On Wed, 2007-12-26 at 23:24 -0600, Robert Citek wrote: > This has been a thread on the helpdesk, but thought it might be better > served on the general shop list, too. > > Some questions I have: > > 1) Anyone have a clue as to why a student machine would have an IP > address hard coded?
At least back in February (checked an old clone disk to verify), the only entry in /etc/network/interfaces is: iface eth0 inet dhcp So, unless something changed when we upgraded to etch, there is no way, using our standard graduate clone image. Meaning someone at some time had to change the entry. > 2) How does one login to a Debian machine bypassing root > authentication? I hesitate giving out our root password and would > prefer to have them change the root password to something they will > remember. IIRC, you can add init=/bin/bash to the boot stanza, but I > have no way to test that. Add student to sudoers and get sudo up and running. Or is this one of those "can't use sudo must be root" issues? > My suspicions are that the root password has already been changed or > that this machine is in some way foobared, and that handing out our > root password isn't going to solve the problem. > > Thoughts? Only way to know for sure would be to see the machine. If they bring it in, a volunteer can change the root password for the machine (and look into the DHCP issue). However, once we start changing root password on student machines, we've got a whole new issue for ANY future support. Oh, and just my opinion, but that forwarded email was written by someone with a lot of tech savvy -- not the mother? Only problem with this weekend is the classroom upgrade has to take precedence over repairs. Just my two bits. t. > Regards, > - Robert > > ------ Forwarded Message > date Dec 26, 2007 10:15 PM > subject [bworks_helpdesk] Re: help for internet connect/Lucy Perez > > The machine in question is being setup for a new AT&T DSL connection. > One of the problems is that the IP address has been hard coded rather > than using the appropriate DHCP. Since the network settings are > login/password protected we were unable to make the necessary > adjustment. It would be imperitive to make these changes in order for > this machine to connect to AT&T or any other domain. This is not the > only problem with the situation being described, but it would be > fundamental to the setup of any machine connecting to any DSL service. > We need to correct this for them if it is going to work so I need the > login/password with permissions to make adjustments to the network > settings. > > Thanks in advance > > ----- Original Message ---- > Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:41:19 AM > Subject: FW: [bworks_helpdesk] Re: help for internet connect/Lucy Perez > > Charles, help! kate > > ------ Forwarded Message > From: Robert Citek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:51:33 -0700 > Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [bworks_helpdesk] Re: help for internet connect/Lucy Perez > > Hello Kate, > > > On Dec 25, 2007 10:00 AM, .... wrote: > > Last week I spoke with Dr. Walter about hooking up to the internet, and he > > didn't mention needing the name and password. I'm hoping one of the techs > > can help so Lucy can do research for school. > > Can you give a bit more information on how you are trying to setup > networking? For example, is this machine being added to an existing > network or is this a new network connection? If this is a new > internet connection, is it a dial-up connection or broadband (e.g. > DSL, cable, satellite, wifi)? > > I ask because the machines we award are already "internet ready". > That is, if you already have a broadband internet connection (e.g. DSL > or cable), all you need to do is connect the Ethernet cable from the > computer to the router. > > If this is a new DSL service using AT&T, the only challenging part is > the initial registration process. We have notes on our website on how > to register with the student's machine: > > http://wiki.bworks.org/doku.php/dsl > > Regards, > - Robert > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > -- *** Propositions arrived at purely by logical means are completely empty as regards reality. - Albert Einstein ***
