The DHCP server is working fine, otherwise I wouldn't be able to access shared ffolders on the linux box via samba from the 98 machine.

The output of WINIPCFG on the 98 machine does show a correct ip address from DHCP 192.168.0.249 which is the same address used in winxp, also the DHCP server is listed as 192.168.0.1, and that's the same address as in winxp, the only difference is that in the win98 output of WINIPCFG shows the host as bedroom.mshome.net when using winxp, but it shows only 'bedroom' when using linux, and when I click on 'release' in the WINIPCFG window on the 98 machine', then click 'renew' I get the same IP address as issued by the linux box DHCP server, which allows me to access shared folders and files on the linux box via samba.
When using xp, everything works fine, even though DNS is disabled by default on the 98 machine.

Also, webmin does nothing but srew up the system.

You have been asked to ping an ip address of the outside world. Try 216.239.39.99 .

Did that work? If not, what was the output. Just saying it doesn't work does not tell us anything.

When you lookin "winipcfg" do you have any DNS server's listed?

When you ping yahoo.com, does it resolve to an IP address or do you get an "unknown host" error?

As to Webmin, I disagree that Webmin messes up a system. I'd say someone who does not rtfm before playing around in webmin can mess up a system. Webmin is what you asked for... a simple GUI to admin your Linux networking. I have used Webmin to manage may of the Linux boxes I've run and it has worked fine. As a matter of fact, Webmin is on the box that I'm using to type this reply. It's on the proxy server for this lab. It is also running on the firewall for this network. Webmin is a very usefull tool and it is rock solid.

As I posted in an earlier post, I can only ping (from the 98 machine) these addresses :-

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.249
127.0.0.1

I can also ping (from the linux box) all the above addresses and any other address or name that can be typed in.

but nothing else on the 98 box, all it says is 'host unreachable', for any other ip address or name.

I can access the internet from the linux box, I can share folders and files from the linux box using samba, the shared files and folders can be seen on the 98 box, but that's all.

There are no DNS servers listed in the WINIPCFG settings of 98, as they are not needed for ICS to winxp.

As for webmin, there are no sections in the documents specifically for setting it up for internet connection from a windows machine.

Have you checked out your route? The command is route print or route /p or something like that. I'm sure you can look it up in help somewhere. But anyways, see if the route is setup properly. I thnk someone asked earlier, but is the gateway set to the correct ip address on your 98 machine?

Since you are not able to ping an outside IP address and get the "host unreachable" error it is likely that your Linux box is simply not routing properly. I know in Webmin there are routing settings under


From the Win98 system what do you get when you try to ping an address? Does it resolve to an IP address?

Frim the Win98 system have you tried pinging the IP address of the ppp0 dialup interface? If so, what's the response.

This WILL NOT fix the problem, but I would put DNS entries in on the Win98 system. It won't hurt anything. The reason for the DNS working when you have the XP system is that it is automatically forwarding the DNS request for you Win98 system and responding. You can even use Webmin's DHCP admin GUI to add the dns server addresses to the DHCP offer for the Win98 system if you wanted.

Again, I feel that the fix for this is to tell your Linux box to route, but I don't know Redhat well. Anyone got the answer to this? I'm guessing /etc/network/options chaning ip_forward=no to yes. But that's gust a guess.

**Needing Redhat/Fedora gugu here**

If I try to ping an address (on the 98 machine) other than the addresses in a previous post, I just get 'host unreachable' and when I try to open IE, it first says 'resolving host' then after about 3 seconds it shows 'unable to resolve host name'

I don't use ppp0 on the linux box, I use Kppp in the Kde desktop.

I don't have a clue as to how to route HTTP requests from the 98 machine through linux to my ISP, theoretically, I should be able to use:-

route add [destination] [to dev] [client IP] [from dev]

EG. route add [ISP address] dev modem 192.168.0.249 dev eth0

but it don't work that way for some reason. because it says 'device not found' for the modem, but I use it to connect to the internet on the linux box.

As well, try uninstalling your network adaptor on the 98 box and reinstalling it. Perhaps it will find its own hostname after that. After all you've done so far, it can't hurt to try. Little things move mountains...

When you print out your route the top line should say that you are going to your gateway, the linux box, which I believe you said was 192.168.0.1. I don't believe that win98 understands eth0. That is a *nix thing. I'm not in front of a windows box right now and I can't remember the exact syntax from memory for windows. I'll try and check that out later.

I've just tried to setup a DNS server with webmin, guess what? it don't work, simply because, there's no instructions for the simple minded (with only 1 brain cell, mainly me.) to understand how to set it up., with precise step by step instructions, working only with 1 lan and 1 client based on address 192.168.0.0, all the instructions seem to be aimed for the experienced only and use examples that are not based on the 192.168.0.0 address, plus the instructions do not specifically aim for people that want to use a win98 machine to access the internet using a linux box for the dial up.

Hello Mr. Usalabs,

It's bad to hear that you aren't trying to listen to those who are trying to solve your problem. But try for one moment and read through the help you are provided with and see if you can solve your cronic problem.

Well here is the help I guess I can give to you:

According to your problem, you say that you are able to get shares on both machines and you can ping them properly and it seems that your linux box is the one that is connected to the internet and you want your win98 to connect to the internet through the linux box. So according to this the only problem that am seeing is one and that is <proxy settings>. Even in windows once tcp/ip is setup correct you can ping different clients/hosts and you can share files and access them but you can't just connect to the internet without a proxy unless each machine is having an individual connection.
Therefore in Redhat Linux 9 it is very easy to setup your proxy and just use the "squid proxy" and if you do not know how to configure it here is da help
as root type the following command:
vi /etc/squid/squid.conf [ret]
scroll down using your keyboard's scroll arrows and locate a heading that says "visible_hostname" and change the "default line" to something that looks like this:
visible_hostname blah@linuxbox.localhost
now press the "escape" button and type :wq to save and quit.
now as root again type this command to start squid proxy:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/squid start [ret]
N.B REMEMBER THAT SQUID USES PORT 3128 AS DA DEFAULT
now go to your win98 box and open internet explorer and do this:
click tools>options>connections>lan settings> and in the address enter the ip address of your linux box and port set it to 3128. Save the settings and restart your internet explorer and get ready to surf the net.

If this does not work then do this:
Switch off the win98 box and restart and if it does not accept your new settings then the only solution is this:
reboot your maching and press the F8 key continiously
choose command prompt
and type this command:
format c: [ret]
are you sure you want to format press [y=yes]
and after that install linux on that machine coz m$ is bull **it
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DNS:

Do this----> edit /etc/resolv.conf
in this file put your ISP's nameserver like this

nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx #that's a space between the word and the IP\

On the '98 machine under the DNS tab of your network adaptor's properties, enter the IP of your ISP as well.
On the 98 machine enter the gatway as the IP of your RH/XP machine. Reboot. Surf.

Or, if you wanna use your DHCP offer to do all this in the 98 box, choose to get DNS from DHCP as well. Either way, if your RH box has a nameserver, you should be able to resolve IPs

Thanks to everyone for trying to help, but nothing has worked, I've given up trying, everything I have pertaining to linux, I've trashed, I've removed it from the machine and threw out the distro's, I'm sticking to windows xp, it is, and always will be the best OS for networking that has ever been devised.

I can setup (and have done) 10 win98 machines to a winxp server using a router in 15 mins, by clicking on the home networking wizard, and running the same wizard on a floppy on all the win98 machines, then let windows do the rest, can anyone say that about linux?, I don't think so.

This'll be my last post here, and I would like to say again, thanks to everyone for trying to help.

I've seen the light and it's MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP.

Ease of use != better

You are now stuck to do things the way Microsoft wants you to do them. You don't have many options execpt the options they give. Just because you couldn't get something to work with Linux does not mean it's not possible. Many others have done it. Not to be rude, but there was a user error on your behalf, or something you were overlooking.

If you think that a WinXP system acting as your network's gateway to the internet is a good solution you are mistaken. I work for an IT Service provider and if any of my technicians used that as a solution for a customer, I'd fire them.

Sorry you had such bad luck with your Linux experiences... what I would suggest doing is learning more about Linux and networking before jumping into a project like this. Many times, doing the install proplerly with Linux saves your time configuring after the fact.

I can install from scratch a Linux gateway in under 1/3 hour... that includes loading the OS and patching it. I can setup the DHCP scope in about 5 minutes and configure each workstation in under 5 minutes. So, to your question... Yes, it can be done. Yes, I've done it. Even better than that though is I have $0 software costs, I can manage that router from anywhere in the world, and I know my netowork is secure.

With Linux, an hour of pre-install education = 4hours of work and 3 days of post-install education.

lol, sounds like an ad.