[UFO Chicago] make linux connect to the evil attbi

[Peter A. Peterson II]

Quoting j.bare:
> I am your worst newbie nightmare and I need some help connecting to the
> internet through ATTBI. Right now I have my XXXXX machine online.

So, first of all, you seriously underrate yourself. You're not my
worst newbie nightmare -- you write well, you explain what you're
doing, and you seem to be making logical conclusions about your
computer systems.

Nevertheless,


> eth0 is dynamicly assigned by the ISP
> eth1 is 192.168.0.1
> eth1 connects to the switch which connects the following
> my compaq desktop is 192.168.0.66 (this is online now and has a ATTBI IP
> address at this moment)
> my old laptop is 192.168.0.65
> my new IBM laptop is (when connected to our LAN) 192.168.0.67

Ok, looks good so far, although you might want to set up dhcpd on eht1
so that anyone/thing that connects to your switch gets an address
automatically.

> # ifconfig -a
> 
> shows me
> lo - inet addr 127.0.0.1
> 	UP LOOPBACK RUNNING
> eth1 - inet addr 192.168.0.1
> 	UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST
> eth0 - does not have an entry that says inet addr at all
> 
> eth0 does have a hardware address so I think RH 7.2 sees it and has a driver
> for it

This is the kind of logical inference that is totally un-newbielike --
so don't be so hard on yourself. 

Alright. Is your Vim Wenders '98 box getting it's ip dynamically? (It
would seem so, from what you've said so far.) Are you sure your
ethernet cord is good? 

Have you tried running the dhcp-client manually? Become root (or use
sudo!) and install dhcp-client (if it isn't installed) or pump (which
is older and in general shouldn't be used).

Try this:

# dhclient -e -d eth0

or 

# pump -R -i eth0

And let us know what it says.

What happens if you reverse the lines in your networking config to
make eth0 your internal nic and eth1 your dynamic outside link? Does
it work, or is the problem specific to one adaptor?

> What I suspect is happening is that dhcpcd is sending the broadcast but DHCP
> server at my ISP is either (1) sending the information but being denied by
> my firewall, or (2) the ISP's DHCP server is not responding because it has
> already assigned an IP to my MAC address; that being the cable modem.

1. Why would it be denied by your firewall? Can you turn off the
firewall temporarily and test it? Why would your Winders box get it
then but not your GNU/Linux box?

2. Does your cable modem get the dynamic address, or does the PC?
Again, if your windows box is successfully able to renew it's dhcp
address, your linux box should be just as easily able to do the same.

HTH,

Peter

PS: Another total shot in the dark -- is eth0 a 10-base T adaptor
rather than a 100-base T adaptor? Some hardware is not properly able
to negotiate down to 10-meg (even though it says that it can), and so
the network won't work, no matter what you do. Swapping the configs
and devices should make this clear if it is the case.

-- 
Peter A. Peterson II, technician and musician.
---=[ http://tastytronic.net/~pedro/ ]=---