It took a while...
Dec. 22nd, 2001 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpI finally got out of the store around 1 pm. The highlight of the day was the customer from New York (on the basis of post cards he sent) who had just the slightest Slavic accent and whose handwriting was characteristically Russian.
"Hmm," I intoned, glancing at the post cards as I threw them into a USPS box, "Russian handwriting."
The fellow's eyes nearly popped out of his face. "H-How do you know?"
"It just looks Russian, is all," say I, in my best country-bumpkin imitation. (Some claim it is no great stretch.)
I am a meanie.
* * *
After more false starts than you'd find in an auto junkyard, I finally got the router hooked up to my home network. Let me see, what do I want to remember of the saga that might be of interest to fellow sufferers?
Something bad happened to my old Dell 120, requiring, I think a reinstall of Windows 98. No time for that now, though. In brief, the network card wasn't being recognized (it didn't appear if I did a 'route print' command, and I could not add it with the 'route' command).
So, I brought down my eSlate from upstairs and tried to have it speak to the router. Unfortunately, the router's default IP address is 192.168.1.1 (with a netmask of 255.255.255.0) while the eSlate's networking parameters are, um, different (hint: my netmask is 255.255.255.224).
No connection.
So, I hook up one of my new Dell machines which establishes communications with the router immediately. I change the router's default IP address to match the scheme used by the eSlate. Success, except now, the Dell can't talk to the router anymore.
I reattach the eSlate. No joy, even after fiddling with what I think are the appropriate commands to have the eSlate "see" the router. So, I reset the router to its default state (press recessed button, recite proper incantation, and sacrifice a ...). Reattach the new Dell. This time, I'll leave the default IP on the router alone.
It turns out that the DHCP server built into the router has assigned the new Dell an IP address of 192.168.1.100. It turns out the router's DHCP service can be set to start at a certain point (100 is the default), which means that I can leave all of the static IPs I've assigned to the machines in my office.
Opening the floodgate to the Internet is pretty darned easy. As far as I can see, there is no need for any kind of special software; certainly there is no need for Windows to get connected, as the router does the job just fine (remember to enable PPPoD). I was one happy camper when I could get something off of the Internet using the new Dell.
Next step: connect my desktop, which is networked to a hub via an old 3Com Ethernet card that's equipped with a BNC connector.
I eventually figured out that if I connect the "Uplink" port on the router to one of the ports on my ancient hub, then my desktop (and in theory, the rest of my motley collection of hardware,... I haven't tried yet) can "see" the router, assuming the appropriate gateway address (i.e., the router) is entered on each machine.
One last obstacle. Though my desktop could ping the heck out of my router and the new Dell, I could not ping anything "out there." It eventually dawned on me that there was no DNS on my desktop (I could ping the DNS servers by IP address).
Eventually, by fiddling with this and that, I figured out that if I elect to allow the router to assign my desktop's IP address via DHCP, then it will also set up the DNS for the machine as well. Seeing as I have elected to keep a static IP on the desktop, it would appear I must also fend for the desktop's DNS as well. I solved that little conundrum using the Gordian knot method: I entered the previously snarfed addresses of the DNS servers currently serving my new Dell's connection by hand as a setting for my desktop's TCP/IP connection.
I shall have to do the same (set 192.168.1.1 as the gateway and enter DNS information) for other machines on the network.
It may not be pretty, but it works. The next step, when I get to it, is going to be to do a thorough test of net access from a Linux box. There are some router capabilities that are going to make that fun.
Cheers...
"Hmm," I intoned, glancing at the post cards as I threw them into a USPS box, "Russian handwriting."
The fellow's eyes nearly popped out of his face. "H-How do you know?"
"It just looks Russian, is all," say I, in my best country-bumpkin imitation. (Some claim it is no great stretch.)
I am a meanie.
After more false starts than you'd find in an auto junkyard, I finally got the router hooked up to my home network. Let me see, what do I want to remember of the saga that might be of interest to fellow sufferers?
Something bad happened to my old Dell 120, requiring, I think a reinstall of Windows 98. No time for that now, though. In brief, the network card wasn't being recognized (it didn't appear if I did a 'route print' command, and I could not add it with the 'route' command).
So, I brought down my eSlate from upstairs and tried to have it speak to the router. Unfortunately, the router's default IP address is 192.168.1.1 (with a netmask of 255.255.255.0) while the eSlate's networking parameters are, um, different (hint: my netmask is 255.255.255.224).
No connection.
So, I hook up one of my new Dell machines which establishes communications with the router immediately. I change the router's default IP address to match the scheme used by the eSlate. Success, except now, the Dell can't talk to the router anymore.
I reattach the eSlate. No joy, even after fiddling with what I think are the appropriate commands to have the eSlate "see" the router. So, I reset the router to its default state (press recessed button, recite proper incantation, and sacrifice a ...). Reattach the new Dell. This time, I'll leave the default IP on the router alone.
It turns out that the DHCP server built into the router has assigned the new Dell an IP address of 192.168.1.100. It turns out the router's DHCP service can be set to start at a certain point (100 is the default), which means that I can leave all of the static IPs I've assigned to the machines in my office.
Opening the floodgate to the Internet is pretty darned easy. As far as I can see, there is no need for any kind of special software; certainly there is no need for Windows to get connected, as the router does the job just fine (remember to enable PPPoD). I was one happy camper when I could get something off of the Internet using the new Dell.
Next step: connect my desktop, which is networked to a hub via an old 3Com Ethernet card that's equipped with a BNC connector.
I eventually figured out that if I connect the "Uplink" port on the router to one of the ports on my ancient hub, then my desktop (and in theory, the rest of my motley collection of hardware,... I haven't tried yet) can "see" the router, assuming the appropriate gateway address (i.e., the router) is entered on each machine.
One last obstacle. Though my desktop could ping the heck out of my router and the new Dell, I could not ping anything "out there." It eventually dawned on me that there was no DNS on my desktop (I could ping the DNS servers by IP address).
Eventually, by fiddling with this and that, I figured out that if I elect to allow the router to assign my desktop's IP address via DHCP, then it will also set up the DNS for the machine as well. Seeing as I have elected to keep a static IP on the desktop, it would appear I must also fend for the desktop's DNS as well. I solved that little conundrum using the Gordian knot method: I entered the previously snarfed addresses of the DNS servers currently serving my new Dell's connection by hand as a setting for my desktop's TCP/IP connection.
I shall have to do the same (set 192.168.1.1 as the gateway and enter DNS information) for other machines on the network.
It may not be pretty, but it works. The next step, when I get to it, is going to be to do a thorough test of net access from a Linux box. There are some router capabilities that are going to make that fun.
Cheers...
