comcast and linux
Hey all, Just wondering if any of you have had issues/problems/war stories setting up a linux box to work w/ comcast. my roommate hung around this morning to be there when they hooked it up, and when he called up they flat out refused to support linux and told him, 'if you cant run our windows program than you cant use our network'. from what i gather this program doesnt actually change anything, just displays the MAC address for the NIC you are using. talking with some other people around here it seems that really all you have to do is 'register' [input your MAC address] on some webpage they have setup. reading some docs i googled for i hear a few different explanations / 'solutions'. one is that a user MUST logon to their 'workgroup' and thus setup samba and the like... i dont believe this one =). another group said i need to ensure my hostname is set to what they want. i saw one guy posting that he set all his connection up manually, w/o DHCP at all, and that works fine. it seems to me that if i give dhcpcd the 'D' and 'H' options [set domainname and set hostname, respectively, to what is given by the dhcp server] then i should be good. can anyone confirm this? what hoops might you have had to jump around to hook a linux box into the network? Thanks, -tom ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: comcast and linux
tom fogal wrote: Just wondering if any of you have had issues/problems/war stories setting up a linux box to work w/ comcast. Prior to switching to DSL I had it working fine. my roommate hung around this morning to be there when they hooked it up, and when he called up they flat out refused to support linux and told him, 'if you cant run our windows program than you cant use our network'. This is correct. They provide you access based on your MAC address after you have authenticated. Two options: 1) Install their software using Crossover Office. Ran that way fine for me. Might work under Wine alone, but I have not tried. Throw the NIC in a Windows box, register, and move the NIC to your Linux system. HTH, C ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: comcast and linux
On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 14:13:29 -0400 Chris Brenton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Throw the NIC in a Windows box, register, and move the NIC to your > Linux system. I just have a minimal Windows system installed for dual boot. My router and desktop system have the same MAC address. Then you don't need to get into an argument with people who only read recipes. -- Jerry Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9 pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: comcast and linux
On Wed, 2003-06-18 at 14:13, Chris Brenton wrote: > Throw the NIC in a Windows box, register, and move the NIC to your Linux > system. > Does this mean you can't use routers/NATs like SMC Barricade? -- Jeff Macdonald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Into birding? Check out http://www.migratus.com ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: comcast and linux
On Wed, Jun 18, 2003 at 02:23:27PM -0400, Jeff Macdonald wrote: > On Wed, 2003-06-18 at 14:13, Chris Brenton wrote: > > > Throw the NIC in a Windows box, register, and move the NIC to your Linux > > system. > > > > Does this mean you can't use routers/NATs like SMC Barricade? My Barricade has a field to enter a MAC address, which then gets sent to the cable modem. -Mark pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: comcast and linux
On Wed, 18 Jun 2003, at 1:37pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Just wondering if any of you have had issues/problems/war stories setting > up a linux box to work w/ comcast. We've done quite a few turnups with Linux and Media One/Road Runner/AT&T Broadband/Comcast/whatever. Their techs generally don't know anything but MS-Windows, which is where that requirement comes from. It works just fine with Linux, too. The only catch is that they require you to "register" the hardware MAC address of your network interface before it will allow you to connect to anything but their authentication systems. The registration process is kicked off by a Windows program, but all said program appears to do is fire up a web browser. If possible, I recommend keeping a Windoze system (on another partition, or another PC, whatever) around for support purposes. Their techs will insist on it if you have trouble, even if your cable modem catches on fire. As most everyone knows, the whole MAC address thing is bogus, anyway. Almost anything, including most Windoze NIC drivers, most Linux NIC drivers, and most SOHO routers, will let you program your own MAC address. This also means you don't have to play games with moving NICs between PCs; just note the original MAC and program it as needed. > i saw one guy posting that he set all his connection up manually, w/o DHCP > at all, and that works fine. If you have a static IP address, that will work fine. With DHCP... well, I suppose it might work for a while, but the first you have an address collision, somebody is going to be *very* unhappy. :-) -- Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | The opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do | | not represent the views or policy of any other person or organization. | | All information is provided without warranty of any kind. | ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
Re: comcast and linux
On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > The only catch is that they require you to "register" the hardware MAC > address of your network interface before it will allow you to connect to > anything but their authentication systems. The registration process is > kicked off by a Windows program, but all said program appears to do is fire > up a web browser. This is no longer true. The cable modem MAC needs to be registered, but not the Network Interface anymore. It used to be that way... it's been changed. Ben -- The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. ~ Confucius ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
