On Sunday 17 December 2006 10:21 am, Phil McKerracher wrote: > 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?)
No. Web forums are teh suck. :) But a lot of folks like them, so if you're volunteering to run one for AstLinux, Kristian is the one to talk to. Actually, you don't even need his blessing to run an unofficial one. > > > ... 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. Hmm.... network admins should be able to poke into any corner of their networks, shouldn't they? Me, I like to keep an eye on everything. Nasty surprises are so upsetting. Another sleek tool for host discovery is good ole nmap. Just feed it your subnet: # nmap -sP 192.168.1.* This gives you a list of all hosts that are up. There are all kinds of tools and applications for performing host discovery, probably even some perty pointy-clicky commercial ones. Though my vote goes to Chris Mason's suggestion. Easy peasey. > > > 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... > > 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!). Average user? This is network and telephony administrator work, not Uncle Joe "rubs sticks to make fire" Dimbulb territory. Serial cables and serial terminals like Hyperterminal and Minicom are standard equipment for running headless boxes. The bit rate depends on the hardware, which you will find in its documentation. Soekris and WRAP boards use different serial bit rates, for example, and the information is easy to 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? Have you asked for a refund? Seriously, while I agree that AstLinux IP discovery could be a bit easier, or maybe should ship with a default static private IP like the Soekris and WRAP boards do, it's not all that difficult, and it's a one-time chore at installation. (I change it to a static IP anyway because by dang, servers shouldn't have dynamic addys.) It's easier than editing the installation image. How about offering Kristian a bit of help instead of complaining? That's what makes Free Software work- everyone contributes a little something. Write a bit of code, write a howto, help people on mailing lists, click the PayPal links. There's something for everyone. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carla Schroder Linux geek and random computer tamer check out my Linux Cookbook! http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/ best book for sysadmins and power users ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _______________________________________________ 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]
