How to make my LAN work?

[bokaroseani]

When I tried to use netcardconfig to configure my network card it asks me whether I wasnt to use DHCP broadcast. What does that mean? I just burnt the Knoppix 4.0.2 CD and booted my computer but it doesnt automatically get me connected to the web. What else do I need to do to get started with internet browsing? Can anyone help?

[bokaroseani]

I have another question... how are we supposed to have a root's password setup. I tried to use Ethereal but it asks me the root's password. I am a complete novice in Linux as you can see.

A question somewhat unrelated to this section... my CD-drive is making a lot of sound (as if the CD is touching some surface while it is rotating. I did not hear so much noise when I watch a DVD movie for example. Is it because I never noticed it while watching movies or is it something to do with the Knoppix running from the CD. I am using an IBM Thinkpad T20. Thanks.

[Harry Kuhman]

When I tried to use netcardconfig .....Can anyone help?
We have no details about your network, equipment, or even type of Internet service that you have. Without that I can only give you my stock answer (which is still good advice). With any high speed connection, never run without a router. The router will take care of all required setup for you and you will be on the Internet as soon as you boot, not setup needed at all (and you will be much safer behind a hardware firewall, particularly when running Windows).

Your second posting really doesn't belong in the networking section or in this thread. Don't be afraid of startibng a fresh thread for a new and unrelated question, and try to put it in the most appropriate forum. You may also find that a little reading before posting will often get you answers a lot faster than posting and waiting.

[bokaroseani]

Thanks Harry. I will post my second posting in the hardware section which will be more appropriate.

Going back to my first posting, I still have not figured out what is DHCP broadcasting. I chose to have DHCP broadcasting and my LAN works. But I still would like to know what DHCP broadcasting is. CAn anyone help?

[Harry Kuhman]

Going back to my first posting, I still have not figured out what is DHCP broadcasting. I chose to have DHCP broadcasting and my LAN works. But I still would like to know what DHCP broadcasting is. CAn anyone help?

Still hard to tel you exactly what is happening without knowing your setup. DHCP is automnatically giving your NIC it's settings but where this is coming from depends on your setup. For a simple thing like DHCP you might want to go to Google and search on DHCP rather than expect people to type you an article. IT's surprising that you needed to run netcardconfig at all, since Knoppix will do an automatic setup at boot time. Are you sure this was even needed? Did you try using the network without it, and if so what happened?

[bokaroseani]

Sorry, I dont know much about networking. So I cannot tell you what my network setup is like. I know one thing that I use a switch to split my ethernet connection into 4 ports so that all of my four computers can access the internet. I dont have a home network setup between all my four computers...I know that for sure. Do you think a switch is good enough or a router is absolutely needed?

I did a Google search about DHCP and am now assured that I didnt do anything terrible to my system by accepting a DHCP broadcast. Thanks and sorry for my silly question about what DHCP is.

I am not quite sure that I had problems with my netwok before running the netcardconfig. One thing that I can tell you for sure is that I couldnt open any webpage on mozilla firefox before I ran netcardconfig. It gave me a message saying that the link could not be found (something like that). But once I ran netcardconfig, I could then start opening webpages. So I am assuming that that was the problem.

Thanks for your time.

[Harry Kuhman]

Sorry, I dont know much about networking. So I cannot tell you what my network setup is like. I know one thing that I use a switch to split my ethernet connection into 4 ports so that all of my four computers can access the internet. I dont have a home network setup between all my four computers...I know that for sure. Do you think a switch is good enough or a router is absolutely needed?
I'm rather surprised that a switch would work at all. It would mean that your ISP would have to provide multiple IP addresses for you. Some will, but will charge you extra for this each month, when a router can be had for a one time charge, often less than $10 arfter rebate in the U.S.

I also have no idea why you say that you don't have a hone network setup between your 4 computers. You previously used the term LAN (Local Area Network). Sounds like you do have a network if all computers get different IP addresses, but you may not have any resources shared.

I feel a router is much more important that just using a switch. And routers have become dirt cheap (if we were in the same city I would actually trade you a router for the switch); switches are handy behind the router if you have lots of computers, but they don't do NAT translation for you, they don't hand out addreses by DHCP, they don't take care of connecting to the service provider for you, and they don't provide a hardware firewall that is extremely inportant when putting any computer on a high speed connection, particularly when running windows. Several studies have shown that the typical computer attached to a high speed connection without a firewall will be infected in 4 minutes or less. People can't even reinstall from the disc and then try to go online to get the dubious security updates without getting infected without a hardware firewall.

With a router you have a firewall that stops incoming attacks before they get to the targeted computer. Since you didn't request anything from the attacker, the router has no why to know which computer to send unexpected incoming packets to and just drops them. Of course, you can deliberately forward packets to some system (for example, if you want to run your own web server), but unwanted and unexpected packets are discarded. You can. of course, still download bad files and infect yourself, but external exploits can be blocked. A software firewall, particlularly the awful Microsoft firewall but really any software firewall isn't enough). I also use a software firewall, but would never run on a high speed connection without a router.


I am not quite sure that I had problems with my netwok before running the netcardconfig. One thing that I can tell you for sure is that I couldnt open any webpage on mozilla firefox before I ran netcardconfig. It gave me a message saying that the link could not be found (something like that). But once I ran netcardconfig, I could then start opening webpages. So I am assuming that that was the problem.
I'm less certain of that, but it would be interesting to know. Next time that you reboot, before you run netcardconfig, try just clicking on one of the links in the Konquror windows that opens automatically (the initial text displayed is from a local file, but the links will take you to web pages). If the links work then you are on the web. If they do not then it would be interesting to open a shell and note what the ifconfig command tells you about your connection before and after the netcardconfig. I can't think of any reason why Knoppix wouldn't work with the automatic DHCP at boot time, but then work fine when you do nothing more than a netcardconfig and accept DHCP that time.