I have a Billion 7404VGP router connected to eth0 to provide my ADSL Internet connection. I got it up and running with help from camorri and others at
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=480420

If you read this thread you will probably realize and am stumbling in the dark. I don't really have a clue how this connection works, how to stop it, how to start it or how to monitor it.

How does this connection work? How does it differ from my old dial-up connection? Vague questions I know, but I am grasping at a starting point for my understanding to grow from.

This connection is active from boot. How do I alter this situation so I can start the connection to the Internet when I choose (and close it when I choose)? I would like to learn how to do this from the command line (I think I can handle this with help).

Is there an application that I can use to start, stop and monitor this Internet connection? Something analagous to KPPP which I used on my dial-up connection would be good. I could start, stop and see a graphical representation of data flow.

Dialup uses a modem. DSL uses ethernet. Dialup is analog. DSL is digital.

ifdown eth0
ifup eth0

service network stop
service network start
service network restart

And yes, there is something called networkmanager that... manages your network. Comes with kde, gnome, or just any gui like gtk.

Something like Kppp won't work because now your computer isn't connecting to the internet, your computer actually has nothing whatsoever to do with it. The router manages your net connection and has a mini switch built in to allow you to plug a few computers in. It uses NAT (Wikipedia for more info) to translate local requests into outside requests and back. All your computer is doing it joining the same local subnet as the router, probably getting it's IP via DHCP (again, Wikipedia for more info).

Getting your head around the idea that your computer is now on a local network, not directly connected to the internet is the way to understanding this. Login to your routers web admin and look around, somewhere in there you'll be able to find all the info you used to get from Kppp.

In the Mandriva control centre, there is a category called "System" which includes "Enable or Disable the System Services". There's a service called "Network".

My modem gives me enough trouble as it is without messing with system services but you could check that out in the Mandriva wiki or anywhere you can get information.

As I mentioned on the other thread, the net_applet (note the joining line score) is part of drakxtools. I have 2006, though. I've just noticed you have Mandrake 10. You may need to update your OS.

Thanks all, I will read further as suggested.

I forgot to mention that the control in the control centre allows you to specify whether the service is started at boot. In my version (2006) and 2005, you can also click a button to get information about the service.