Re: [Devil-linux-develop] Future improvement ideas. (resend/new thread :)

[Friedrich L. <fl...@fl...>]

Bruce Smith wrote:
> How about a (simple?) improvement that would allow Devil Linux to work
> "out of the box" (no configuration) for many broadband users?
>  
> User Requirements:
> o  Broadband (cable/DSL) with Ethernet connection w/NO authorization,
>    which gets IP from ISP via DHCP.  This covers MANY cases.

Sorry, but that might be true for DSL in the US but definitely
not for europe. Here you either need PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet),
PPPoA (PPP over ATM) or PPTP (Point to Point Tunneling Protocol)
to get you hooked upt to the net - of course with authentification.

For Cable providers here that's true - maybe not 100% - and they
need the computers MAC address for their DHCP server.


> o  Ethernet cables and hub/switch.
> o  PC with 2 NIC's, 64 MB memory, CDROM drive, Floppy drive, etc.
> 
> Instructions:
> o  Plug one PC NIC into cable/DSL modem, other into HUB.
> o  Download & burn DL ISO.
> o  Insert _BLANK_ FORMATTED floppy.
> o  Set PC to boot from CDROM.
> o  Boot.  That's all!
>    (if it doesn't work, reverse Ethernet cables and try again)
> 
> What would it take for DL to do this?
> 
> o  Simple, default, iptables script that does masquerading.
> o  Simple, default, dhcpd.conf file for a private IP range.
> o  New/default option in /etc/sysconfig/nic/ifcfg-eth[01]:
>    MODULE=probe
>    where it tries a few popular NIC modules.
> o  During boot, if it finds an EMPTY/FORMATTED floppy, it
>    copies the default configuration to the floppy for next boot.
>    If it finds the normal tar'ed etc directory, it uses it as normal.

For the cable case it should also print out the MAC address of eth0
so the users can tell his cable provider this one.

>  
> The advanced user would still be able create their own custom
> configuration on floppy, just like they do now.  It wouldn't effect 
> the power user at all.
>  
> Thoughts?  Am I missing anything?

How to detect an empty floppy, it could also just be the case that
the current floppy got bad sectors and now we are going to overwrite
it. This would need some protection, eg. asking the user for
permission to go on.

Why not write a simple "create a basic config" script that can be
run when there's either no config or a broken one available.

-- 
MfG / Regards
Friedrich Lobenstock
____________________________________________________________________
Friedrich Lobenstock                       Linux Services Lobenstock
URL: http://www.lsl.at/                         Email: fl...@fl...
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