noob networking advice

MNuTz

MNuTz

MNuTz

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Hi all,

Ive currently got 1 XP PC downstairs with my ADSL modem conencted, this is the gateway PC. My PC is upstairs, also running XP.

Yesterday i was in WHSmiths and had a spare tenner so bought myself "Get started with Mepis linux" by Linux Format magazine. I figured it would be a good jumping off point to learn the basics and then try out different distros.

Anyway, installed it onto a spare IDE HDD and had trouble getting it to load the bootloader but changed the HDD boot sequence in the BIOS and it starts fine now.

Next problem: Connecting to the Net.

I made a note of all the info that my XP OS is using to connect. Ive gone into Mepis Utilities and then into Network interfaces. Ive set the static DNS servers and then into 'eth0' tab, ticked :

Start at system boot
Start when plugged in
Use Static IP address

Ive set the IP address to one similar to my XP one. set the subnet mask to the same. Gateway IP to that of the OC downstairs and its the same as the XP one.

However there is a 'Broadcast Address' that i have no idea what it is and i just cant get it to connect.

The gateway uses Zonealarm and ICS, normally i try to connect a new windows PC and then have to go downstairs and 'allow' it access on the firewall but im not even getting that.

Do i need special software in order to connect through and XP ICS connection??
 
if you are using ICS i think that has a DHCP server, set everything to be set automatically
 
Hate said:
if you are using ICS i think that has a DHCP server, set everything to be set automatically
Click to expand...

I dont use the DHCP as for some reason it was causing problems for me when we had 3 PCs set up over the LAN. I just set all the IP address etc myself. Its not really a problem over such a small network.

EDIT: It was also set up to use DHCP from the start but wasnt finding anything.
 
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as a last resort changed it over to DHCP and it wouldnt work at all.

Entering the IP address manually actually seems to work, the eth0 icon in the toolbar turns green to indicate that its functioning. Ive also found the network monitor and you do get a bit of transfer according to the graphs but thats it.

Anything i should be looking at on the XP machine to allow access?

Ive allowed access to the linux IP in zonealarm and even turned zonealarm off. Ive tried the linux firewall off too!

stumped! :(
 
tryed setting the browser proxy to your windows xp address?
can you access a web address using an ip i.e. 66.249.93.104 = google.co.uk
I presume you can Ping websites?

Those the only questions that come to mind you should ask your self.
 
Emo_hug said:
tryed setting the browser proxy to your windows xp address?
can you access a web address using an ip i.e. 66.249.93.104 = google.co.uk
I presume you can Ping websites?

Those the only questions that come to mind you should ask your self.
Click to expand...

tried all of the above and still the same, i cant ping a website. I load the Konsole and type ping 66.249.93.104 and hit enter and it tells me its sending 56 packets but thats all that happenes, i dont seem to get a reply.
 
have you tuned of windows xp firewall?
with all firewalls turned off can you ping your windows xp machine from linux? if so can you try a trace route from linux to an external source?
 
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MNuTz said:
However there is a 'Broadcast Address' that i have no idea what it is and i just cant get it to connect.
Click to expand...
I think this must be the problem, I cannot see anything else wrong anyway. As for if ICS could be causing the problem, if it worked with Windows it should work fine with Linux (that said I don't really like ICS but meh).

Emo_hug said:
tryed setting the browser proxy to your windows xp address?
Click to expand...
That won't do anything, ICS isn't a proxy, it's a software router (or it was last time I used it :p). So doing this will stop it working and prevent the OP from knowing if he's fixed the cause of the problem.

Broadcast addresses then. I can't say I know much in this area but I think I can explain with an example, assuming my knowledge is correct. Take my network for example, the router is at 10.0.0.1 and networked devices at 10.0.0.2 upwards. The broadcast address, I think, is 10.0.0.0. It's simply the first three octets and the fourth has a zero, generally speaking anyway. So if your Windows ICS box is 192.168.0.1 then the broadcast address will be 192.168.0.0. Give it a try and see if it works :)

Hope this helps, null :)
 
Hi null

10.0.0.0 is the wire address a broadcast address depends on it's class 16 / 24 if it's on a class 24 then it would be 10.0.0.255

HTH


OP
whats your internal address range and what class subnet are you using?

Cheers
Deano
 
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