighted (c)1998 Vladimir Vuksan and distributed
- under the following terms:
-
- ╖ Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and distributed in whole or
- in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as this
- copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial
- redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would
- like to be notified of any such distributions.
-
- ╖ All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works
- incorporating any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this
- copyright notice. That is, you may not produce a derivative work
- from a HOWTO and impose additional restrictions on its
- distribution. Exceptions to these rules may be granted under
- certain conditions; please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator at
- the address given below.
-
- ╖ If you have questions, please contact Greg Hankins, the Linux HOWTO
- coordinator, at
-
- gregh@sunsite.unc.edu
-
- 2. The Ethernet Card
-
- All of the setups below use ethernet cards (network cards) to connect
- you somehow to the Internet. That is why first we need to check if
- your ethernet card is working and most importantly can be used (read
- is supported) in Linux. There is a comprehensive Ethernet HOWTO at
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO.html if you would like
- to read it otherwise try this.
-
- Boot into Linux, During boot up a message like this should appear...
-
- eth0: 3c509 at 0x300 tag 1, 10baseT port, address 00 20 af ee 01 23,
- IRQ 10.
- 3c509.c:1.07 6/15/95 becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov
-
- If you missed it type dmesg.
-
- If you see a message like that you are set and you can go to the next
- section. If you can't see a message like this there are two possible
- explanations, your ethernet card is PNP (plug-n-play) and you need to
- use tools such as isapnptools to get it recognized (I am not quite
- sure on this because I don't have a single PNP card so correct me if I
- am wrong). The other explanation is that you need to set up your card.
-
- Most cards today come with DOS programs that are used to setup your
- card. For example to get my 3COM 3c509 to work all I needed to do is
- boot into DOS and use a utility to configure my card. There is usually
- a Auto Configure option. If that does not solve your problem try
- changing the IRQ for the card using the same utility. I find that
- usually IRQs 10,11 and 12 work well. If none of this solves your
- problem please read the Ethernet HOWTO referenced above or post to a
- newsgroup such as comp.os.linux.setup or comp.os.linux.networking.
- 3. Your ISP
-
- If you think you have the card recognized you have to now look at the
- entry for your ISP. I have sorted the information according to a
- provider because setups are mostly ISP specific.
-
- ╖ MediaOne Express
-
- ╖ @Home
-
- ╖ RoadRunner
-
- ╖ Rogers Wave
-
- ╖ Sunflower Cablevision
-
- ╖ Jones Intercable
-
- ╖ GTE Worldwind
-
- ╖ Telstra Bigpond Cable, Australia
-
- ╖ Fibertel, Buenos Aires, Argentina
-
- ╖ Videotron, Montreal, Canada
-
- 3.1. MediaOne Express
-
- MediaOne Express is a Internet cable service provided by MediaOne. The
- hardware setup consists of a cable modem produced by LanCity or
- General Instruments which plugs into an ethernet card using a 10BaseT
- (UTP-45) cable. Assignment of IP addresses and other networking
- information is done using DHCP which stands for Dynamic Host
- Configuration Protocol. The only thing you need to do is read the
- DHCPcd mini-HOWTO and configure your system appropriately. There is no
- other necessary configuration. DHCPcd mini-HOWTO can be found at
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/DHCPcd.html
-
- Information about MediaOne Service can be found at their Web site at
- http://www.mediaone.com.
-
- 3.2. @Home
-
- @Home uses a similar setup to MediaOne. However, there are a few
- fundamental differences, outlined by a contributor.
-
- Before you try anything, go to control panel, network, and properties
- for your network card. Write down all of the information. You will
- need it later.
-
- TCI, the company that runs @Home issues a Etherlink III 3c509b NIC for
- all of their customers. What TCI does not tell you is that when they
- install your ethernet card, it is in PnP mode. Now in Slakware, if you
- uncomment the proper line for this card, everything will appear to be
- working fine. There will be no system problems, but the 'PC' light on
- your CyberSURFR modem will never turn on. If you are using Slakware,
- and are having this problem, reboot in DOS and skip the next
- paragraph.
- In RedHat5, your system will have some trouble autodetecting the card.
- If you try to pass the paramaters manually, the system will hang. This
- should be obvious that your card is not setup properly. Before wasting
- anymore time, reboot in DOS (This is a must because as of 12/25/97,
- there is no utility written for Linux to turn off PnP and turn on
- ISA.)
-
- TCI does not give out a utility disk for your ethernet card, so you
- must download the utility from one of 3Com's sites. Here is a direct
- link to the file you need:
-
- ftp://ftp.3com.com/pub/network-interface-cards/shipping-
- drivers/3c509x.exe
-
- Once you have downloaded that file, put it in a temporary (or
- permanent) directory. Run it (self-extracting).
-
- There is a file that will be extracted called 'Pnpdsabl.bat'. You will
- need to run this batch file. Once that is out of the way, your card
- will be set to ISA not PnP. Fortunately, the ISA works in Linux.
-
- What you've now done has made your ethernet card 'broken' in Windows
- 95. You'll need to go to Control Panel, Network, and remove the
- network card and the adapter. Reboot your computer, and again go back
- to control panel. Go to add/remove new hardware, and have it
- autodetect. It will automatically setup the correct i/o address for
- you. You will most likely need to reboot again. Now you should be in
- Windows 95, with the 'PC' light on your cable modem on. You will also
- notice that none of your internet applications seem to work, you can't
- ping, and you can't resolve DNS. You now must go back to control
- panels, network, and click on properties for your network card (not
- the adapter). Re-enter all the data you wrote down, and reboot.
-
- With a little luck, your ethernet card should be working in Windows
- 95, and ready to rock in Linux.
-
- If you live Hampton Roads, VA you should read a little note from Mark
- Solomon
-
- With the @home service in Hampton Roads, VA, it is absolutly
- neccessary to run dhcpcd-0.70 (or higher) that supports the "-h"
- option to specify the hostname of your computer. Without this switch
- the @home dhcpcd server will not assign addresses.
-
- Information about @Home Service can be found at their Web site at
- http://www.home.com.
-
- 3.3. RoadRunner
-
- RoadRunner is an Internet cable service provided by Excalibur Group
- (Time Warner). The hardware setup consists of a cable modem produced
- by Motorola and Toshiba which plugs into an ethernet card using a
- 10BaseT (UTP-45) cable. From what I can gather RR uses DHCP for IP
- assignment. In order to set up Linux to use DHCP you need to read the
- DHCPcd mini-HOWTO and configure your system appropriately. DHCPcd
- mini-HOWTO can be found at
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/DHCPcd.html. If that works out
- for you great, otherwise if it doesn't and you live in San Diego area
- his page might be of help
- http://people.qualcomm.com/karn/rr/index.html.
-
- Information about RoadRunner Service can be found at their Web site at
- http://www.rr.com.
-
- 3.4. Rogers Wave
-
- The hardware setup consists of a cable modem produced by LanCity which
- plugs into an ethernet card using a 10BaseT (UTP-45) cable.
-
- When the cable modem is installed by Rogers Wave technicians you are
- assigned a static IP address. They should also provide you with
- information on your subnet mask, router (gateway) numbers and DNS
- numbers. For additional info please visit
- http://home.on.rogers.wave.ca/mreid/rogwave/index.html.
-
- Other information about Rogers Wave Service can be found at their Web
- site at http://www.rogerswave.ca
-
- 3.5. Sunflower Cablevision
-
- This information is provided by Andrew Novick:
-
- "I recently saw your cable modem howto and I have an addition.
- Sunflower Cable is a company stricly in Lawrence KS, however we have a
- rather large Linux community because of the University of Kansas. On
- our local LUG mailing list, we are starting to get more and more
- questions on how to configure their linux machine for the cable modem.
- It is just regular static addressing, and the modem is made by
- Zenith."
-
- To configure your Linux box make sure you get all the pertinent
- information from the Cablevision tech support or use these.
-
- ╖ IP address: Assigned by SunFlower Cablevision
-
- ╖ Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
-
- ╖ Gateway (router) address: 24.124.11.254
-
- ╖ Hostname: Assigned by SunFlower Cablevision
-
- ╖ Domain name: lawrence.ks.us
-
- ╖ Primary DNS server (nameserver): 24.124.0.1
-
- ╖ Secondary DNS server (nameserver): 24.124.0.6
-
- Have all those numbers written down before you proceed. To register,
- visit
- http://www.sunflower.com
-
- To register in the lawrence.ks.us domain contact Stephen Spencer at
-
- gladiatr@artorius.sunflower.com
-
- Under RedHat use Control Panel and Network Configuration to put in
- these numbers. Just say Add Interface, Device type=Ethernet, Device
- name=eth0 (this is zero not O in eth0) then fill out all the fields.
- Then click activate.
-
- In Slackware type netconfig. When you are finished reboot and you
- should be up and running.
-
- If this doesn't work make sure you do network card troubleshooting
- from the beginning of this document.
-
- 3.6. Jones Intercable
-
- This information is provided by Bob Kimble:
-
- Jones Internet Cable supplies a Hybrid cable modem that connects to
- your machine / network via 10BaseT ethernet. They provide you with a
- static IP address for your machine, and another static IP address for
- the modem. The modem acts as a gateway to their network. Your IP
- address and the modem IP address are on the same network and have the
- same network mask (in my case 255.255.255.0 -- 24 bits). They also
- provide two DNS IP addresses which you enter into your configuration.
- I just entered the numbers when I installed Red Hat Linux 5 and it
- worked like a champ from the beginning. Since then I have configured
- my Linux machine to enable IP masquerading and domain name services,
- and it now acts as a router for my entire private network. My other
- machines are connected via a private network using the addresses
- 192.168.0.x. They are running Windows 95, Windows NT (Intel and Alpha)
- and OS/2. My Linux machine has two IP addresses -- the one from the
- cable company and one from the 192.168.0.x private network. Everything
- works like a champ. All six machines can browse the web
- simultaneously. My kids are even able to connect to their favorite
- game site, "The Realm" from Sierra.
-
- 3.7. GTE Worldwind
-
- This information is provided by Mike Hughes:
-
- The information you provided for Rogers Wave works for GTE WorldWind
- cable modem services also. However, GTE's service is EXTREMELY slow,
- barely faster than ISDN. more information at
-
- http://www.psilord.com
-
- 3.8. Telstra Bigpond Cable, Australia
-
- According to Douglas Garstang Linux cannot be used on Telstra's
- network due to proprietory software Telstra is using. Everyone should
- be advised to contact Telstra and demand that they make a Linux port
- of their access software :-). You can e-mail their Helpdesk at
- helpdesk@c3.telstra-mm.net.au
-
- More details in Douglas' e-mail:
-
- We have a Cable network here in Australia. It was launched officially
- to the public in May this year and its called "Telstra Big Pond
- Cable". Telstra, and its daughter company, Telstra Multimedia (who
- run the service) are the main communications carrier here.
-
- The network uses Motorola Cybersufr cable modems, over HFC available
- to a few million homes in the Sydney and Melbourne areas. Apparently,
- it was the biggest cable rollout ever. (sorry if I sound like a
- salesman... I used to work for them). The server complexes run
- Hewlett Packard software/hardware primarily I believe. The end user
- software is by NetManage.
-
- Unfortunately however, the connection between client systems and the
- server complex is partly proprietary and uses some form of internal
- "heartbeat" of some sort with Kerberos authentication. I'd tried with
- Kerberos on Linux, and dhcp but couldnt get any further than
- authenticating with the server complex. There are also all sorts of
- nasty firewalls in place and pretty horrific pricing.
-
- In short, Linux won't run with the network yet. The powers that be are
- promising big things for early next year.. (this is 1998) so I have my
- fingers crossed!
-
- 3.9. Fibertel, Buenos Aires, Argentina
-
- This information is provided by Pablo Godel
-
- My name is Pablo Godel and want report that I'm using the cable
- service of Fibertel in Buenos Aires, Argentina and it works perfectly
- with Linux.
-
- They gave me a static IP. The brand of the cablemodem is COM21 and the
- model is ComPort.
-
- I connect it to the nic properly configured in Linux and worked
- perfectly.
-
- More information about Fibertel can be found at
-
- http://www.fibertel.com.ar
-
- 3.10. Videotron, Montreal, Canada
-
- I don't have much information about Videotron except the fact that
- they use DHCP for the assignment of IP addresses and other networking
- information. Just read the DHCPcd mini-HOWTO and configure your system
- appropriately. There is no other necessary configuration. DHCPcd mini-
- HOWTO can be found at
-
- http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/DHCPcd.html
-
- Information about Videotron can be found at their Web site at
- http://www.videotron.ca
-
-