Very Computer

--------------------------------------------

From: Scott Nagle

Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 1999 9:29 AM
Subject: mediaone express with Linux

I am a medical researcher and would like to telecommute a few days a
week using your cable internet connection.  However, I need to use
the Linux operating system to do my work.  Is it possible to set up
MediaOne Express under a Linux operating system?

---Scott Nagle

------------------------------------------------

Scott,

MediaOne Express requires a supported operating system for the
installation
to commence.  Supported operating systems include Windows 95/98/NT.
MediaOne Express will not install our service on an unsupported
operating
system.

Thomas
MediaOne Express
Technical Support

Central Region (Chicagoland)

Phone: (630) 716-2800
M-F 8am-12am, Sa 8am-8pm, Su 8am-5pm
After Hours: Voice Mail Available

-------------------------------------------

From: Scott Nagle

Sent: Thursday, May 06, 1999 4:09 PM
Subject: Re: mediaone express with Linux

I realize that your staff will not install the service on non-supported
operating systems.  However, my question is whether it is _possible_ to
use your service with Linux.  I am not asking MediaOne to help install
it.  I am only asking if it is possible to do so on my own.  I am sure
there are a number of employees on your technical support staff who use
Linux.  Perhaps one of them could answer this question.  Thank you.

---Scott

--------------------------------------------

Scott,

MediaOne Express does not guarantee that our service will run on an
unsupported operating system.

Thomas
MediaOne Express
Technical Support

Central Region (Chicagoland)

Phone: (630) 716-2800
M-F 8am-12am, Sa 8am-8pm, Su 8am-5pm
After Hours: Voice Mail Available

-------------------------------------------------

From: Scott Nagle

Sent: Thursday, May 06, 1999 4:39 PM
Subject: Re: mediaone express with Linux

I realize that.  I am not asking for a guarantee.  I just want to know
if anyone is successfully using MediaOne Express with the Linux
operating system.   I know there are members of your technical support
team who use Linux.  Please ask them if they can use MediaOne Express
with Linux.

I am NOT looking for help in setting it up.

I will NOT hold MediaOne responsible if I cannot set it up.

I am simply trying to determine if it can be done.

---Scott

--------------------------------------------------

Scott,

MediaOne Express is unable to provide anymore information concerning
this
topic.

Thomas
MediaOne Express
Technical Support

Central Region (Chicagoland)

Phone: (630) 716-2800
M-F 8am-12am, Sa 8am-8pm, Su 8am-5pm
After Hours: Voice Mail Available

Bob

Avoid Plug N' Pray ethernet cards, and be aware that linuxconf and the
kernelcfg tool disagree about how to write your /etc/conf.modules file.

Doug
--
==============
Douglas K. O'Leary
Senior System Admin


==============

Do you have any more data on what mediaone is doing
that is "squirrelly" in their dhcp?

I'm using mediaone ->linux firewall->win95 system
at the moment. Right now it is working fine.

I have entered a question about linux networking...
See below

All you need to do is install linux (I used slackware,
kernel 2.0.34).
Install dhcp 0.70. Set up your private net and
it SHOULD work.

I have noticed some intermittent initialization problems
but I can usually get things working after rebooting a few
times.

I have noticed that when the mediaone to firewall does not initialize
properly, the bottom right led on the cable modem never goes
to steady state but it flashes. ...might be a hint?
regards
Norm Morin

Subject:
            network init on linux?
       Date:
            Sat, 08 May 1999 08:27:52 -0400
       From:

Organization:
            Road Runner
 Newsgroups:
            comp.os.linux.networking

Quote:>hello,
>I have a linux box (p133, 16m memory, 2-3c503 nics, kernel 2.0.34)
>that I am using for a firewall/nat and connecting between
>a home lan and mediaone.
>I have noticed some strange initializationbehavior that I'd like to
>confirm with other users.
>Sometimes the ethernet cards/routing is not configured correctly.
>It used to be that the nic card that was connected to mediaone
>did not always configure properly. I noticed that "ifconfig"
>did not always display the missing nic. I usually enter
>"route add ..." and the card shows up and routing works.
>The command is in the .../rc.inet1 file but sometimes it
>seems that the command does not get executed properly.
>The rc.inet1 file does have the command to invoke the dhcp client
>before the ifconfig or route commands.
>I installed a "sleep 10" command to make sure that the
>dhcp command was started and executing before the ifconfig
>and routing commands. That seems to have allowed the mediaone
>connection to be reliable.
>Then I noticed that the home lan nic is not always ifconfiged to the
>linux box. Executing the "ifconfig ...." command that is in the
>rc.inet1 file usually corrects the problem.
>Is there some proper order or timing of commands that must be
>observed when using dhcp? Is this a situation that is
>common knowledge when using 2 nics?
>I have the impression/feeling that the linux networking is not >reliable.
>I don't really believe this impression as so many folks
>are successfully using linux to satisfy all sorts of network
>requirements.
>Does anyone have the same experience.
>I hoped to have a "headless" linux box be my firewall that is
>turned on when the cable modem is powered up. Obviously
>I would telnet and halt the linux box before removing power.
>Since the net is not alway reliably initialized, I have a terminal
>connected to verify that both nics and routing is running correctly.
>I have noted that once things run correctly, they are up to stay.
>I would like to eliminate the questionable initialization.
>Any hints or pointers.
>regards
>Norm Morin

I have been using it for about a year.

^Carl

RE: lack of Linux support

You are probably tired of hearing this - from a search of newsgroups, it
looks like thie will not be the first message you've gotten on the
subject.

I am also disappointed in the lack of support for Linux at MediaOne
Express in Chicago.  I have your service at home, it runs well when I
run Win98, and could very well run on Linux if I could get basic
information from Media One. It seems that other areas of the country do
not have this problem. Why is MediaOne Chicago ignoring this growing OS
market?  Many people really interested in computers and fast, 24-7
access are going to be interested in Linux - the basic home user is more
likely to be happy with AOL and a phone modem, since they mostly just
use e-mail and basic web shopping pages.

Knowing the enthusiasm of this comunity, I bet you could get a couple of
volunteers to support other Linux users on MediaOne in Chicago - they
would just need your support to get going. Has anyone considered this as
a reasonable solution?

-------------------
I hope we can get other area users to e-mail MediaOne Chicago about
this. It's absolutely stupid! The amount of support I asked for was a
4-minute phone call with an actual tech person (as opposed to the
customer service people.) But, it's "against policy.."

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Quote:>> I also have mediaone, and it works fine and dandy wow
>> that tech was an ass. I e-mail a tech before and he
>. told me yes and he helped me a little but on his private
>>  account. Its  easy not big problem just have DNS
>> client running and your set.

I'll try and set up DNS client myself - hope that solve it. I've been
trying for 3 weeks to get this to work!

Let me know if you have any pointers -   Thanks!

 Timo

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when mediaone one came and installed the modem through windows, it worked
and blah blah.. so as they were leaving, i rebooted (running redhat 5.2
with 2.2.6) and set up eth0 for dhcp (as per the dhcp/cable modem
mini-howto's).. unfortunately, the tech for mediaone forgot to mention
about my user account, my mail password, etc, so i called up mediaone and
asked them about that info, *while on linux*
he gave me the information, and (knowing that mediaone chicago, or any
mediaone as far as i knew, didnt support linux) i asked him
"do you know if i can run the cable modem while on linux?"
mediaone- "um.. linux? is that the new operating system going around?"
me- "something like that"
(remember, i'm on linux while talking to him)
mediaone- "i dont know anything about that, i dont think you can. we only
support windows right now"
me - "ok, i was just wondering"

i dont know if it's just them trying to cover their asses or what, but i
had a good laugh anyways

cheers

carlos

Isn't that lame!  ANY business I know would have done a MUCH better job
of 'customer retention'... at least to the point of writing a nice
"We're very sorry we can't support your OS at this time.." type flush
letter.  And, as a former Evangelista - I guess MediaOne isn't
supporting MacOS anymore, either!

Can anyone say "c-a-b-l-e  m-o-n-o-p-o-l-y?"  .... SURE !

Timo

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