I have two computers, both with hd-installed Knoppix (i also tried with slackware), and I'm trying to set up a network so they can share my internet connection. But so far, I've been unable to even ping one machine from another.

One of them has 2 ethernet cards and the other has one; the one with two ethernet cards has one connected to my DSL modem and the other is connected directly to the second machine. Is that OK or do I need to buy a switch, hub, or router?

I know that all three NICs work because I've managed to get each of them to connect to my DSL by themselves.

My only other ideas at this point are that Knoppix sets up some firewall that screws things up, or that there is an IRC problem (both NICs on the gateway machine use IRC 9 - I don't know how to change this or how to tell if its a problem).

I set up the network by doing

ifconfig eth1 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 (first machine)
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 (second machine).

And the routing tables appear to be ok. Am I doing something totally wrong, or missing something?

Thanks.

I'm a total linux newbie...but I do know networking. If the cable you are using to connect your 2 boxen is a patch cable (straight through) you will need to either make or buy a crossover cable. OR you could simply buy a hub. It depends what your future needs are.

I think that if you were planning on keeping these two machines close to each other, then a crossover cable should be sufficient.

Thanks for your answer.. it was a patch cable so I went out today and bought a crossover cable - but Im still having the same problem.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Can you at least get the machines to ping each other?

I got them to ping each other after all.. It looks like using the wrong cable was my problem after all. I haven't gotten them to do anything else yet (ssh, IP Masquerade) but I'll go read some docs and give that a try.

Thanks for your help, Digitial TyGrrr.

No problem. If you're still having problems...feel free to ask. I'll help if I can.