[oldunion]

My schools service is only for a few windows based platforms via cable modem. I had mandrake 10 installed and working fine, but no internet. After not being able to figure out why it wouldnt connect i contacted them and they told me linux was not supported. Is there a way to get around this and use linux through this cable modem somehow?

[Whiteskin]

It really depends. Mostly on how the cable modem is connected, and if it's using a specialized driver.

[oldunion]

Thank you for the kindly reply, could you be more specific as to what kind of information i would need to acquire in order to know if i could indeed get to the web from this modem.

el duke

[Whiteskin]

How is it connecting to your computer? (IE USB, Ethernet, parallel/serial port?, PCI card)
Did you have to install a speciallized driver, or did it just 'work' out of the box for your windows PC?

[oldunion]

no driver was required. it works flawlessly (well as good as a windows box can) on xp pro. connects to cable modem via ethernet port. my current laptop is a piece of trash. new one will be exemplary, dual boot with xp and mandrake or maybe just mandrake. need to know in advance what i need to do before i connect to online.

el duke

[Whiteskin]

The way it sounds, nothing. As long as you have registered your mac adress with your ISP (assuming that it's needed), then a simple 'dhcpd eth0' should get your card running. If there is no eth0, or your card isn't working, then a kernel recompile may be in order to add support for your card.

[oldunion]

That sounds promising. I am a linux newb, so could you get specific about what i need to do to make it happen once i install Mnix10. Also i am wondering what my computer will appear as on a network to any observer.

[Whiteskin]

Mandrake? I'm not sure about graphical (I have a tendancy to be old skool, command line), however, if you open a terminal, then use the command 'su' to become root (giving your root password (if you already are root, I may have to smack you over the head for running as root)), then type in dh (hit tab 2x now). There should be one or two entries that come up, dhcpd and/or dhclient. Use the coomand dhclient as is, or dhcpd eth0, or if you can manage to install it, there's a nifty tool called pump that's an all in one command, however I hear it's being phased out (design limitations)