On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 12:42:00PM -0400, Michael Thompson wrote: > I was using DirecPC for a while about 4 years ago, at the time it > required a dial-up uplink. I was forced to use a Windows machine with > internet connection sharing to run the access software though. There > was a company that actually had Linux access software, but it was around > $300 iirc, so I ended up using a windows box just for the connection and > shielding the rest of my home net with a Linux firewall.
Although I was also using DirecPC at about the same time, I was able to find Linux software to drive the link. At that time there was a PCI card with a 75 ohm connector in my Linux gateway machine and the software that controlled it and the modem with the up-link were from --- brain-fade --- that Linux company in Utah, spun off of Novell. ( Actually, it may even be the company that took over an old Un*x name from Santa Clara. !! ) The people there, especially the management ( very small group ), were very helpful, even though I suspect that I was one of a similarly small group using Linux. At the same time, I think that they were producing turn-key boxes which acted as routers on things like school networks, connecting the school to the DirecPC system, and running Linux internally, although the customer didn't necessarily know. > DirecPC had download limits that changed dynamically based on the > current sat. load, even DirecPC tech support could not fully explain the > "rules" to me but basically, if you download more than $BYTES (iirc it > was around 150MB) in $TIME amount of time, you'd get knocked down to 56k > for a day or so. Business customers had a higher threshold. I believe > that the new satellite hardware does both upload and download through > the dish, but the FCC requires that a "certified" installer put it in. I also remember those limits, and examining the logs and invoices to see when they might have over-reacted to my activity. I found the Linux tech support people much better in general than the DirecPC people, probably because I was talking more to developers and such, than telephone-answerers. > If you have a DSL or Cable option, I'd avoid the satellite connection. Unfortunately, I have to agree with this recommendation, simply because we, as small users, don't have the 1000% over-design factors that big commercial users have. We are running much closer to noise thresholds with the size of dish and power being used. > Otherwise, its much faster than dial up, with a few things to > consider... > > Don't know if this helps, but just my $.02. Ditto! ;-) > --mike Brian -- TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ TriLUG PGP Keyring : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc
