[techtalk] internet

[Caitlyn Máire Maritn]

Hi, Elizabeth,

I am probably going to be quite unpopular for making this suggestion, but...
if you are a relative newbie coming from a Windows environment, the easiest
way is with kppp.  It looks a whole lot like Dial-Up Networking in Windows.
(Yeah, I know, you don't learn what's under the hood that way, but it's
soooo *easy*.)

If you've installed and are running KDE (one of the desktop
environments/window managers you get with 6.1), it's on your Internet menu.
If you installed KDE but are running Gnome/Enlightenment (the default
desktop environment/window manager), just open a terminal session and type
in kppp &.  If you know how to do a DUN setup in Windows for your ISP,
you're home free.

If not, you'll need the following from your ISP:

-Your local dial-up phone numbers
-Is you IP address assigned dynamically?  (Usually yes, but VNet, for
example, offers static IPs)  If not, what is your assigned IP address?
-What are the IP addresses of the DNS servers the ISP uses?
-What type of authentication do they use?  (Almost always PAP.)
-Is the default gateway automatically assigned?  (It usually is.)  If not,
what's it's IP address?

In addition, when you go to set up your mail client and news reader, you'll
need to know the names of the ISPs mail and news servers, but first let's
get you connected :)

I believe there is a similar Gnome tool, and I also believe you can set up
most of this in Red Hat's Linuxconf as well, but I've always taken the easy
way out.

I hope this is somewhat helpful.

All the best,
Caity

>
> I've finally gotten a new hard drive, and installed Redhat 6.1.  Now it's
> time to connect to the internet!  I already have a provider...but I need
to
> know how to set it all up.  I don't have even the faintest clue where to
> start, though.  Please help