"Paul W. Abrahams" wrote:
On Friday 27 February 2004 9:56 pm, gchris@bellsouth.net wrote:
Örn Hansen wrote:
A router is a cheap box, that doesn't draw much electricity and is quite stable. It's a cheap, but relyable solution. Your problem doesn't have to be, because MS has made it's own proprietary DHCP solution which isn't interoperaple with standard DHCP clients ... but the router thing, is a good solution none the less and is guaranteed to work.
You are absolutely correct from an engineering point of view. If this network was starting from scratch your approach is certainly the correct one. Unfortunately, this is a working, existing network where Linux is trying to become a player. The network works to M$ defined standards (which admittedly are proprietary). The question is, can Linux work in this environment or must the network be redesigned to accommodate one Linux box? My thinking is that if Linux expects to take desktop business away from M$ it had better be able to be a "drop in" replacement.
I fully agree that a dedicated router is a far more reliable solution than anything based on a PC, whether it is running Linux or Windows. But the first question to be answered is "Will a Linux box work here?", not "How should the network be designed?".
Seems that the choice between a dedicated $50 router box and a computer that provides an ICS-style interface depends on the context.
Paul Abrahams
Well put Paul and the context here is that we have an ICS box and no router, so can the Linux box co-exist with ICS using DHCP or do I have to take a step backward and configure it manually. From the looks of my inbox, I know this is not the best or most popular approach but I'm still hopeful that a simple configuration screwup on my part is responsible for making an easy task difficult. Chris