What is Digg?37 Comments
- kodek, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35Dugg for not using Ubuntu in the title. And it's a good idea too :D
- Frost9999, on 10/12/2007, -4/+31Welcome to the late 80's... dial-up BBS's run from bedrooms around the world, games are stored on tapes, and a 14 inch screen is what everyone wishes they had, if only the colour ones were cheaper.
- Frost9999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Don't come down so hard on me, I was just trying to claw back memories of the good ol' days.
- schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19There's nothing that a barebone Linux box cannot achieve within a few minutes. I can think of pricey software that achieves the same things through a front end on closed platforms...
- ahthrift, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16ISP's do not use this sort of setup. Even small ISP's use devices such as the Lucent TNT or APX access gateways, or the Nortel ones, or the Cisco ones. These devices terminate E1/T1 circuits or STM1 circuits into routed ethernet in bulk, and take up siginificantly less rack space than normal modems. For an example you can handle 248 concurrent users on a single card around 1.5cmx15cmx30cm and the APX takes 16 of these from memory.
- tony134340, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9@redial
He was referencing how this is pretty much the same in practice as in the BBS/Fidonet days, and he's right. It's not that different although the technology is obviously far more high tech these days. I think you're the one who forgot to take your Geritol today. - andrebsd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Interesting, but if I set that up I'd have an ISP that supports 1 user at a time. (Since I only have one phone line coming in.) Brilliant!
Now I will have to say I was wondering at one point about 3-4 years ago how to run an ISP. Not because it would be practical, but just to know how the system worked. - mancat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Way to ruin the fun dude.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Great way to get into your home computer when you're not at home, as long as you secure it properly. Used to have this set-up before I moved and had two phonelines (now I'm totally cellular and have cable Internet, so no need for mobile dial-back).
I would imagine that most small-town ISPs are running this exact setup, with a T1 or multiple T1s as their backend. - fireball74, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Not exactly. BBS's were great, sure, providing netmail, message and file subs, and so on. But few possessed the features to give a true PPP/SLIP dialup connectivity into the local network, if there was one.
The idea of using a Linux box as a kind of dialup VPN isn't new, but I think it'd be worth it to a small company with agents in the field. Hook up multiple USB modems to expand it. - jharper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This may be very useful to me. I have an old Dreamcast ( I also have a Wii, so don't write me off completely) and connecting it to the net to download saved files is not possible without either a) a broadband adapter or b) a dial up connection. If I use something like this, I can make me own dial up connection for my Dreamcast to access. Perfect.
- senfo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Other than missing an opportunity to bring up zmodem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zmodem) I'm not sure why gerryk is being dugg down. When connecting to a BBS, you'd be connected to the BBS's interface through your terminal software. Often, BBS's even provided a simple GUI (for lack of better words), but the point I'm trying to make is that all work was done on the server and then sent to the client to be displayed. The things you could do were limited by what the host had to offer. For example, I remember when one of the larger ones in my area got about 10 phone lines, which allowed us to chat with each other and we thought it was such a big deal, at the time. When you connect to a RAS server, on the other hand, after the modem establishes a connection, from the users stand point, your simply returned to the OS, where you can open a browser, check email, or what have you.
- pcgeek101, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8It's even easier on Windows :)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/rras/default.mspx
*prepares to get largest number of negative diggs ever* - schroduggity, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7or a crappy cable modem
- MjrParanoid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Don't give pcgeek negs just becasue he speaks the truth. Windiows dialin server set up is extremely easy, (like caveman easy) and on the server based OS it is MUCH more robust and feature packed with its RAS policies than the linux variations.
Thats Why Windows OS servers are so popular. Ez, even if they are cheezy. mmmmmmm cheese. - bmauter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Step #10 is wrong. It tells you the right thing to do, but /etc/inittab is most certainly not the inet/xinetd config file. inittab is for the init process and telinit q is how you tell it to reread the config file. Notice init and inet are not the same thing. ;)
10 Start Mgetty
Tell the inet daemon (xinetd) to reread its config file (/etc/inittab) and start up mgetty on the modems.
/sbin/telinit q
Devil is in the details...
-Brian - dnthomps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People still have land-lines? I sometimes wish I had a land-line. I could use my fax machine again.
- takeda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually I remember windows 98 had a dial-in. I think it's still available in 2000 and XP.
It wasn't installed by default, but it was on the installation CD. - mickstephenson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1its not wise to not have a landline, ur IP phone won't work when the power is out
- LordofShadows, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How does one map multiple phone lines to a single telephone number?
- shawgo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I want to do it for a friend who has no 'net access at home, and for when I travel.
- shawgo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I asked how to do this at yahoo answers and they couldn't give me an answer, thank you for posting this!
- DoctorClu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0"by jharper on 1/09/07
[comment buried, show commenthide comment] + 4 diggs bury this digg this
This may be very useful to me. I have an old Dreamcast ( I also have a Wii, so don't write me off completely) and connecting it to the net to download saved files is not possible without either a) a broadband adapter or b) a dial up connection. If I use something like this, I can make me own dial up connection for my Dreamcast to access. Perfect."
Hey any luck getting the Dreamcast on a BBS? Currently tinkering with Dreamcasts (and Redhat Linux) but not having much luck finding a good simple term program. Suggestions? - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4[quote]This document describes how to attach modems to a Linux box and allow it to receive calls to connect users to the network. Its like being your own ISP (Internet Service Provider).[/quote]
Like a.... BBS!?
You silly kids today.
EDIT: I see someone else mentioned it already. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Anyone remember relaynet. All the message fights aimed at Howard? Aw...those were the days......I still have my Amiga 500....and it works...
- gerryk, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Not really... BBSs back in the day used simple serial comms with a little bit of xmodem or kermit thrown in for file xfer... no ip routing or any such things. So, apart from the phone line connection... nothing like a BBS at all.
- lexanx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I remember a few bbses back in the mid 90s that did this. I know of was bbs that had a T1 back end and was running cnet on top of linux.
There server and lines were running into a trailer in a trailer park in a nearby city. You had to dial in and you got a linux login prompt. You had to type bbs for the bbs or log into the shell and start ppp manualy. Strange how it was done. Though there were several bbses that turned into a isp using majorbbs or worldgroup. so this is nothing new, but is interesting. Turning into a isp or running MajorMud was one of the biggest things in the bbs world. - babylon5, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yeah, I remember setting these dial in solutions up sarting in the early 90s - they were great for travelling salesmen to dial into the office and get updated price lists etc.
I must say, the article covers a broard range of issues here in a few simple steps, although Im not so sure we will still find uses for it today.
If you want to dial-in to your home computer, don't we just use one of the mass of available VPN solutions? (most broadband routers come with VPN servers built in these days)
Anyone remember war dialling? - x3nos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2You still need that Comcast connection my friend. Once you dial in, where is your traffic going to route?
- SammyJr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This was awesome when I did the same thing... back in 1997.
- ae92, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I'm pretty sure the first comment is supposed to be ironic... I think the only people with tape drives and sub-14" monochrome monitors in the late 80s were people nostalgic for the early 80s. :)
- griz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2And 640k of memory was all you needed.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Wow this is so useful. I'm calling Comcast right now and turning off my 8MB connection so I can do this. Props to you dude for telling me about it.....
- roprot, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Hello, the early 90's called. They want their How-To back ..
Honestly, all you young Linux users not knowing how to do this .. - shawnz, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1no digg for inaccuracy -- not everyone uses that exact software configuration
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -17/+2Shut up ahthrift, you self involved *****. No-one gives a ***** about your 'technical wizardry'.
- redial, on 10/12/2007, -33/+5Props for trying to give yourself cred by pulling out the BBS acronym, but this has nothing to do with bulletin boards or the 80's. This is setting up a dial-in server to allow you to access the internet by dialing a modem at your house instead of using a dial-up ISP. You know this, don't spout dumb ***** just because you've been around for awhile.
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