Slackware 9, Windows XP, crossover cable and an internet connection
 

Hi, I've searched and searched through the forums and nothing quite answers my question.

Here is what I have:

---
Computer 1 (Mine)
Slackware 9
Network card

Computer 2 (Wife's)
Windows XP
Broadband (ADSL) internet connection
Network card

and
A crossover cable
---

This is what I want to do:
Connect the two PCs together and share the internet connection. The modem HAS to stay in the XP PC.

I don't want to have to buy ANY other hardware.

Could you tell me:
1. Is this possible?
and
2. Either:
- a) How do I do it?
or
- b) Where do I look to find out?

I've read through loads of HOWTOs and other documentation but I've not found anything that really helps.

I've never done any networking but i'm comfortable with Linux

networking windows and linux... hmm... :scratch:
i believe the samba tool is designed for this purpose

therefore, run the wizard on the xp machine, note the settings like IP address of xp machine, then configure samba. since i have not tried this before, i can only suggest. however, doing a google search should yield some good results.

hope this helps, even if only a little
:newbie::study:

Am I right that I don't neet a hub or switch.

No hub or switch is needed. You also don't need samba.

Turn on Internet connection sharing on the XP machine. I've used XP for about 5 minutes, so I'm not sure, but I think under the network connection that is the DSL modem (likely a PPPoE connection) you right click and then find the box that says enable Internet connection sharing.

This will (if it works the same as Win 2000) set the network card on the Windows computer to 192.168.0.1. You will need to setup the Slackware computer to use the default gateway of 192.168.0.1 and put it on the same subnet (192.168.0.x with netmask of 255.255.255.0). If XP doesn't do this, just use the address the XP network card is assigned. You do need a static IP address on this card.

When that is done (and the cable connected), you should be able to ping each of the computers. When you can do that, you should be able to get out to the Internet. You'll need to edit your /etc/resolv.conf file with the nameservers your ISP has given you to resolve DNS names. Just run 'man resolv.conf' if you don't know how to do this.

That should do it, please let me know if this doesn't work.

As an asside, make sure you have a firewall on the XP machine. At the very least Zone Alarm. Don't use the XP firewall, it's not really a firewall. When you setup the firewall make sure the network card connection is a trusted network so that it won't block outgoing Internet requests from the Slackware machine.

Phathead

[edit]
Oh yeah, you'll neet to edit /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 to make the changes to the IP address and default gateway. And make sure to turn off DHCP.
[/edit]

Well now. I eventually got the wire that I ordered from someone on eBay. I managed to connect though my wifes PC in win 98 on my PC - but that isn't a lot of use now is it ;-)

I've read the networking howto and although fasinating it seems to be based more on networking principals than actually doing it.

I edited the files in my /etc/rc.d to tell slackware an IP address and not to use DHCP. I also told it to use 192.168.0.1 as the gateway.

Now clearly the XP machine is configured as I am connected though it at the moment. But in Linux I can't ping the other computer.

when you configure the XP machine's Internet connection sharing you can use it as a DHCP server. Not a great one but it works. Try it that way and let the nix box grab an IP and gateway from the xp box.

It doesn't ping with DHCP either.

I do "ifconfig eth0" and it seems to indicate that I have a valid IP address on my Linux machine.

stupid question for ya.....are they on the same subnet?
how about /etc/hosts.deny any references in there?
"" /etc/hosts
""/etc/hosts.allow

you say it worked with a win98 machine...you got them both to communicate? ie you sure its a crossover cable and not a straight cable?

subnet is the same - 255.255.255.0

I haven't ever touched
etc/hosts.deny
/etc/hosts
/etc/hosts.allow

So i assume nothing bad in there - but I'll check in a minute when I reboot.

Difinately crossover as I am connected to internet though cable as I type.

Just noticed when I load the kernel module for the network card the mouse won't work.

Is it a USB mouse by chance? Try disabling Plug and Play in your Bios and see if it fixes the mouse/nic conflict

It sounds like maybe your nic isn't set up correctly. Im not a slackware guru so Im not real sure of the hardware browsing/detection capabilities.....i'd try commenting it out of fstab and trying to reconfigure it.

No, mouse is PS/2. Would it help disabling PnP in bios anyway?

fstab? That's just for mounting filesytstems isn't it? It is a 3Com Etherlink III ISA (3C509b-Combo) card - isapnp seems to initialise it sucessfully.

try disabling the pnp....can't hurt to try

and yes you're right of course....fstab is file systems....try modules.conf to get it not to load...been a rough day and too many open post windows :o

OK, tried enabling and disabling PnP on bios.

When module loads there is no error. Tried letting it do it during linux starting and tried doing it manually and it gives no errors and seems to find the card's address.

Tried with DHCP and manually setting IP and gateway.

if i do "ifconfig" it tells me about "lo" and "eth0" and seems to indicate all is well.

but if i ping the XP machine it doesn't work. it tells me 100% packet loss etc.

When you run ifconfig does it tell you that eth0 is "up" a long with a bunch of hardware and memory addresses?

And have you tried to ping 127.0.0.1 to make sure the nic card is functioning?

Here we go...

I can ping my loopback...
PING 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1): 56 octets data
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms
64 octets from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=0.0 ms

--- 127.0.0.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.0/0.0/0.1 ms



I can ping the IP of my network card....

PING 192.168.0.218 (192.168.0.218): 56 octets data
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.2 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms
64 octets from 192.168.0.218: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=0.1 ms

--- 192.168.0.218 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.1/0.1/0.2 ms




I can't ping my wife's PC...

PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 octets data

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss



eth0 says it's up ...

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:20:AF:B5:74:B6
inet addr:192.168.0.218 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:24
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:1008 (1008.0 b)
Interrupt:10 Base address:0x230

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:120 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:120 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:10640 (10.3 Kb) TX bytes:10640 (10.3 Kb)

It's probably something obvious but I can't figure it out.

Fiddling with th PnP settings is bios fixed the mouse problem, so now then nic and mouse work together, but it still won't connect.

Is there a step by step howto to do it, maybe i just missed something really oblious and if I did it step by step It would fix it.

It sounds like a routing problem. Can you pos tthe output of:
route -n
ifconfig

TIP: It is much easier to read if you put them in BB code blocks eg (without spaces in the tags):
[ CODE ]
OUTPUT OF COMMANDS
[ /CODE ]

I didn't think pinging was affected by route - not for something you are directly connected to.

ifconfig
route -n

Although i have no idea what all this stuff you's guys are talking about, i do have this XP machine with a adsl connection ands a Linux machine that can use the connection.

But i already had the XP connected to 98 and when i installed RH9 it was already able to connect through the Xp machine.

So maybe it is a prob with XP. TO internet share thourgh XP u need Netbeui. There is a bit of stuffing around to get that so tell me if the XP machine has it.

sorry for double post but...

if u do get the internet connection working between XP and linux can u tell me how to share files. :)

I use RH9

I installed samba off the cds. I cant find samba as a program. Should I be able to??

Someone mentioned not using the XP firewall. I disagree. While I wouldn't use it for a business or to protect vital information it works fine for the average homeowner. It will stealth all your ports and not reply to icmp packets. It is not an application firewall but so what. Run norton anti-virus and use the XP firewall and you will be relatively safe. I can find no docs on how to crack it.

Before I can get the internet sharing to work I need to worry about getting the PCs to talk and as it is one can't even ping the other

Here is a stupid question. do you know that the cross over cable is in fact a cross over? I mean you know that your are not using a patch cable? There is a difference. I am trying to do this same thing between my slack box and my XP pc and I can see each pc on the network but I am still not able to surf the web on my slack box. but I can ping both of them day an night?

To add to the post above, if you have a crossover that is connected in both ends, the lights on the network-cards should be on.
I didn't understand if you could ping your linuxcomputer from your wife's?

dxdad

im very sure u need Netbeiu on the XP machine to connect to the network.
Because u had 98 working seems to point at this. 98 has Netbeiu install by default, XP u have to manually install it.

Sorry but netbeui is not supported in XP Mr.Bill has dropped his failing network protocol. I can see both pc's on my network just fine with Samba. I can login to both of them and share files between them no problem. but for some reason there seem to be no real way to tell slackware to go to connect to the Internet? at least from what I have found. I know in redhat and mandrake it pretty much does it for you. But they also don't say what they did to get them to share the Internet?

Netbeui is supported, i just had to install it from the XP cd. In a network guide i used to setup my XP and 98 i had to install Netbeui so that they had the same protocol, and when i installed RH9 it could hook up to the net through the XP box straight away.

So how do you install netbui then? When I go into add protocol it is not listed in there.

you will need to copy the following files from your XP CD on to your hard drive
#1) copy nbf.sys into the %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ directory
#2) copy netnbf.inf into the %SYSTEMROOT%\INF\ directory

BUT im having a hell of a time getting XP and linux to network. Xp doesnt seem to like sharing internet connection and networking with Linux. Everytime i adjust a setting so Samba will work, RH9 cant use the internet and vis-versa

I know the cable is a crossover as it works in windows 98 to XP - which is how I am connected as I type. The connection between XP and 98 is fine and this message is proof of that.

Additionally there aren't any lights on ether card.

Also I can;t pping my wife's XP and she can't ping me.

I am going to add more to this post later, but first a little note about that XP deals with interrupts in a manner of its own, thereby possible ruling out cards such as ehternet cards or soundcards. This is probably not the case , but still Unless you know for a fact it does, make sure the hardware-manager in XP lists the card.

/alm

Maybe this is of more help:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Oper..._20653568.html

There is also a linuxquestion thread: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=10796

I am now online with my slack box. I got it to use my XP internet connection. What I did was go to my ISP's site and found the DNS address. in the etc/resolv.conf I inputed

search (ISP site)

nameserver 216.90.xx.xxx

nameserver 198.6.x.x

saved it opened up mozillia and Bam I am here now. to cool.

did u need to install Netbeiu bgriesi?

like i said i wasnt sure if u needed it but i did for the XP to 98.

I to now have XP and linux all sorted out, well i dont know what i did change really but my DNS needed adjusting, looked at my isps site and had to add a DNS suffix and set linux to get DNS from host.

Heck no! no netbuei here man. I am just running TCP/IP and ICS and still this morning it works so I think that is all it was is the DNS needed to be installed.

Could it be that I have to tell the card to work in half-duplex:Pengy: