Anyone used Qwest Actiontec DSL w/ PPPoA & Linux

I just signed up for the Qwest DSL service and I am having a hard time
finding useful information on using Linux with PPPoA. There are a lot of
pages with PPPoE information.

My setup is the Actiontec dsl modem hooked up via a 10/100 Ethernet card.


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Keith wrote:

> I just signed up for the Qwest DSL service and I am having a hard time
> finding useful information on using Linux with PPPoA. There are a lot of
> pages with PPPoE information.
>
> My setup is the Actiontec dsl modem hooked up via a 10/100 Ethernet card.

I'm using it just fine. PPPoA is not PPPoE and doesn't have any of the
problems that you might have heard about PPPoE (like the goofy MTU size).

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On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 05:23:16 +0000, Keith wrote:

> I just signed up for the Qwest DSL service and I am having a hard time
> finding useful information on using Linux with PPPoA. There are a lot of
> pages with PPPoE information.
>
> My setup is the Actiontec dsl modem hooked up via a 10/100 Ethernet card.


If it's the actiontec 1524 like I have, it is no problem. First, the
router has a built in four port switch, so you just plug in and go. You
don't run pppoe or anything else, you are just plugging into a network. It
comes with modem setup instructions for win and mac - the mac instructions
are easy to interpret. If you're also getting msn e-mail, download hotwayd
and install it to do translation between pop and msn's http mail service,
then set up sendmail for your smtp. Really quite easy. Any distro which
sets up dhcp will pretty much connect automatically after the modem is
configured - which you do via browser connection to 192.168.0.1.

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 05:23:16 +0000, Keith hath writ:
> I just signed up for the Qwest DSL service and I am having a hard time
> finding useful information on using Linux with PPPoA. There are a lot of
> pages with PPPoE information.
> My setup is the Actiontec dsl modem hooked up via a 10/100 Ethernet card.

Probably the ActionTec 1524 -- a Real Slick unit.

Do not sweat the PPPoA -- that's on the WAN side: between the ActionTec
and Qwest's DSLAM. It's a non-issue for you. IJFW.

There is a BIG pdf out there that you can find if you drill down
through the Qwest DSL pages. It is pretty much the one you
get on CD when the Actiontec is shipped to you. On the Qwest web
pages, and agin in the box the Actiontec is shipped with, you'll see
lots of documentation alluding to "dire consequences" if you do
not use wINdOZE for the install. BULLSHIT. (Oh, and in an
Appendix, they admit there is an Apple MAC OS out there...)
My lan here is OS/2 and linux. I installed it with OS/2 -- because
that was the only box on at the time. And, many times, I've stopped,
started, re-configured, and checked its status from the linux box.

I had to change the "gateway" on all the PC's, of course (from the
dial-up gateway served by one of the OS/2 boxen.)
And, I added "dsl" in everybody's hosts file.
I don't remember now if I had to do anything else on the existing lan.

Maybe you studied the early Qwest DSL "packaging" -- using the Cisco box
(678?) -- and were expecting just as much hassle as that presented. I
know I did, and then when I found out it was to be an Actiontec instead, I
was all prepared to "go to night school" again to learn the Actiontec miky-maus.
Nope -- it ain't gonna be like that!
Smooth as silk.

It is installed here with dhcp on the wan side, and fixed ip on
the lan side: since I already had a lan with 6 "named" and configured
PC's on it, I wasn't about to change over to dhcp on the lan side.
Also, I had a "hole" at 192.168.0.1 -- from an old retired OS/2 Warp
486/DX33 :-) -- and that fit in nicely with the Actiontec's
(changeable) default ip of the same.

Since it has a 4-port _switch_, I plugged my 3 busiest machines into
the Actiontec and then plugged in my old hub which had the other 3
remaining PC's still hanging off it.

Again, smooth as silk. After a week or so you may forget all
about it.

Google "actiontec 1524 dsl" in comp.os.*
IIRC, I posted a wee bit more about my install in the OS/2 ng's.

HTH, and Have Fun,
Jonesy
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| Marvin L Jones | jonz | W3DHJ | OS/2
| Gunnison, Colorado | @ | Jonesy | linux __
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