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Cable-Modem-mini-HOWTO
Vladimir Vuksan, vuksan@veus.hr
v3.10, 6 July 1998
This document attempts to answer basic questions on how to connect
your Linux box to cable modem or cable Internet provider.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 New Versions of this Document
1.2 Feedback
1.3 Contributors
1.4 Standard Disclaimer
1.5 Copyright Information
2. Setting up your Ethernet Card
3. Your ISP
3.1 MediaOne Express
3.2 @Home
3.3 RoadRunner
3.4 Rogers Wave
3.5 Sunflower Cablevision
3.6 Jones Intercable
3.7 GTE Worldwind
3.8 SpeedChoice, Phoenix, Arizona
3.9 Cedar Falls Cybernet, Iowa
3.10 Telstra Bigpond Cable, Australia
3.11 Fibertel, Buenos Aires, Argentina
3.12 Videotron, Canada
3.13 Telekabel (Teleweb), Austria
3.14 Tebecai, Netherlands
3.15 Shaw Cable, Canada
3.16 Cogeco Cable, Canada
3.17 Optimum Online, Long Island, NY
3.18 Singapore Cable Vision, Singapore
3.19 Cable Wanadoo, France
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
The main goal of this document is to get your system running with your
cable modem, and cable internet provider. Unfortunately, many ISPs
that provide cable modem services, give you Windows and Macintosh
software only.
This document attempts to explain how to setup some cable modems and
internet providers in Linux, the tricks to get them working correctly,
and the traps not to fall down. It is hoped that this document will
assist you, however we make no claims for the validity of the
information contained within.
1.1. New Versions of this Document
New versions of this document will be periodically posted to
comp.os.linux.answers. They will also be added to the various
anonymous FTP sites who archive such information, including:
In addition, you should generally be able to find this document on the
Linux Documentation Project page via:
1.2. Feedback
Feedback is most certaintly welcome for this document. Without your
submissions and input, this document wouldn't exist. So, please post
your additions, comments and criticisms to vuksan@veus.hr.
1.3. Contributors
The following people have contributed to this mini-HOWTO.
╖ Dan Sullivan, dsulli@home.com
╖ Andrew Novick
╖ Michael Strates
1.4. Standard Disclaimer
No liability for the contents of this documents can be accepted. Use
the concepts, examples and other content at your own risk. As this is
a new edition of this document, there may be errors and inaccuracies,
that may of course be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution,
and although this is highly unlikely, I don't take any responsibility
for that.
Also bear in mind that this is NOT official information. Obtaining
official information is usually an impossibility with many ISPs. Much
content in this document are assumptions, which appear to work for
people. Use the information at your own risk.
1.5. Copyright Information
This document is copyrighted (c)1998 Vladimir Vuksan and distributed
under the following terms:
╖ Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and distributed in whole or
in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as this
copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial
redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would
like to be notified of any such distributions.
╖ All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works
incorporating any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this
copyright notice. That is, you may not produce a derivative work
from a HOWTO and impose additional restrictions on its
distribution. Exceptions to these rules may be granted under
certain conditions; please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator at
the address given below.
╖ If you have questions, please contact, the Linux HOWTO coordinator,
at
linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu
2. Setting up your Ethernet Card
All of the setups below use ethernet cards (network cards) to connect
you somehow to the Internet. That is why first we need to check if
your ethernet card is working and most importantly can be used (read
is supported) in Linux. There is a comprehensive Ethernet HOWTO at
if you would like to read it otherwise try this.
Boot into Linux, During boot up a message like this should appear...
eth0: 3c509 at 0x300 tag 1, 10baseT port, address 00 20 af ee 01 23,
IRQ 10.
3c509.c:1.07 6/15/95 becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov
If you missed it type dmesg.
If you see a message like that you are set and you can go to the next
section. If you can't see a message like this there are two possible
explanations, your ethernet card is PNP (plug-n-play) and you need to
use tools such as isapnptools to get it recognized (I am not quite
sure on this because I don't have a single PNP card so correct me if I
am wrong). The other explanation is that you need to set up your card.
Most cards today come with DOS programs that are used to setup your
card. For example to get my 3COM 3c509 to work all I needed to do is
boot into DOS and use a utility to configure my card. There is usually
a Auto Configure option. If that does not solve your problem try
changing the IRQ for the card using the same utility. I find that
usually IRQs 10,11 and 12 work well. If none of this solves your
problem please read the Ethernet HOWTO referenced above or post to a
newsgroup such as comp.os.linux.setup or comp.os.linux.networking.
3. Your ISP
If you think you have the card recognized you have to now look at the
entry for your ISP. I have sorted the information according to a
provider because setups are mostly ISP specific.
3.1. MediaOne Express
MediaOne Express is a Internet cable service provided by MediaOne. The
hardware setup consists of a cable modem produced by LanCity or
General Instruments which plugs into an ethernet card using a 10BaseT
(UTP-45) cable. Assignment of IP addresses and other networking
information is done using DHCP which stands for Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol. The only thing you need to do is read the DHCP
mini-HOWTO and configure your system appropriately. There is no other
necessary configuration. DHCP mini-HOWTO can be found at
Information about MediaOne Service can be found at .
3.2. @Home
@Home uses a similar setup to ``MediaOne''. However, there are a few
fundamental differences, outlined by a contributor.
Before you try anything, go to control panel, network, and properties
for your network card. Write down all of the information. You will
need it later.
TCI, the company that runs @Home issues a Etherlink III 3c509b NIC for
all of their customers. What TCI does not tell you is that when they
install your ethernet card, it is in PnP mode. Now in Slakware, if you
uncomment the proper line for this card, everything will appear to be
working fine. There will be no system problems, but the 'PC' light on
your CyberSURFR modem will never turn on. If you are using Slakware,
and are having this problem, reboot in DOS and skip the next
paragraph.
In RedHat5, your system will have some trouble autodetecting the card.
If you try to pass the paramaters manually, the system will hang. This
should be obvious that your card is not setup properly. Before wasting
anymore time, reboot in DOS (This is a must because as of 12/25/97,
there is no utility written for Linux to turn off PnP and turn on
ISA.)
TCI does not give out a utility disk for your ethernet card, so you
must download the utility from one of 3Com's sites. Here is a link to
3COM's page for driver download.
Once you have downloaded your driver files you will need to run them
and disable the PNP mode of your network card.
What you've now done will make your ethernet card 'broken' in Windows
95. You'll need to go to Control Panel, Network, and remove the
network card and the adapter. Reboot your computer, and again go back
to control panel. Go to add/remove new hardware, and have it
autodetect. It will automatically setup the correct i/o address for
you. You will most likely need to reboot again. Now you should be in
Windows 95, with the 'PC' light on your cable modem on. You will also
notice that none of your internet applications seem to work, you can't
ping, and you can't resolve DNS. You now must go back to control
panels, network, and click on properties for your network card (not
the adapter). Re-enter all the data you wrote down, and reboot.
With a little luck, your ethernet card should be working in Windows
95, and ready to rock in Linux.
If you live Hampton Roads, VA you should read a little note from Mark
Solomon
With the @home service in Hampton Roads, VA, it is absolutly
neccessary to run dhcpcd-0.70 (or higher) that supports the "-h"
option to specify the hostname of your computer. Without this switch
the @home dhcpcd server will not assign addresses.
Notes for Baltimore, Maryland (info from Christopher Weiss):
In Baltimore subscribers are issued Intel Ether Express Pro 10 nics
and a static IP number.
Information about @Home Service can be found at .
3.3. RoadRunner
RoadRunner is an Internet cable service provided by Excalibur Group
(Time Warner). The hardware setup consists of a cable modem produced
by Motorola and Toshiba which plugs into an ethernet card using a
10BaseT (UTP-45) cable. From what I can gather RR uses DHCP for IP
assignment. In order to set up Linux to use DHCP you need to read the
DHCP mini-HOWTO and configure your system appropriately. DHCP mini-
HOWTO can be found at http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/DHCP.html.
If this doesn't work out for you you should check out
for Akron, Ohio and
for San Diego, California. It might help solve your problem.
Information about RoadRunner Service can be found at .
3.4. Rogers Wave
The hardware setup consists of a cable modem produced by LanCity which
plugs into an ethernet card using a 10BaseT (UTP-45) cable.
When the cable modem is installed by Rogers Wave technicians you are
assigned a static IP address. They should also provide you with
information on your subnet mask, router (gateway) numbers and DNS
numbers. For additional info please visit .
Other information about Rogers Wave Service can be found at .
3.5. Sunflower Cablevision
This information is provided by Andrew Novick:
"I recently saw your cable modem howto and I have an addition.
Sunflower Cable is a company stricly in Lawrence KS, however we have a
rather large Linux community because of the University of Kansas. On
our local LUG mailing list, we are starting to get more and more
questions on how to configure their linux machine for the cable modem.
It is just regular static addressing, and the modem is made by
Zenith."
To configure your Linux box make sure you get all the pertinent
information from the Cablevision tech support or use these.
╖ IP address: Assigned by SunFlower Cablevision
╖ Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
╖ Gateway (router) address: 24.124.11.254
╖ Hostname: Assigned by SunFlower Cablevision
╖ Domain name: lawrence.ks.us
╖ Primary DNS server (nameserver): 24.124.0.1
╖ Secondary DNS server (nameserver): 24.124.0.6
Have all those numbers written down before you proceed. To register,
visit
To register in the lawrence.ks.us domain contact Stephen Spencer at
gladiatr@artorius.sunflower.com
Under RedHat use Control Panel and Network Configuration to put in
these numbers. Just say Add Interface, Device type=Ethernet, Device
name=eth0 (this is zero not O in eth0) then fill out all the fields.
Then click activate.
In Slackware type netconfig. When you are finished reboot and you
should be up and running.
If this doesn't work make sure you do network card troubleshooting
from the beginning of this document.
3.6. Jones Intercable
This information is provided by Bob Kimble:
Jones Internet Cable supplies a Hybrid cable modem that connects to
your machine / network via 10BaseT ethernet. They provide you with a
static IP address for your machine, and another static IP address for
the modem. The modem acts as a gateway to their network. Your IP
address and the modem IP address are on the same network and have the
same network mask (in my case 255.255.255.0 -- 24 bits). They also
provide two DNS IP addresses which you enter into your configuration.
I just entered the numbers when I installed Red Hat Linux 5 and it
worked like a champ from the beginning. Since then I have configured
my Linux machine to enable IP masquerading and domain name services,
and it now acts as a router for my entire private network. My other
machines are connected via a private network using the addresses
192.168.0.x. They are running Windows 95, Windows NT (Intel and Alpha)
and OS/2. My Linux machine has two IP addresses -- the one from the
cable company and one from the 192.168.0.x private network. Everything
works like a champ. All six machines can browse the web
simultaneously. My kids are even able to connect to their favorite
game site, "The Realm" from Sierra.
3.7. GTE Worldwind
This information is provided by Mike Hughes:
The information you provided for Rogers Wave works for GTE WorldWind
cable modem services also. However, GTE's service is EXTREMELY slow,
barely faster than ISDN. more information at
3.8. SpeedChoice, Phoenix, Arizona
According to Micah peenchee@asu.edu:
Just thought I'd let you know that in my area (Phoenix, AZ, usa) there
is a company called speedchoice that provides cable modem service.
The service uses a hybrid cable modem and the set up is almost
identical to that of Jones intercable described in the howto. See
``Jones Cable''. For any other issues mail Micah.
3.9. Cedar Falls Cybernet, Iowa
This information is provided thanks to Joe Breu breu@cfu.net
We are an ISP in Cedar Falls, Iowa that uses the Zenith HomeWorks
Universal over our own Hybrid Fiber/Coax system. Our system uses no
proprietary connection software and is straight TCP/IP connections.
We do use DHCP, but will offer static IP addresses to customers
requesting them because they cannot use DHCP.
3.10. Telstra Bigpond Cable, Australia
This information is provided by Geoff Conway
gconway@vic.bigpond.net.au
Disclaimer:
The information contained herein is in no way the responsibility of
Big Pond Cable, Telstra Multimedia, Telstra, IBM Global Services
Australia or any related company. Any loss or consequential damage
associated with the attempted installation of the Big Pond Cable Linux
software is the PERSONAL responsibility of whomsoever follows these
instructions.
Big Pond Cable does not currently support Linux - so do not report
faults to them regarding any aspect of the Linux installation and/or
operation.
Big Pond Cable Linux Installation Notes. V 1.1 (12/03/98)
Change Note 1.1 12/3/98 - Corrected spelling of dhcpcd & rrdhcpcd
Linux is not officially supported by Big Pond Cable. However, the TMM
cable infrastructure does allow Linux to be used - with the
appropriate login client. The following installation notes should
allow you to install the Linux software without too many difficulties.
The full client distribution of rrclientd was obtained from:
I am running RedHat version 5 of Linux - but the documentation
indicates that it will work with other releases.
Note that there is also more information in the rrclientd release than
is documented here.
Procedure:
╖ Copy the distribution file rrclientd-1.3.tar.gz to your Linux PC.
╖ Login as root for all of the following :-
╖ Expand the distribution (with gunzip) & then untar it.
╖ In directory rrclientd-1.3/bin you will find all the executables
that you need: fetchmail (not used) kdestroy kinit rdate rrclientd
rrdhcpcd rrpasswd
╖ Rename /sbin/dhcpcd to /sbin/dhcpcd.orig. Copy & rename rrdhcpcd
to /sbin/dhcpcd
╖ Copy kdestroy,kinit,rdate,rrclientd,rrdhcpd,rrpasswd to
/usr/local/bin
╖ Set up your ethernet card to use dhcp & restart the system. If the
dhcp configuration is ok - an IP address will be assigned - with
the details being places in /etc/dhcpc/hostinfo-eth0 &
/etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf
You may see a startup warning about not finding dhcp.conf - this
doesn't seem to matter.
** At this point you should be able to ping proxy-server
successfully.
(If you can't then you won't be able to login later)
╖ Copy the krb5.ini file (from your Win95 \netmanag directory) to
/etc/krb5.conf
You will need to make the following changes (adding 2 new sections)
The example shown is for the Melbourne krb5.ini file - Sydney users
will need to substitute appropriately.
This is also documented in the distribution's examples/ sub-
directories.
___________________________________________________________________
[libdefaults]
ticket_lifetime = 600
default_realm = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
** new *1
kdc_req_checksum_type = 2
ap_req_checksum_type = 2
safe_req_checksum_type = 3
ccache_type = 2
** end of new *1
[realms]
c3.telstra-mm.net.au = {
kdc = dce-server
admin_server = dce-server
default_domain = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
}
wfh.c3.telstra-mm.net.au = {
kdc = wfh.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
admin_server = wfh.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
default_domain = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
}
wfh1.c3.telstra-mm.net.au = {
kdc = wfh1.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
admin_server = wfh1.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
default_domain = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
}
wfh2.c3.telstra-mm.net.au = {
kdc = wfh2.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
admin_server = wfh2.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
default_domain = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
}
wfh3.c3.telstra-mm.net.au = {
kdc = wfh3.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
admin_server = wfh3.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
default_domain = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
}
wfh4.c3.telstra-mm.net.au = {
kdc = wfh4.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
admin_server = wfh4.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
default_domain = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
}
wfh5.c3.telstra-mm.net.au = {
kdc = wfh5.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
admin_server = wfh5.c3.telstra-mm.net.au
default_domain = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
}
** new *2
[domain_realm]
.c3.telstra-mm.net.au = c3.telstra-mm.net.au
** end *2
___________________________________________________________________
╖ Save your existing services file /etc/services to
/etc/services.orig
Copy the services file from examples/Nassau/services to
/etc/services
╖ Create a new file /etc/rrpasswd - with the contents being your
current BPC password
╖ Change the PATH environment variable as follows
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin ; export PATH (This is most likely not
necessary)
╖ Login to BPC as follows
rrclientd -u <username> /etc/rrpasswd dce-server
so if you're username jsmith
rrclientd -u jsmith /etc/rrpasswd dce-server
If this is successful you'll see a message in /var/log/messages
indicating it was ok.
tail /var/log/messages will display the end of the file.
╖ Logout of BPC by entering rrclientd -k
╖ To make this automatic - you'll need to set the PATH & invoke
rrclientd each time the system boots.
╖ The rrpasswd command has NOT been tried.
╖ That's it - setup your Linux Netscape proxies & go for it !!
╖ According to the documentation the client will logout & then login
automatically at 3am. This has not been checked.
Problems
If you don't setup the PATH properly - then the login will fail with
GSS_API complaints about non-supported checksum type.
If you don't make the needed changes to krb5.conf you'll also get a
similar error.
If you are using your PC to dual/triple boot between W95/NT/Linux -
the PC's CMOS clock will be altered by Linux - giving continual
Kerberos errors if you try & login using NT. You need to login using
Win95 first (which will fix the CMOS clock settings), then you can get
in via NT.
Make sure you setup you PC time/timezone correctly in Linux. Note also
that the /var/log/messages timestamps are a bit strange :) (possibly
referenced to GMT)
3.11. Fibertel, Buenos Aires, Argentina
This information is provided by Pablo Godel
My name is Pablo Godel and want report that I'm using the cable
service of Fibertel in Buenos Aires, Argentina and it works perfectly
with Linux.
They gave me a static IP. The brand of the cablemodem is COM21 and the
model is ComPort.
I connect it to the nic properly, configured in Linux and it worked
perfectly.
More information about Fibertel can be found at
3.12. Videotron, Canada
I don't have much information about Videotron except the fact that
they use DHCP for the assignment of IP addresses and other networking
information. Just read the DHCP mini-HOWTO and configure your system
appropriately. There is no other necessary configuration.
Information about Videotron can be found at
3.13. Telekabel (Teleweb), Austria
According to Andreas Kostyrka:
╖ You may want to mention, that the Austrian Telekabel (Teleweb) ISP
works with Linux. It seems quite similiar like MediaOne Express
(3c509+dhcp, etc.)
╖ Second there are 3COM configuration utilities for Linux (But don't
fool around with them on a busy system, 3c509 may lock the bus if
touched the wrong way :( ):
Information about Telekabel can be found at
3.14. Tebecai, Netherlands
According to Frodo Looijaard:
Tebecai is yet another provider which uses a LANcity cable modem
connected to a 10BaseT ethernet card. DHCP is used for configuration
(see the DHCP mini-HOWTO at
http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/DHCP.html). A step-by-step
guide to install the cable modem under Linux can be found at
(in dutch), but it is really very straightforward. You must only
remember that your IP-address is not visible from the Internet (it is
on the private 10.x.y.z subnet), so you can not setup a publicly
available server.
Information about Tebecai can be found at http://www.tebenet.nl (in
dutch only).
3.15. Shaw Cable, Canada
According to Peng F. Mok:
I recently signed up for a cable modem service from Shaw Cable here in
Canada, which they have christened `Shaw Wave'. They also appear to
have another service called `Shaw@Home' which they are using in some
locations. Shaw has been upgrading their cable network for about a
year and a half now, and now offer cable-modem service to a number of
locations across Canada. Information about the `Shaw Wave' service
can be found at http://www.shaw.wave.ca while information about the
`Shaw@Home' service can be found at http://shaw.home.com General
information about Shaw Cable can be found at http://www.shaw.ca
I thought I'd just drop you a line to inform you that your DHCP mini-
HOWTO was very useful in helping me set up Linux to work with my
cable-modem service, and that you might want to add `Shaw Wave' (and
perhaps `Shaw@Home') to your Cable-Modem mini-HOWTO as another entry
explaining how to set up Linux with the service. I don't have
specific information on the `Shaw@Home' service yet, but from
conversations I've had with Shaw technical support it seems that
`Shaw@Home' is a partnership with ```@Home''' and involves the same
features and setup procedure as that already described for ```@Home'''
in the Cable-Modem mini-HOWTO document.
In both services Shaw Cable techs will come over and bring you two
pieces of hardware -- a Motorola CyberSURFR cable-modem and either a
3Com EtherLink III 16-Bit ISA 3C509B-TPO NIC or an EtherLink XL PCI
3C900-TPO NIC. You have your choice of either an ISA or a PCI card
depending on your needs, and these models only have the RJ-45 (UTP)
connectors. The ISA cards come with PnP-mode enabled by default, so
it may be necessary to boot into DOS, disable PnP operation, and
configure the card to some base I/O address and IRQ setting which are
available. Once this is done Linux should have no problems detecting
the NIC at boot-time. I'm not sure about what needs to be done in the
case of a PCI card since I don't currently have a PC which supports
either PCI or PnP.
Note from another user:
Shaw now also issues SMC PCI ethernet cards. They give these out
without boxes or manuals. I found out that these are the SMC
EtherPower PCI RJ45 card (model 8432T). They use the DEC 21041 chip
so the tulip ethernet driver is needed for it.
All that is necessary once the NIC is recognized by Linux is to
download and install the DHCPcd package appropriate for your Linux
distribution and start up dhcpcd. The Shaw DHCP servers are RFC2131
compliant. `Shaw Wave' currently uses dynamic leased-IP addresses but
plans are underway to make all of Shaw's cable-modem offerings
consistent with the `Shaw@Home' service, allowing static IP addresses
and client machine IDs. Users of `Shaw Wave' who would like to know
where their machine is when they aren't in the immediate vicinity are
advised to use the `-c' option in dhcpcd along with a script which can
post or e-mail the machine's current IP address to some "static IP"
machine.
3.16. Cogeco Cable, Canada
This information is provided thanks to Terry O'Grady
togrady@cgocable.net
I have a Cable Modem through a company called Cogeco Cable located in
various parts of Canada. They are part of the "Wave" system which
includes Rogers Cable and Shaw Cable. The technical setup is different
for each provider though. They supplied me with a D-Link ethernet card
(the version of that has changed since then but I believe are still
using D-Link) and a Zenith modem. The Ip setup is easy since they use
DHCP so all I did was install the dhcp daemon and that was that. If
you like you can list my e-mail address togrady@cgocable.net for
anyone with questions.
3.17. Optimum Online, Long Island, NY
This information is provided by Seth Greenfield
(islesfan@nassau.cv.net):
Optimum Online uses DHCP, and rrclientd in Linux, by John Clark. You
can pretty much copy From the ``BigPond'' cable Section, But there are
examples included for Optimum online in rrclientd(examples/Nassau).
If you have any questions, email me.
We use Lancity Modems and we are not able to run any public servers
because of a NAT firewall.
3.18. Singapore Cable Vision, Singapore
This information is provided by Jieyao (jieyao@letterbox.com):
SCV provides Motorola Cybersurfer modem connected to the network card
via UTP cable. The IP setup is easy since they use DHCP so all you
need to do is install the dhcp daemon. If you can't make access the
first time, turn the modem off then on again.
3.19. Cable Wanadoo, France
This information is provided by Jerome SAUTRET
(Jerome.Sautret@wanadoo.fr):
I just read your Cable Modem HOWTO. I live in France, and I use Cable
Wanadoo, the cable service of France Telecom, which is the main
telecom operator in France. It is available in a few cities in France
at the moment, like Angers and Metz. This service provides a dynamic
IP address via DHCP. It uses a COM 21 modem plugged in a 10BaseT
Ethernet card. The IP setup is easy just read the DHCP mini HOWTO.