Phil, I have to agree with you on some points. If you purchase a product, which claims to be plug and play, then I would fully expect that the IP address is either fixed or easily discoverable. Astlinux is close to plug and play but let's face it, it is a SIP PBX. Some assembly required.
You may have purchased the Soekris but the Soekris is headless. I don't know if I purchased a PC with no monitor and no keyboard that I would complain to the other linux forums that it is hard to manage your box. For the platform, this installation is the simplest and most flexible I have come across, headless or not. IPCop is a close second, but IPCop does not run on as many platforms as Astlinux does. If you purchase a headless PC, this does not mean that you can install/setup the PC as headless, it just means that you can run it headless. Every Cisco router or switch that I have ever installed requires a headless configuration using special cables. Cisco has made a mint with this type of product and NOT having a fixed IP address. The advantage that Cisco has is that they control the hardware. The advantage of Astlinux is that you control the hardware. If you purchase a headless PC, get the cables that make the "head" so you can set the box up. It just makes sense. Yes, you are correct that finding the details of the com port are a bit difficult but doable. I for one am grateful for this product and the cost savings I gain. So thank you to all who work on and invest in this product line, you make our lives better. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Phil McKerracher Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 12:22 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Astlinux-users] Editing configuration files offline Thanks for all your responses. Apologies for the delayed reply - this mailing list is a real pain to use (wouldn't a phpBB forum be easier?), and for some reason my first post hasn't showed up on http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/index.htm l (yet later ones have), which doesn't give me much confidence. As a couple of you pointed out, I can use PuTTy or the web interface to edit or restore my config files to the flash drive once I can get into the box. And once I can edit the config files, I can fix the IP address to anything I like. This still leaves the problem of guessing the IP address the first time, though. > From: Michael A <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > ...I used the free IP SCAN utility to find out the IP > address... I'm not sure which utility you mean exactly, but although this would speed up the guesswork it doesn't really solve the problem, it's still trial and error. > On 12/10/06, vb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > If possible, log into the console as root... Chicken and egg. :-( > ... if no console access, check your dhcp > server's table of addresses and figure it out from > there. Still trial and error, ultimately. And accessing the DHCP server in my existing router is a pain. > Tom Lynn wrote: > > syslog captures the dhcp lease and it's ip address nicely. Same comment as above. > From: Carla Schroder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > ...null modem cables are cheep, and they are > necessities for administering headless boxes like the > Soekris. Don't handicap yourself by not having one... [Some extremely useful links snipped, many thanks for these] True, and I've now acquired one, but I still think it's a bit much to expect the average user to buy one, and setting up Hyperterm is a nightmare (especially since the required bit rate isn't documented anywhere that I could find!). I'm convinced that there is *no way* that a "real" product would ever be shipped with a fundamental limitation like this. All the routers, VoIP devices, modems etc. that I have ever used have had some way of either discovering the DHCP-assigned IP address (a display or voice prompt), or a way of configuring a fixed address (a configuration file, DIP switches, thumbwheels), or they just come with a fixed address that will usually work, like 192.168.0.100. Surely it should be fairly easy in this case to read the address from a config file that could be edited before first use somehow? Phil McKerracher www.mckerracher.net _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.kriscompanies.com/mailman/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.kriscompanies.com/mailman/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
