HomePortal DSL/Firewall/Router ??

A friend of mine got stuck with a HomePortal DSLmodem/firewall/router which
sucks. Is there anyway to bypass the web interface and get to a command prompt
on these. Their website doesn't show anything like that. Is it possible to
totally disable everything but the modem part and use another router/firewall,
like a linux box, with it?


--
Harmon Seaver

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 17:08:35 +0000, hseave wrote:

> A friend of mine got stuck with a HomePortal DSLmodem/firewall/router
> which
> sucks. Is there anyway to bypass the web interface and get to a command
> prompt on these. Their website doesn't show anything like that. Is it
> possible to totally disable everything but the modem part and use another
> router/firewall, like a linux box, with it?

I have a Linksys router. I can mostly configure it through Galeon but
there are some things that seem to require IE. I have Win4Lin on my
system so I use that to run Explorer. I highly recommend Win4Lin but if
you don't want to shell out for it you might want to try running IE under
Wine. You should also try Opera and Konqueror to see if those work with
your router.

B. Joshua Rosen <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 17:08:35 +0000, hseave wrote:

>> A friend of mine got stuck with a HomePortal DSLmodem/firewall/router
>> which
>> sucks. Is there anyway to bypass the web interface and get to a command
>> prompt on these. Their website doesn't show anything like that. Is it
>> possible to totally disable everything but the modem part and use another
>> router/firewall, like a linux box, with it?

> I have a Linksys router. I can mostly configure it through Galeon but
> there are some things that seem to require IE. I have Win4Lin on my
> system so I use that to run Explorer. I highly recommend Win4Lin but if
> you don't want to shell out for it you might want to try running IE under
> Wine. You should also try Opera and Konqueror to see if those work with
> your router.

That's not the problem. I configure cisco routers for a living, I
really *don't* want any sort of crappy web interface to anything I'm
working on. Plus the web interface to these just plain sux. It is easily
the most cumbersome and PITA thing I've ever used. It also seems to totally
limit your choices -- for instance, it will only let you open a port for
MSN Messenger for one single computer on your network. Absurd garbage.


--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> A friend of mine got stuck with a HomePortal DSLmodem/firewall/router
> which
> sucks. Is there anyway to bypass the web interface and get to a command
> prompt on these. Their website doesn't show anything like that. Is it
> possible to totally disable everything but the modem part and use another
> router/firewall, like a linux box, with it?
>
>

I'm not familiar with this brand; what I would try is connect to whatever
you want, and turn off everything you don't want in whatever interface it
provides. I'm not sure I see the point anyway, if you're going to use a
Linux box for a firewall/router, just throw in a second NIC, and don't even
bother with the HomePortal thingy. None of these home-user type products
have a CLI, I think you'd have to hack the firmware to make one.

Alice

Alice <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>> A friend of mine got stuck with a HomePortal DSLmodem/firewall/router
>> which
>> sucks. Is there anyway to bypass the web interface and get to a command
>> prompt on these. Their website doesn't show anything like that. Is it
>> possible to totally disable everything but the modem part and use another
>> router/firewall, like a linux box, with it?
>>
>>

> I'm not familiar with this brand; what I would try is connect to whatever
> you want, and turn off everything you don't want in whatever interface it
> provides. I'm not sure I see the point anyway, if you're going to use a
> Linux box for a firewall/router, just throw in a second NIC, and don't even
> bother with the HomePortal thingy. None of these home-user type products
> have a CLI, I think you'd have to hack the firmware to make one.

A linux firewall/router would be nice, but they don't have a spare box
(plus I'd have to do it all for them anyway) and there still needs to be
a dsl modem, which means more cash outlay if this could be reused.
I'd bet they do have some form of cli, the gui software has to have
a command set that does the work. Working thru the web interface doesn't
allow you full control, for instance, you can only use netmeeting or msn
messenger (voice) with a single computer.
Anybody know what OS these things run?


--
Harmon Seaver

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Alice <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>>> A friend of mine got stuck with a HomePortal DSLmodem/firewall/router
>>> which
>>> sucks. Is there anyway to bypass the web interface and get to a command
>>> prompt on these. Their website doesn't show anything like that. Is it
>>> possible to totally disable everything but the modem part and use
>>> another router/firewall, like a linux box, with it?
>>>
>>>
>
>> I'm not familiar with this brand; what I would try is connect to whatever
>> you want, and turn off everything you don't want in whatever interface it
>> provides. I'm not sure I see the point anyway, if you're going to use a
>> Linux box for a firewall/router, just throw in a second NIC, and don't
>> even bother with the HomePortal thingy. None of these home-user type
>> products have a CLI, I think you'd have to hack the firmware to make one.
>
> A linux firewall/router would be nice, but they don't have a spare box
> (plus I'd have to do it all for them anyway) and there still needs to be
> a dsl modem, which means more cash outlay if this could be reused.
> I'd bet they do have some form of cli, the gui software has to have
> a command set that does the work. Working thru the web interface doesn't
> allow you full control, for instance, you can only use netmeeting or msn
> messenger (voice) with a single computer.
> Anybody know what OS these things run?
>
>

D'oh, you do need a DSL modem. My mistake. However you did mention
connecting it to a Linux box, to do the router/firewall stuff. Make up your
mind.

HomePortal runs on Windows CE. Me, I wouldn't even mess with it- just use it
as a DSL modem, or find a used DSL modem for cheap or free, there are lots
of them floating around, and use a Linux box for the router/firewall etc.
There are still a lot of old 486 and classic Pentiums, they make great
gateway boxes. Use Gibraltar Linux, it runs from a CD, and will do anything
you want: http://www.gibraltar.at/

Alice