[oclug]Newbie with an ISP question

[Ian Wormsbecker]

On January 14, 2003 09:42 pm, Scott Rollins wrote:
> Brief intro: I'm a soon-to-be new Linux user...my new computer is on its
> way, and I intend to use Linux as its sole OS.  Partly because I've read
> enough about Linux and have wanted to use it for ages (and had installed a
> UMSDOS installation a few years back, which was slightly less than I was
> happy with, both because of cramped hard disk quarters and the fact that I
> couldn't get X working on my then-fairly-new machine (which is now being
> replaced at the age of 7--actually, replaced is too harsh a word...once I
> get my new machine up and running and my data files backed up, I hope to
> format and give it a new life with an X-less Linux install and network
> them so I have a 2nd machine to work with.

Sounds excellent :)


> My cable company doesn't offer Internet access, so DSL looks like it: any
> suggestions on providers, especially since I'll be using an OS connected
> neither to Redmond nor to fruit.  Especially if they're backed up with
> some personal experience?

I am currently using Sympatico ( www.sympatico.ca) high speed internet without 
any troubles. I had very bad connectivity for a while, but after getting 
numerous technicians to my apartment they finally fixed the problems and gave 
me free movie passes for all my troubles :) 

A member of OCLUG, David Skoll, has written excellent software that I use to 
connect to Sympatico. I beleive his website is at www.roaringpenguin.com and 
the package is called rp-pppoe. It has always worked flawlessly for me under 
numerous different Linux distributions.

The only caveat will be getting a network card that supports Linux (which 
should be pretty easy). I have a RealTek RTL-8029 based card that works 
perfectly under Linux. I am sure others can give you recommendations for 
network cards that work well. My criteria was the cheapest one I could find 
at the time, and it happenned to work :)

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux

Ian