Richard England wrote:
> I'm looking into entering the 21st century and need some help finding out how
> to go about setting up an ADSL connection at my home. Can anyone give me some
> good novice references for what is required for a safe connection in
> the way of cable modems, routers, hardware firewalls, and how this is
> all connected?
Usual advice is to get a hardware "ADSL router" that connects to one or
more computers via Ethernet or (possibly) wireless Ethernet. Usually
they'll have an onboard Ethernet switch, too, allowing you to plug in
maybe four computers directly, and more if you use other switches.
The hardware router does all the talking to ADSL, and Fedora or other
non-Windows operating systems can use a standard Ethernet connection.
The router will do NAT (allowing multiple computers to access the
Internet at the same time, while only needing one "real" IP address),
and act as a basic firewall. They're almost always configurable by
connecting a computer to the router, allowing the computer to pick up an
IP address from the router's on-board DHCP server, and then connecting a
web browser to the router's on-board HTTP server. Then you just follow
the prompts and plug in the data you got from your ISP.
So that's
phone line -> ADSL port on the router <- Ethernet cable -> PC
^----Ethernet cable -> PC
If you're using ADSL, you *won't* be using a cable modem.
Wireless security is another topic -- do you need advice on that?
James.
--
E-mail address: james | Went to see the Rugby. Swansea are still sponsored by
@westexe.demon.co.uk | EDS. They are still dropping the ball, fumbling every
| opportunity and making idiots of themselves in public.
| Is this co-incidence? -- Alan Cox
