USB cable modem

[Harry Kuhman]

What I now understand about a router makes me want to be a proud owner of one, if you could recommend one or some brands, that would be cool!

I'll be gald to give you information and advice on routers. I've used and own several.

I saw some really nice features that I liked a lot in Dlink routers, and the last one that I bought was D-link. But I'm very disapointed in the model that I bought. (It was the 514 and D-link has since discontinued it, although there may still be some retailers trying to unload them). Some of the features I bought it for never worked right (although you couldn't tell this from the manual before buyng it). So I'm somewhat soured on D-link, although I realize that other models might be good choices for some users.

The different brands of routers have a lot of different features, but all basicall do the same thing. Many of these features are things that are very handy for some users and completely useless for others, so doing some research and deciding what you want may be very handy here. For example, some but not all manufacturers support a feature that would let you enable and disable Internet access by time of day and even day of week. For parents with kids with their own computer this may be a very handy way to limit Internet access, other may not have any use for this. Some router makers (such as D-link) allow you to lock a local computer to a particular IP address (but still use DHCP to assign the address), but many makers (such as SMC and Netgear) may make it harder to lock an IP address to a local computer. This matters to me because I occasionally want to run a server and need to know what IP address a system will come up on when I reboot it, but it may not matter at all to others).

One major difference is that there are wired routers and wireless routers. In general the wireless routers still have 4 wired ports to them, so if they were the same price wireless would almost always be a better choice. And the routers have come down so much in price that they frequently are the same price, or wireless is even less!

There are many different types of wireless (wifi) systems. 802.11b is the base standard for home use. It's rated at 11mb/s. Just about all faster equipment intended for home use will downgrade to it. It is by far the lowest price. 802.11g is fatster (rated at 54mb/s). It is usually more expensive but I have on occasion seen 802.11g routers under $10 after rebate in the U.S. I'm not going to try to translate that into hoser money, but you guys usually can get in on the same rebates we can (maybe not always though, eh?) There are newer and faster systems too, although the standards for them have not been finalized and so equipment for them may only work for one manufacturer. Unless you have an application where you really can justify high speed wireless I would suggest sticking with low cost units that have standards, And remember that if you are using the network connection primarily for connecting to the Internet then your ISP will be the bottleneck, not the wireless speed. Also, be warned that while there is some wireless support in Linux for some wireless cards, not all cards are or can be supported. And more 802.11b cards are supported than faster cards. Still, even if you don't plan on using wireless at all, it's nice to have if a friend with a notebook with wireless capability visits, particularly if you didn't pay anything extra for it.

My real advice would be to shop around a little on your own and post back what you are looking at. Manuals for most routers are available on their manufacturers websites and are worth reading before buying, particularly if you are shopping for features. Or if you find a wirelss router at $2.99 after rebate (as I have seen recently), snatch it up with the full understanding that you might buy something else later but this first router will make a great learning tool, and don't hesitate to replace it if you find something else you like more that is reasonably priced.

OK, to clarify: ethernet jack, LAN jack, same thing?

Ethernet has used many different connections over the years, as well as different types of wires. I still have some ethernet cards around with thicknet and thinnet (coax) connectors on them, although it's be about 5 years since I last connected systems up with coax (I'm sure there is still some out there in operation though). The current standard is a 10/100 twisted pair system using RJ-45 connectors and CAT-5 or better wire, although there are 10/100/1000 systems widely available and even faster ethernet systems over optical cable. But the thing on the back of your motherboard that you call a LAN jack is certainly a RJ-45 ethernet connection. You'll need to check the MB documentation to see if it supports 10/100 or 10/100/1000. If it's 10/100 then Knoppix very likely will support the chip set used, if 10/100/1000 then maybe, maybe not, the easy way to find out is to try.

[Phar_Ted]

I just did some research on my rj 45 LAN jack, and yes I've seen for myself the info on this, it is for ethernet. I'm mucho clearo now!
I'm going to have to buy a cable, a twisted one like you said is the kind to get. And of course a router, I'll read the package for linux compatability (or are all routers compatable?)

And also I would have to agree that USB is slower for the net, for high speed cable I get bogged down quite a bit, and my comp is only a few months old and is fairly powerful. I can't wait to see if there is a difference, perhaps that's the answer to that problem.

[Harry Kuhman]

I just did some research on my rj 45 LAN jack, and yes I've seen for myself the info on this, it is for ethernet. I'm mucho clearo now!
I'm going to have to buy a cable, a twisted one like you said is the kind to get. And of course a router, I'll read the package for linux compatability (or are all routers compatable?)

And also I would have to agree that USB is slower for the net, for high speed cable I get bogged down quite a bit, and my comp is only a few months old and is fairly powerful. I can't wait to see if there is a difference, perhaps that's the answer to that problem.

You'll want a CAT-5 (or CAT-5e) cable. Prices can vary greatly; some dealers here in the U.S. will try to charge $29.99 for a modest length one, while some small shops will sell you one for $2.99 to $4.99 and I've found them for 99 cents mail order. I'm not clear on why you need to buy one though, you said you had your computer connected by Ethernet before so in theory you should have the cable. Don't look for the word twisted, look for Cat-5. Or just go to a small computer store that you trust will not cheat you and tell the salesguy what you need. Radio Shack and Best Buy sales people will not have a clue and will try hard ti get you to buy that $29.99 cable. Cables are usually available in a variety of lengths, 1 foot, 6 feet, 10 to 15 feet, 25 feet and 50 feet being common sizes, so do know the length you want. I generally use a short cable between the router and modem and locate the router near the modem, but some users may have different needs.


Most routers will come with a short ethernet capbe (1 to 6 feet in length), so you may not need to buy another one if adding a router. (My first Linksys didn't include a cable but all other since that have, and Linksys may even include a cable now). In fact, with the crazy high prices some stores want for a ethernet cable (or even a USB cable for a printer), it may actually be cheaper to buy a router with a cable and then throw away the router than to just buy the cable! You can, of course, buy the parts and make your own, but a good pair of crimpers is expensixe and not usually worth doing this unless you plan on making a number of cables.


Routers will not mention Linux capability on the package. In general all of these devices will work with Windows, Apple, Linux, or any other ethernet based system. I had one old Belkin router that did not do DHCP properly with Knoppix. The router could be made to work, but you had to use netcardconfig to set up the ethernet settings after DHCP failed. The Belkin support people had heavy Indian accents and no clue, although they could talk you through manually setting up the router if you could translate their Windows oriented instructions into Linux settiings.. I've used routers from SMC, Netgear, Linksys, D-link, and NexLan with no problems, and the Belkin that I had problems with is no longer made. While there is always a chance that you might run into Linux problems (the manufacturers generally only test their products with Windows), my advice is to expect that you will not. You are much more likely to have other hardware or firmware issues with a router than Linux compatabilty issues.

[Harry Kuhman]

And also I would have to agree that USB is slower for the net, for high speed cable I get bogged down quite a bit, and my comp is only a few months old and is fairly powerful. I can't wait to see if there is a difference, perhaps that's the answer to that problem.

Again, if you are talking about this under windows (since you apparently haven't been running this way under Linux), it is much more likely that the biggest cause of these problems is spyware, adware, spamware and other things that have infected your Windows system. The USB connection will slow you down, but is small potatoes conpaired to what someone can do infecting your system. A software firewall is a start (I always use one under Windows), but it can't protect you against all Windows threats.

[Phar_Ted]

Yeah, it bugs me that when I turn on and boot up my comp I see smilies makin' ugly faces at me, all the time
And lately my comp fails to boot up 2/10 X.

And the thing is is that I keep as best I can to eliminate spyware and such, but they are very persistant.

I just put IE behind my firewall again, so I'll see if slows down (the ads), Firefox is much better, my first step to open license. Seems when I give IE permission to run I get swamped with ads and spyware.

What a pest!

Thanks a lot for your help, you've assisted me very well, and I am much clearer now, my last post was submitted at the same time as yours so, some of my Q's were already answered in your last post.

[Phar_Ted]

Cat-5 cable, unless router comes with one, OK I'll look for that stuff then.

About my cable, are you going to come over here and help me find it?

Bring your shovel, it's buried somewhere

[Harry Kuhman]

And the thing is is that I keep as best I can to eliminate spyware and such, but they are very persistant.

I just put IE behind my firewall again, so I'll see if slows down (the ads), Firefox is much better, my first step to open license. Seems when I give IE permission to run I get swamped with ads and spyware.

LOL!!! If you use IE or Outlook you are just begging for problems. Not that not using them will save you from all issues, but these are well known weak points. And although you think things are behind your software filewall, the truth is that much of the buggy winsows TCP/IP stack remains exposed and must process incoming packets before they ever get to your software filrewall. With a router you have a NAT firewall system (maybe more, some routers also do nice things like stateful packet inspection). The router has to decide which of the computers on the Local Network to send packets to. If you are visiting a website, for example, it knows which computer sent the request so it know where to forward the incoming packets (this should make it clear that the router can't protect you if you visit websites owned or attacked by evil hackers). But if a hacker just is searching the Internet for vulnerable systems (which happens all of the time), the router will have no reason to forward unexpected packets to any local system and, unless you tell it otherwise, will discard them. The packets can't infect your computer if they don't reach it.

[Phar_Ted]

Been using Firefox for somewhat over a year now, pretty much ad free at first and I like ad block but new ads are being made with different url's all the time.
What I mean is advertisers are catching on to people switching to FF so they make ads to hit FF now more often.
However considering it still runs on windows I'm not surprised, got to hand it to the Moz people, way, way better than IE, even on Billy's turf.

[Phar_Ted]

Well, I switched my USB to Ethernet LAN line, and I must say it is an incredible difference!
Much faster page load times!
Found my old Cat-5 cable under the bed.

And the coolest thing yet, I am making this post through Knoppix, yes I am.

I'm such a rebel!

Next project, get it on HD.

[robibob]

Hi Phar Ted

I am not sure if this helps you, but I am running an USB cable modem (Ambit 350000) with CD-Knoppix-4.0.2.
Each time I boot up I have to type in the Root Shell

modprobe usbnet
netcardconfig
Then choose "Yes"

After that it's running just great.

Actually I do not know why I have to type this each boot up.....

..so have fun.