[plug] ADSL modem/switch

[Quintin Lette]

I personally use a Billion Bipac 711 (1 port ethernet and USB) and have only 
had minor problems (it falls over after a power glitch that efects nothing 
else, and wont come back up until its powered on and off properly - it now 
sits on a UPS).  It works quite well and everything, and runs as a router 
until I finally get my next box running and set it up in bridging mode (ie 
like a modem). I would imagine that the 4 port version would work perfectly 
well as well.

As for the pulsar PCI adsl modem, you may have issues with getting 3 pci cards 
working together in the P166 (although maybe not, and you can use ISA network 
cards too I guess) but it would make it possible to do things like proxy / 
firewall (a firewall isn't much good if its just a node in your network you 
really need the data to go through it).

My personal preference would be to get the Billion Bipac 711 ($165 at Arach 
Net) and a separate switch (cheap as chips now ie $59 for an 8port at Austin) 
which works out cheaper than the 4 port Billion, gives you more ports if 
people come over or you get more hardware... and you can then decide whether 
you want to do your own firewalling / routing proxying or let the billion do 
it for you.

By the way, for $11 more than anything but the 128k package you get an extra 
5gb of peak traffic, and 1gb really isn't that much (about 9ish hours of 
downloading on 256k). Just giving you the facts, not trying to force anything 
on you (by the way I have no affiliation with anyone in the industry ;-))

HTH

Quintin

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 06:05 pm, Ben New wrote:
> I use the Netgear DG814 and find it does everything I need, including
> NAT, port forwarding and DHCP.  I got it for $275 but I think it's come
> down by now because I saw the same thing with wireless instead of
> ethernet was only $299, and that was at harvey's which are never the
> cheapest.
>
> Personally I wouldn't bother with the custom setup unless there is some
> reason you need to do something the off-the-shelf boxes don't do.  You
> could use the 166 as a proxy and/or firewall or something instead.
>
> Ben
>
> Sham Chukoury wrote:
> >Hello PLUGgers. :)
> >
> >I'm currently considering moving to ADSL (no, dialup just doesn't cut it
> >anymore :P ). I've already decided to go with Arachnet's 'Alpha' plan,
> >but I'm having a bit of trouble with the hardware side of things...
> >
> >See, I've got a home network (Linux box + WinXP box) and I'd like them
> >both to be able to access the net at the same time, preferrably without
> >necessitating one of them to be switched on for the other to be online.
> >I realise I need 2 things: an adsl modem and an ethernet switch. I've
> >had a look around and found at least 3 adsl modem/switch combo devices
> >that seem to fit what I'm looking for.
> >
> >However, poking around on everythinglinux.com.au I found the Pulsar PCI
> >adsl modem. (http://www.everythinglinux.com.au/item/pulsarpci) (If I'm
> >not mistaken, the Linux driver for the device is maintained by Guy Ellis
> >- http://www.cantech.net.au/plug/2002-12/msg00085.html) Traverse
> >Technologies' docs on the device
> >(http://www.traverse.com.au/products/default.asp?p=8) seem quite
> >impressive - low power consumption, low CPU overhead, support for PPPoE
> >*and* PPPoA... I've got my old P166 system[1] still sitting idly around
> >here, so I thought maybe I could get the Pulsar modem and shove in 2
> >other NICs (anyone got any spare/unneeded 10/100 MBps PCI ethernet cards
> >lying around? ;) ) and turn it into a custom adsl gateway/switch box
> >kind of thing. However, there are a few problems about doing it this
> >way... I haven't been able to find a reseller for the Pulsar modem in
> >Perth. Traverse lists WA Data (company related to Arachnet) as the only
> >WA reseller. However, while paying a visit to the WA Data/Arachnet
> >offices, I was told they're not willing to order just one of the devices
> >since they don't want to support a single user with the device (much
> >better off supporting a larger user base with the device). I'm wondering
> >if any PLUGgers know of some other local reseller? If there are no local
> >resellers, then I can always order it from everythinglinux, but I'm
> >worried that the package might arrive at some time when no one is around
> >to take the delivery. (According to your experience(s)), is it possible
> >to ask everythinglinux to deliver the package on a specific day (or
> >time)? Anyone know of alternate solutions to this delivery problem? :P
> >
> >Does anyone have any recommendations or tips on the subject of building
> >the custom gateway/switch box? :)
> >
> >By the way, the 3 modem/switches i found are:
> >
> >- Netgear DG814 (available from Harris Technologies, Tang Computers,
> >AFAICT, more expensive than the other 2, and most expensive solution
> >overall)
> >- D-Link DSL-504 (available from PLE @ $249)
> >- Billion BIPAC 741 (recommended by Arachnet - they sell it)
> >
> >Related questions:
> >- Any objections to doing it the custom way?
> >- Anyone know of some way of estimating the power usage of such a custom
> >setup?
> >- Any comments on the 3 modem/switch devices I mentioned above?
> >- <insert a question or issue I didn't think of, here> ;)
> >
> >
> >[1] The current specs for the 166 box are:
> >- Pentium 166 CPU
> >- Asus VX97 motherbard (docs at
> >http://www.motherboards.org/files/manuals/1/vx97-102.pdf)
> >- 48 MB EDO RAM
> >- Got a spare 2GB IDE hdd that I can plug in
> >- working floppy drive, broken (dead?) CD drive
> >- 3 PCI slots, 3 ISA slots, 1 PCI/ISA shared slot
> >- will run Linux, of course ;)
> >
> >Cheers
> >§:)