this is encouraging news. i will place my order today knowing that it works for linux does the software run on linux or do we need to hunt for drivers R On 13 Jan 2002 10:43:50 -0500 Steven Hatfield <ashari@knightswood.net> wrote:

On Sun, 2002-01-13 at 07:35, Landy Roman wrote:

...

i just saw directvdsl is available in my area

has anyone used this service with linux?

reading their documentation it says your 'windows pc should handle directv dsl gateway'

not sure what it means but like to know anyone out there if they have it

I have DirectTV/DSL right now -- and have had it for about a year and a half, getting it back when they were Telocity. The gateway that I'm using is a little older than the one they have now, and I hear that the new one is even better. My gateway is just a little.. uglier.. than the one that they have now, but with what appears to be the same functionality.

Their gateway has ethernet (for Unix/Linux) and USB (for Windows), as well as Parallel ports! It's really a nice gateway, and has functioned flawlessly the whole time that I've had it.

The gateway has a built in DHCP and Web Server, and can be configured by connecting to it via any web browser (on the local lan only). It has a rudimentary firewall and multi-computer setup, which I don't use because it offers no port forwarding functionality at all.. it just places up to 5 machines that connect to it into the LAN address range and firewalls all of their ports -- that's the only bad thing about the gateway, and some people might not think it's that bad, considering the safety factor to the local machines.

The support staff knows Linux. I called them up with a problem once, and the level 1 support person was having me run ifconfig, look at /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf, trying to track down a connection issue.. it was pretty amazing that they even knew these configuration files exist. The problem turned out to be a fried Ethernet card, which he was able to figure out pretty quickly, because he could ping my gateway and not my machine.

Let me know if you have any further questions, -Steven

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The support staff knows Linux. I called them up with a problem once, and the level 1 support person was having me run ifconfig, look at /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf, trying to track down a connection issue.. it was pretty amazing that they even knew these configuration files exist. The problem turned out to be a fried Ethernet card, which he was able to figure out pretty quickly, because he could ping my gateway and not my machine.

Depends who you get, called them three times to check some status (were having major issues in the Bay Area) and only 1 person said she did not know Linux when I asked, but not bad. Although service ovcerall during that time was less than satisfactory as it did go down more times than stay up. Might be different now though, as a lot of those issues were caused by poor last mile providers.

Let me know if you have any further questions, -Steven

Matt

On Sun, 2002-01-13 at 12:08, Tim Prince wrote:

The last message I got from DirecPC is they were selling only to people who had become disgruntled with ATT cable modem service. Typical computer industry marketing mentality. Don't sell unless you think you are taking business away from someone else. They actually sent an e-mail out to people who had asked for DirecPC but been turned down, asking them to refer people who had had ATT modem service and would be ready to switch. ATT actually advertised on TV and took on some new modem customers around the Microsoft campus and then cut them off. More games; maybe they were hoping to mess with the heads of the MSN people. They (DirecPC) seem not very competent technically; their installer came out here and failed to get their video system working (although they have many customers nearby), and they have not agreed to install digital, since ATT has not agreed to give modem service here either. ATT has been refusing to install modem service unless they are granted whole county monopoly against land-line DSL. That seems to imply they don't think their service would stack up against DSL if the latter became available. You also must watch out for whether DirecPC are willing to sell service which includes an up-link. They may have a few customers with up-link service, but they still offer only down-link service in areas where they have little market pressure. I suppose most of the people are interested are interested because they have no other choice! Each DirecPC/TV salesperson gives a different story. They seem too ignorant to know what linux means. Now it looks like I can't go x-c skiing next weekend, I have to be here to watch the Dish installer. Well, I'll quiz him about whether they have any digital capability. Unlikely. I think the 3rd world will bypass the USA in digital connectivity soon.

--snip-- Tim is talking about the Satellite internet connection, not the DSL connection. Hughs bought Telocity and merged it with their "DirecTV/PC" offerings. Telocity brought DSL and Linux knowledge along with it. -Steven

* Tim Prince (tprince@computer.org) [020113 09:50]: ->They do market their satellite service as "DSL" so it's a surprise to ->hear that they also have a standard DSL offering somewhere in the world. ->No wonder their salespeople are confused. Yes, some of their commercials are confusing. I knew that Telocity was bought by them because I had a friend who worked for Telocity and he told me it was happening. Also, if you read the print at the bottom of the screen in the commercials it says "No Satilite Service Required" but they do not say it in the add. I guess they are just trying to fool people so they will order both. *grin* -----=====-----=====-----=====-----=====----- Ben Rosenberg mailto:ben@whack.org -----=====-----=====-----=====-----=====----- I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...