Hello Erik, Erik Hentell, 16.07.2004 (d.m.y):
Currently, the OS 9 mac is using the 56k modem. It's hooked up via ethernet to a switch, which is also connected to the SuSE system. They can ping each other just fine, but the OS9 can't reach beyond the SuSE to the internet.
Forwarding IP packets is not enough: As you (or mor specific: your modem) gets one "official" IP address by your ISP, you only have one I address that you must "share". This "Sharing" is called Network Address Translation or in your case (one official IP address) "Masquerading". With Masquerading, your system's kernel keeps track with the outgoing connections using a kind of "connection table" in order to identify the IP packets belonging to a connection that was initiated from inside your LAN.
It may be important to note that they OS9 pings SuSE via MachTen, a BSD environment for OS9 and previous.
Sorry, but that's not that important. You could also ping the MacOS-Mac from the Linux-Mac... ;-)
There's no standard Mac app that I'm using to ping the SuSE box.
AFAIR someone wrote an application called "MacPing" or the like...
I later tried routed, which theoretically should have dynamically taken care of everything.
No, routed is most probably some sizes too large. ;-)
No dice. I also downloaded Zebra, and followed all the instructions for set up and running. Still nothing. I'm wondering if anyone has ever experienced this problem before,
Sure. Bet you'll find tons of HowTos concerning masquerading on Linux... Just let http://www.google.com do a search.
and if so, what a potential solution could be.
You'll have to configure your kernel's ip packet filter ("netfilter") using so-called iptables-rules.
Should I configure atalkd? Will acting as an Appletalk router actually help, or is it more complexity than what I need?
No, you want to route or (better: masquerade) TCP/IP, not AppleTalk.
Am I just overlooking something? I know that OS9 systems have their own host file format-could there be something unique to Macs that I'm overlooking?
No, Macs can act as TCP/IP nodes just as computers driven by other operating systems can do. But remember to pass a DNS entry on your MacOS-driven Macs so that they know which server to contact for nameserver lookups. Regards, Christian -- Es gibt 2 ganz verschiedene Satiren, eine gegen Laster, eine gegen Torheiten. -- Jean Paul