[TriLUG] New list member here

[William Sutton]

Comcast has this "new" (their word, not mine) cable modem provisioning 
system.  They connect the cable modem to the cable, the cable to the 
outside box, the computer to the cable modem, pop a CD into the Windows PC 
(no Linux support, allegedly), and it's supposed to do the rest.

Problem #1 is I don't have a CD ROM in my (only) PC down here (Sony Vaio, 
PCG-505GX) and I'm not particularly interested in using Windows (I have it 
for resume stuff, if need be).

Problem #2 (tangentially related) is that I'm still using my cell phone 
with a 919 area code (and didn't sign up for a local number).  
Unfortunately, that means Comcast's automated tech support line hangs up 
on me because my phone number "isn't in [their] operating area."  :)

Problem #3 appears to be more sticky.  I broke down last night and used 
Windows to connect so they could check the provisioning.  They had me 
check a couple settings in Windows (dhcp, use dhcp to get dns) which I 
don't usually have checked (that is, it worked fine at home under 
RoadRunner without them) (I was using caching-nameserver on another system 
for dns).

With those changes, I can surf under '98 through my Linksys 
router/firewall.  However, running Red Hat 9 with caching-nameserver and a 
192.168.1.x IP address, all I get are services for hosts I have listed in 
/etc/hosts.  I haven't changed any settings, and the tech at Comcast said 
that the router only allows physical transport layer access.

I can ping hosts I don't have listed but it returns as so:

corran:~# ping yahoo.com
PING yahoo.com (68.87.96.200) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from act02.selfprov.pa.comcast.net (68.87.96.200): icmp_seq=1 
ttl=243 time=46.2 ms
64 bytes from act02.selfprov.pa.comcast.net (68.87.96.200): icmp_seq=2 
ttl=243 time=45.9 ms

--- yahoo.com ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 45.927/46.089/46.252/0.269 ms

It would appear that (as they say) they route everything through their 
provisioning service (the tech I spoke with alleged that it all goes 
through port 80).

Got any ideas? :)

William

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004, Mike M wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 24, 2004 at 02:56:16PM -0500, Tanner Lovelace wrote:
> > William Sutton said the following on 3/24/04 2:12 PM:
> > 
> > >Eh, Tanner, do those various reasons have to do with being luddites? :)
> > 
> > No, I think they actually deal with the laws in North Carolina regarding
> > non-profit membership organizations.
> > 
> > >Note, I still don't have a membership card, and at this point snail mail 
> > >is the best way to get it to me.  Email me off-list for the address.
> 
> I don't have mine yet either.  Do I need it?  Coming to meetings is
> still difficult for me.  What I'm really interesting in is a trilug
> shell account so I can bang on my network from the outside (cvs 
> through ssh actually - is that allowed?).
> > >
> > >William (in withdrawal since Comcast in Huntsville still doesn't let me 
> > >surf under Linux)
> > 
> > Huntsville, AL?!?  When did you move there and how long are you there?
> 
> That place is full of rocket scientists.  Linux should be the defacto
> standard :-).
> 
> What do you mean, exactly, by not being able to surf under Linux?
> 
>