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

[Bruce S. <bw...@ar...>]

> > 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.

I hate when that happens.

We're not going to be able to satisfy all situations, I'm only
suggesting doing the simplest config, to start with.  We can build 
on that later.

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

I don't know about other parts of the world (or even other parts of my
country), but the Cable provider at my home uses the MAC address (or
some other hardware address) of the cable modem itself.  I can switch
the Ethernet cable to any PC I have and it works.  All I have to do is
power cycle the cable modem.  However if I switch cable modems, I have
to get my ISP to change the number in their system (done that).

> > 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.

Sure.

> > 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.

No, I mean a really empty (and formatted) floppy.  It mounts clean and
no files exist on the floppy at all.

I'm not suggesting we format or overwrite anything without confirmation.

>  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.

That crossed my mind too.  It's a good idea for a few other reasons:

First it could give the user an option to format a non-empty floppy.
(as you said)

Second it could ask some basic network info, like accepting static IP
information or DHCP about your ISP connection.

Third, would also be a good idea to confirm some info about the DHCP
server, even if it's only a yes/no answer to if DL should supply the
DHCP service.  It's not a good idea to add a 2nd DHCP server to an
existing network that already has one.   :-)

And accepting DHCP range numbers, with default values so a newbie can
just keep pressing ENTER through the questions, might also be nice.

 - BS