Cable Modems

Summary: Contributed by John Paul Robson

  • PPP over Ethernet
  • @home networks
Section index - KB index

Time Warner's ~RoadRunner Cable modem in Memphis (and other areas probably) with Linux-Mandrake 6.1 HOWTO

Most of this HOWTO should work in any city with ~RoadRunner or any cable modem (maybe even DSL) but I have not tested it outside of Memphis, TN.

What you'll need:

  • Linux-Mandrake 6.1 installed
  • dhcpcd (installed by Linux-Mandrake)
  • rrlogin.c (only if you're using ~RoadRunner in Memphis and maybe other area's)
  • dhcp server ip address and default gateway ip address (I'll explain how to get these in a minute).
Time Warner supplies you with a 3com 905b card when they do the install, you will need to load its driver at boot. You can do this by hand every time you boot at a terminal by typing: 
modprobe 3c59x
,or the easier way we'll add it to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit . If you are using a different network card you will need to load the appropriate module for it.

Before you start dhcpcd you need to link /etc/dhcpc to /etc/dhcpcd by typing at the terming: 

cd /etc;ln -s dhcpcd dhcpc
,through 2 installations of Linux-Mandrake 6.1 myself it hasn't created this directory for some reason (or either they made a typo, and the dhcpcd-ethx.info can't be wrote to).

Next we need to start the Dhcp client daemon, you can do this at the terminal by simply typing dhcpcd , but we'll add it to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit also.

If you never turn your computer off for more than an hour at a time you probably won't have to ever authenticate yourself with ~RoadRunner again, but if you do shutdown your computer often you will need to do one of two things:

  • boot up another operating system and use a ~TimeWarner supported login program, then reboot to linux
or the preferred way
  • download rrlogin.c and use it to login. You will need to edit it before you can compile and use it. You will need to get the address of your dhcp server and default gateway in one of two ways:
  • boot up another operating system and run the program: winipcfg
  • open up /etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-eth0.info (if you have more than one ethernet card in you computer this file may be named something different eg: dhcpcd-eth1.info), take note DHCPSIADDR and GATEWAY. Open up rrlogin.c and edit the lines at the top:
    ~#define AUTHHOST "" // fill in dhcp server here
    ~#define PROXYHOST "" // fill in gateway here
you should have something like:
~#define AUTHHOST "172.16.0.185"
~#define PROXYHOST "24.95.100.1"

Okay now we need to compile rrlogin.c by typing the following command at a terminal: 

gcc rrlogin.c -o rrlogin
,and now move it to somewhere like '/sbin' by typing: 
mv rrlogin /sbin/
.
Now we'll create a password file to save us from typing in our login and password every time, you will NEED to put it somewhere SECURE so that nobody will be able to read it. A good place for this is in '/root/.rrlogin'. Create the file '/root/.rrlogin' and put your login name on the first line, and password on the second line and save it.
Now to login at a terminal type: 
rrlogin /root/.rrlogin 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null
,or we can just add it to 'rc.sysinit' to make life easier.

Okay now you should be able to get online fine.

    • Note that this should work for any glibc based GNU/Linux, or any Unix for that matter.
section index

Ivan J. Wagner adds this comment about PPPOE:

>

>My local phone company, Bell Atlantic, switched from using static IP addresses for ADSL service to this new protocol called "PPP over Ethernet (pppoe)". This PPPOE protocol means that you can no longer just plug in your DSL modem and go, you now have to install some drivers which are only available for Windows and Mac. SUSE has a page (in English, TB) with info and links to various GNU/Linux PPPOE implementations. Many xDSL providers are apparently switching to PPPOE and it can be found not only in the U.S. but in Canada and Germany and probably lots of other places as well.

>

>If you are considering getting xDSL it is very important that you get an EXTERNAL DSL modem, there is no known support for internal modems nor is anybody believed to be writing any.

section index

Todd ~VanDen Broecke describes the setup procedure for the @home-network in Ontario, Canada (edited):

You can connect to rogers one of two ways, Static and DHCP. I chose Static1.1

To do this you need to know all necessary info from rogers, such as

  • Your IP-Number
  • Gateway (GWAY)
  • DNS server addresses
  • the subdomain (BIG MUST) eg: lndn1.on.wave.home.ca
  • the control number (starts with cr and ends with -a eg: cr1234567-a)
  • the HTTP proxy address
{...} Once you have this info, you can set it up as if it were a network.

First make sure your network card is recognized by your system at boot-up. If you missed this type 

dmesg
at the console. You should see something like this:

N*000 ethercard probed at 0x340: 00 54 67 4c b6 8c eth0: NE2000 found at: 0x340 using IRQ 10

If not, read up on your NIC and the HOWTOs for networking. Also make sure your NIC is assigned and not using ~PnP mode.

Once you have the network up, then goto your netconf or netcfg. One or the other will do1.1
I used 'netcfg' and I will use that as the example.

Please note, this is only an example and that these entries really don't exist1.1

Under Names:

Hostname: cr1234567-a
––>the Control number
Domain: city.on.wave.home.com
––> subdomain
Search for Hostnames in additional Domains:
(nothing)
Nameservers: 24.111.180.13
––> Primary DNS
24.111.180.14
––> Secondry DNS

Under Hosts:

Click 'add' then enter:

IP: 24.111.180.13
––> Primary DNS
Name: city.on.wave.home.com
––> subdomain
Nicknames:
(nothing)

Under Interfaces: (click 'add' or 'edit eth0')

IP: 24.112.111.1
––> your IP address (assigned by rogers)
Netmask: 255.255.255.224
–– also assigned by rogers

Under Routing:

Default Gateway: 24.114.190.113
––> Gway
Default Gateway Device: eth0

(click 'add')
Device: eth0

network: 24.112.111.1
––> your IP
Netmask: 255.255.255.224

Gateway: 24.114.190.113

OK, now you should be ready to test it1.1 At this point I restarted GNU/Linux (have to install another NIC).

Goto the console and type 

ping 24.111.180.13
to see if your can find the DNS server. Then try to 
ping www.netscape.com
to see if you can resolve names.

Thetas it1 The rest of the setup is exactly the same as a ~WinDOZE setup, in Netscape.

section index


Related Resources:

Nine 'easy' steps to setup your @Home network under Mandrake
DSL HOWTO
Cablemodeminfo.Com

Revision / Modified: June 21, 2001 / July 25, 2000
Author: John Paul Robson et al.

Legal: This page is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License. Standard disclaimers of warranty apply. Copyright LSTB and Mandrakesoft.

KB - Cable Modems
Version 1.3 last modified by AdminWiki on 22/03/2004 at 09:44

 


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