Internet Connection

[Cambo105]

Hi everyone, I am very new to Linux and in the interest of just trying it out, I've downloaded the latest version of Knoppix. It runs excellent on my computer (HP dv2000, Core 2 Duo) and with 2 gigs of ram, I can run it directly from the ram to make it even faster. My only problem is I am having a lot of trouble connecting to the internet. I don't know how to connect to the broadband internet at my college and I don't even know where to start. Also any tips on connecting to wireless internet would be appreciated because once I can get my wired connection all set I'd like to be able to connect to wireless as well. Thank you in advance for your help

[Harry Kuhman]

Hi everyone, I am very new to Linux and in the interest of just trying it out, I've downloaded the latest version of Knoppix. It runs excellent on my computer (HP dv2000, Core 2 Duo) and with 2 gigs of ram, I can run it directly from the ram to make it even faster. My only problem is I am having a lot of trouble connecting to the internet. I don't know how to connect to the broadband internet at my college and I don't even know where to start.
If your school configures network connections by DHCP, you may actually already be connected just by booting. Yes, some people have asked for connection help in the past and we later determined that they were connected and just didn't check. If not you may need to set some network parameters by the netcardconfig command. But I can't tell you what those parameters are for your case. It would be best to ask the network administrator what the setting for you should be, or failing that some knowledgeable local technical user.


Also any tips on connecting to wireless internet would be appreciated because once I can get my wired connection all set I'd like to be able to connect to wireless as well. Thank you in advance for your help
Sorry, but wireless support in Knoppix isn't particularly good. Of the several wifi cards that I have, only one worked in Knoppix 4.02 and even that one stopped working with 5.0.1 and up. If you card doesn't seem to be supported there is a very good chance that it is not. I can suggest other Live CDs that have better wifi support than Knoppix that may help. Of course you'll need to kmow things like the network SSID, type of encryption used, and encryption key.

[Cambo105]

I am relatively young (19) and rather new to Linux and my technical knowledge of computers is lacking, so please excuse my ignorance. When I run netcardconfig I am asked for 5 numbers. First, the IP address: which address is this? The one for my school's network or my computer? If its for mine, how do I find it? Then the network mask, broadcast address, default gateway, and nameserver. Basically the same questions apply for all. What are these numbers and where/how do I find them?

Thank you for help in advance, hopefully I'll have knoppix online soon.

[Harry Kuhman]

I am relatively young (19) and rather new to Linux and my technical knowledge of computers is lacking, so please excuse my ignorance. When I run netcardconfig I am asked for 5 numbers. First, the IP address: which address is this? The one for my school's network or my computer? If its for mine, how do I find it? Then the network mask, broadcast address, default gateway, and nameserver. Basically the same questions apply for all. What are these numbers and where/how do I find them?

Thank you for help in advance, hopefully I'll have knoppix online soon.
These are all particular settings for your network connection. The IP address is indeed the IP address that will be assigned to your own computer. I don't have the time to write a full course on IP addressing here, but if you want to learn more about it (worth doing) you can find plenty of information about this on the Internet, a Google search would be a good way to start.

I can't tell you what your IP address will need to be. Many networks use DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) to assign parameters like this automatically at boot time, and on such system Knoppix does a DHCP setup at boot time and is just on the network automatically when it's booted. If DHCP is not used then someone should be telling people who are allowed to use the network what the particular settings should be for their system. Most of these values will need to be determined by the system network administrator. Some things, like the broadcast address, can be figured out from other settings (the network mask and the IP address determine the broadcast address(, but it is usually just give as part of the needed information. So I go back to what I said before, as the network administrator, or some other technically knowledgeable user of that network. One other thing that I could ask: If you don'y use Knoppix but rather use Windows, how do you get the information that you use to set up your networking? The commands to set up a windows system on a network would be different, but the settings would basically be the same.

[Cambo105]

Connecting to the network using windows is much easier, I connect the ethernet cable and windows recognizes the network and then I just have to click on connect, no messing with IP address and the like.

[Harry Kuhman]

Connecting to the network using windows is much easier, I connect the ethernet cable and windows recognizes the network and then I just have to click on connect, no messing with IP address and the like.
That's likely being done by DHCP, which I mentioned in the first post. Are you sure that Knoppix isn't connected also (which I also mentioned)? If it is not, the next step is to determine why. Post the results if the command ifconfig and we can start from there.

[Cambo105]

I have yet to try the DHCP option yet, but by manually entering addresses, I get this.

knoppix@Knoppix:~$ netcardconfig
ifconfig eth1 128.119.26.247 netmask 255.255.254.0 broadcast 128.119.27.255 up
route add default gw 128.119.26.1
SIOCADDRT: File exists
auto lo eth1
Setting Nameserver in /etc/resolv.conf to 128.119.100.83
Adding Nameserver to /etc/resolv.conf: 128.119.100.19
Done.

I'll try DHCP and post the reults.

[Harry Kuhman]

I have yet to try the DHCP option yet, but by manually entering addresses, I get this.....
Well, that certainly looks meaningful. It would seem to be a computer directly on the Internet, which yet again raises the question of why you think you are not on the Internet. But since you say that you set those values manually I have to be a bit more cautious.

Let me be even more clear:
1) Tell us what your settings are from Windows (run ipconfig)

2) Shut down windows and power down your computer completely. Do not do a warm reboot boot. Then start the computer and boot Knoppix. Open a command shell. Do not yet run netcardconfig. Run ifconfig. Tell us the results.

C) Type ping 72.232.180.133 and tell us what result you get. Stopping the ping is an exercise left for the user (what would happen to man's quest for knowledge if we told you everything?)

IV) Once you have the information from 1 2 and C it is fine to go ahead and try netcardconfig and answer the DHCP question yes. Knoppix already did this during boot, but it's worth a shot. Then try 2 and C and and see if anything is different.

[Cambo105]

The only reason I think I'm not connected is I can't access any web page. Thank you for your patience with my ignorance. I'll try these now.

[Cambo105]

1. IPv4 128.119.26.228
Mask 255.255.254.0
Gateway 128.119.26.1

2.
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:D3:A8:91:DF
inet addr:128.119.26.193 Bcast:128.119.27.255 Mask:255.255.254.0
inet6 addr: fe80::216:d3ff:fea8:91df/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1214 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:139332 (136.0 KiB) TX bytes:492 (492.0 b)
Interrupt:16

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1400 (1.3 KiB) TX bytes:1400 (1.3 KiB)

C. ping 72.232.180.133
PING 72.232.180.133 (72.232.180.133) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 72.232.180.133: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=47.2 ms

[Cambo105]

After netacrdconfig...

2. knoppix@Knoppix:~$ ifconfig
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:D3:A8:91:DF
inet addr:128.119.26.193 Bcast:128.119.27.255 Mask:255.255.254.0
inet6 addr: fe80::216:d3ff:fea8:91df/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:985 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:114420 (111.7 KiB) TX bytes:492 (492.0 b)
Interrupt:16

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:32 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:32 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1600 (1.5 KiB) TX bytes:1600 (1.5 KiB)

C. The ping looked the same, but I coudlnt get it to copy and paste like I had before, so I don't have a copy here.

Again thank you for your patience.

[Harry Kuhman]

1. IPv4 128.119.26.228
Mask 255.255.254.0
Gateway 128.119.26.1
This make sense. Windows has set your Internet connection up by DHCP and you're on the Internet.


2.
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:D3:A8:91:DF
inet addr:128.119.26.193 Bcast:128.119.27.255 Mask:255.255.254.0
inet6 addr: fe80::216:d3ff:fea8:91df/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1214 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:139332 (136.0 KiB) TX bytes:492 (492.0 b)
Interrupt:16
OK, this is looking good also. We don't care aboit the local loopback stuff. Knoppix has got an IP address by DHCP. It's different than the address that Windows had, but that's fine. The DHCP server is just giving you an available IP address from the pool and giving you a "lease" on it. It will not give the address out again. If you look at your IP address again under Windows it will likely be different again. The mask is right, and we can see that packets are being sent and received. Unfortunately I have no ipv6 experience and this may well end up being some sort of ipv6 issue, but for now I'll focus on the ipv4 stuff.


C. ping 72.232.180.133
PING 72.232.180.133 (72.232.180.133) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 72.232.180.133: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=47.2 ms
Ah! and here's the big news: You are on the Internet. That ping came back from knoppix.net, way down under.

So your "I can't connect to the Internet" problem is not a "I can't connect to the Internet" problem. But since I don't have any information about just what you are trying to do I'll have to ask more questions before I can tell you much more.


After netacrdconfig...
After the netcardconfig is not important. You were on the Internet before the netcardconfig, you likely were on it again after doing the config. Depending on your DHCP server you might get the same IP address, you might get a new lease on a different one. What I can tell you is to start looking elsewhere and don't keep doing netcardconfigs. And I should also mention, absolutely do not do manual netcardconfigs and put in an old IP address that you got from somewhere, you could very well cause network problems if you use an IP address that the DHCP server has already given to someone else, and worse case the network admin could come looking for you, or might completely block your MAC address from the network. This is part of the reason that I asked about a DHCP server back in my first post and several times since. I'm still at a loss to understand why you apparently are not willing to contact anyone running your school's network. They likely have seen this problem before and probably have support people on staff who's job it is to help you in just this kind of thing.

OK, here's the next test I can give you:

Boot Knoppix again. Confirm that ping 72.232.180.133 still gets a response. (Note that this is ping 72.232.180.133 and not PING 72.232.180.133 , in Linux case is important). Next try ping knoppix.net and let us know if that works. And here is what we will learn: If you get a ping from knoppix.net, then your DNS lookup is working fine, and the problem is very likely with whatever application that you think isn't working, or a EBKAC problem. If you don't get a ping, and that's kind of what I'm expecting, then you have a DNS issue. You local support people may very well be able to help you with this more than I, but you can always post back and see if someone can help you with that if it is the problem.

[Cambo105]

I did contact my school's network admin's, and I was told that Knoppix was not supported, so they couldn't do much for me. However I did confirm DHCP is what my school uses. If I pull up konqueror or iceweasel, I can't access web pages like google.com. I'll try those pings and see what happens, then report back.

[Cambo105]

I did a cold shut down of my computer, booted Knoppix and pinged the two addresses you gave me. These were the results:


PING 72.232.180.133 (72.232.180.133) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 72.232.180.133: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=44.5 ms


PING knoppix.net (72.232.180.133) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 133.180.232.72.static.reverse.ltdomains.com (72.232.180.133): icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=43.4 ms

From what I could tell, these looked pretty promising to me, so I opened iceweasel and eureka, my internet connection worked fine. Previously when I tried this I got a sever error of some sort, but I wasn't shutting down my computer completely first, but this time I powered it down completely, not just a restart fom windows. So with just the simple fix, my problem is solved. Thank you very much for your help, I am very grateful. I learned quite a bit in the process, and I hope to continue this with my use of Knoppix. I'm sure I'll be back.

[Harry Kuhman]

but I wasn't shutting down my computer completely first, but this time I powered it down completely, not just a restart fom windows. So with just the simple fix...
I'm not really sure that the full shut down is needed. To be perfectly honest, I usually do a warn restart and I have never seen your problem. But I wanted to try to be sure that the old IP lease was being given up. If the full shut down had not worked I would have even suggest that you power the system down and wait 10 minutes before booting, just to let the DHCP server figure out that the old IP address/ MAC address was no longer in use. Now that you have things working, you may want to try and see if it indeed is still failing after a warm reboot. If it is still failing that way it would be interesting to look at ifconfig of the failing system to see if you can spot what is wrong, but you might find that you don't really need a cold boot.

Thanks for posting back and letting us know the issue is resolved.

If you do need to try for help with the local admin's people again, you might try just saying that you are running Linux rather than Knoppix. Of course, they will not likely be able to help with most Linux applications, but I would have expected then to not brush you off for simple trying-to-access-the-network questions.

Any time that you think you have a connectivity problem, two of the first things that you should think to do ate look at ifconfig to see if it makes sens, and try to ping another system. I suggest first pinging by IP address and then by URL (if there is a URL). Not all computers will respond to a ping, but if they do it's a confirmation that the network is running and that you can look elsewhere for the problem. This can be a handy tool when trying to get more complex things talking to each other across the network; if you can't ping each other then figure out why that is before spending a lot of time with the complex application.

Good luck.

[Cambo105]

I booted Knoppix after a warm restart, and I'm posting this message, so I guess I don't need to do a cold restart. Interestingly enough, I received another email from my school's admins. and I was told that they are indeed using DHCP (something I know by now) but that they could do little to help me because they don't support any Linux systems. My issues seem to be resolved, thank you very much for your patience and help.