Nikkita,
I don't know where you are located, but if it is in one of these areas: New York
City, Rochester, NY; Boston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas; Washington D.C. or (I
believe, but I could be mistaken) Philadelphia, then I would suggest you bypass
DirecPC and get an access provider that offers MMDS wireless Internet Access. In
all the areas I mentioned, except Dallas/FT. Worth, this service is offered by
CAI Wireless Internet (http://www.caiwireless.net) and NYLink
(http://www.nylink.com). In Dallas the service is offered by The Beam
(http://www/TheBeam.com).
The technology offers download speeds of 27Mbps. That's way faster than DirecPC
(200Kbps), a T1 which is only 1.5 Mbps and halfway to a T3 which is, I believe 45
Mbps(?). The data is routed to your computer from an antenna that they mount on
your roof (by the way, there is no cost or obligation to you besides the cost of
installation, you do not have to purchase the equipment, unlike DirecPC, and if
you cancel, they just come and remove their stuff.) through a coaxial cable to a
cable modem which is then routed to your computer via 10BaseT Ethernet. The
cable modem also handles the upstream data via a 33.6 or, like mine, a 38.4Kbps
modem. There is no need for a separate ISP or a separate modem.
It will work on any platform as long as you have an ethernet connection on your
machine, either built in or as an expansion card. So any Ethernet card you have
working under Linux would work fine. I use the service and it runs smoothly on
my Macintosh, under Windows 95 and I have seen it in operation under RH Linux
(although I haven't used it because I have yet to get Ethernet up and running
under Linux).
Of course this is all for naught if you are not in one of the areas I mentioned
because the technology is line-of-site meaning you have to be in range of there
broadcasting site, and, preferably, have a clear line-of-site to it in order to
get it. I would suggest that , if you are not in one of those cities, that you
investigate it anyway to see if there may be some one in your area. As I
mentioned, I use it and the speeds are outrageous.
Cheers,
Brandon
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I was pondering the idea of buying a DirecPC dish. It uses my
> current ISP, no problem there, and is supposed to upload min. at 200K ( upload
> is like a normal modem ), but then I noticed that there is a special PCI card
> that comes with it.
> Does Linux support DirecPC? If yes, then how is the instillation, any
> problems/dead ends?
>
> I appreciate it,
> Nikita.
>
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