Hi there,
I have an XP machine linked to a LInux box via crossover cable. The XP machine has two network cards because I often ICS to my Linux box. For those familiar with XP I have to "Network Bridge" the two cards. Now when I bridge the two cards and run ipconfig in XP I see that the "Network Bridge Interface" gets assigned

IP of 192.168.0.X.
Default Gateway 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server 192.168.0.1
DNS Server 192.168.0.1

The question I need to ask is that from my Linux box I can ping the Network Bridge at 192.168.0.X but I can also ping 192.168.0.1 . When I ping the latter what is it that I am actually pinging ??? Note that I am not connected to or sharing the net at the time.

Thanks again !

Uncle-C

Do you have a router connected to a modem? You're probably pinging one of those two things.

ok more details would be nice. network bridge means you tie the 2 NICs together so they function as 1 NIC as far as the OS is concerned.

ICS has nothing to do with network bridge. ICS = internet connection sharing. in other words you connect to the internet via a NIC, USB modem, or some other kind of modem device.

as you are using a crossover cable to connect Linux to XP and you have stated you are using ICS so that makes your winXP box for all intensive purposes a router/nat firewall. not a very good idea, but it is easy and it works well enough if you do not have the $40 to go out and buy a Linksys or D-link or something along that line router for your internet connection. or you are on a dial-up connection and thus can not setup a router or do not have the extra hardware to build an IPCop (google for that you might like it) firewall to connect to the internet for you.

1. what kind of internet connection do you have
2. unless you have 3 NICs and or are doing mega file sharing via your LAN, why network bridging? no need to bind those 2 cards like that
3. 192.168.0.1 when ICS is running is the default gateway of the XP shared connection device.

Thanks for the reply lleb.
I think you forgot to read the last line of my original post. I was not net connected at the time.
My XP machine is connected to an ADSL modem via ethernet and I do not have a router. I often share my net connection with my Linux box as my ISP does not allow for direct linux connections. For this I assumed I needed two Nics on the XP box. One to connect to the ADSL modem and the other to connect to the linux box.
I figured out that 192.168.0.1 ( when I an NOT connected to the net) is my ADSL Modem.
Just as an aside I will try not bridging the two nics and see if I can connect to the net.
I am sure I tried previously and it did not work.

Thanks again !

Uncle

To give us a little more info, unbridge your network cards, connect to the net and on your XP box run "ipconfig /all" and post the output here. Also, post the output of "ifconfig -a" on your linux box. (Feel free to obscure your real IP if it shows up on your XP box's output, but I'm guessing it will be a 192.168 number anyway).

Some time ago I had Desktop PC which connected to my ADSL Modem?router( intranet address 192.168.1.1 ( the private side - i.e my LAN ) via ethernet. I wanted to connect my ancient laptop to the internet and so I bought a pcmcia wireless card for the laptop and a pci wireless card for the Desktop PC.

My adsl modem was connected to eth0 ( the ethernet card ) and the card had the following config:
IP add 192.168.1.30
gateway 192.168.1.1

For the wireless card
IP add 192.168.2.30
gateway 192.168.1.1

for the laptop
IP 192.168.2.50
gateway 192.168.2.30

That worked fine.
It would not work with all on the 192.168.1.x range

hth,
Norman