<gentoo_steve <at> shic.co.uk> writes:
> I don't see why this would have any effect on the
> competition for the 0.5mbps to the outside world.
It seems to me your router is less than desirable (or at least
the current settings). Depending on the make/model of the router
and your level of privileged access to the router, you may be
able to create policies, in the router, to mitigate this situation.
Alternatively, you can build a gentoo base router (or transparent bridge)
to implement policies between these to systems and your router, if
it is controlled and managed by your isp (employer) or whatever
other external group.
> What's more to the point, it doesn't seem to be Linux competing with Xp,
> per se - but rather Linux competing with Linux - since my LAN works
> great - and I can communicate at will between Xp and Linux - it is only
> when Linux's bind competes with Linux's wget that I see a problem. This
> is with two processes on the same PC.
If this is (indeed) your issue, just manually test various settings
for the 'renice' command, on the offending linux process(es). Crude but
once you find a value that slows down the offending process, you can
make manual adjustments as you like, on a network with few systems/processes.
> This looks as if I can limit the rate at which my linux box talks on my
> LAN - but this isn't what I need to do. Interestingly, long downloads
> from two competing WinXp boxes don't cause a problem - but both will
> max-out my available download capacity... suggesting to me that fixed
> rate-limiting is not what is called for...
A custom firewall or bridge, as mentioned above, would allow you to
experiment with all sorts of mechanisms, until you find something
you like. The down side is you have to invest quite some time, in learning
and experimenting with all of the mechanisms that are available when
you build a gentoo based firewall or bridge device. The journey is
fantastic, but, not for those proned to quick frustration. It is also
a very fluid area of linux, due to dynamics of network security. Many
folks do not share the intimate details of how to explicitly do this,
for a variety of reasons. Other will help with general ideas and
suggestions. (caveat emptor!).
Alternatively, there are many packages that you can use either on the linux
system directly or on a firewall/bridge to implement a mix of mechanisms.
Have a look here for some packages:
/usr/portage/net-firewall/
hth,
James
