[ale] New Linux setup

[Jim Popovitch]

On Sun, 2005-02-13 at 00:09 -0500, Parker McGee wrote:
> I'm not completely sure about this, but are you sure it /should/ be
> querying your _modem_ for a DHCP address?

Yes.  Think of the DSL modem as a combo NAT/Modem device.  Most have
this capability, it's just not a widely known thing.  BellSouth, by
default, ships theirs with this feature disabled and pppoe pass-through
enabled.  This makes it very easy to setup a single client PC which has
an empty ethernet interface (or someone that desires to install USB
network drivers).  But home owners that use a home network to connect to
a network printer, file storage, or other ethernet device, will want to
disable the pppoe pass-through and have the DSL Modem use NAT to
participate on the local network.  In this mode the pppoe credentials
are setup in the network interface on the modem (http://192.168.0.254 or
similar) rather than in software installed on the local PC.

-Jim P.