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In Reading I had two computers, each with a wireless adapter, talking to an Actiontec wireless router which was plugged into a cable modem supplied by ntl, who are the local cable company. ntl took over from telecential who actually put the cables in the road. Then I moved to Wellington and I was assured that ADSL was terribly simple. I had a BT line installed and asked plusnet to arrange an ADSL connection. Plusnet claim to be linux-friendly. They supplied me with a starter pack which was a Binatone ADSL500 USB modem and a filter. Binatone say that the CD includes a linux driver but it turns out that this worked for Red Hat 7.1 and not for any later version and not for 2.4 kernels. Moreover when I got into the plusnet forum I discovered that everyone but me knew this. I tried to tweak the program source but plusnet advised me that this was a waste of time and I should get an ethernet modem; a simple 30 pound gadget would be quite adequate. So I bought a D-Link DSL 300T ethernet modem and got connected and I could use the browser and I could use mail and everything was grand until I found that ftp didn't work and I need ftp to maintain my web site. I asked the experts in Reading and got a lot of advice which was mostly over my head and didn't help and I then discovered that I could use ftp in a DOS window in Windows ME (isn't Windows wonderful?) which was a relief and allowed me to indulge in the luxury of trying to find out what was wrong with ftp in linux. My discussion with Neil taught me that what I had was in effect a router -- it has an IP address 192.168.1.1 and it allocates, via DHCP, the address 192.168.0.2 to my PC -- and therefore must have a firewall. There is nothing in the description of the modem to suggest that there is a firewall and there is no way to find out what the rules are or to change them. To configure the modem you just get the browser to look at 192.168.1.1 and go through the setup procedure. That is all it will do. The PC has a firewall of course; it is called iptables and the rules are the same as they have always been and they do not inhibit outgoing traffic. The man page for iptables states that passive ftp is unaffected by the iptables rules and, in Red Hat at least, ftp is passive by default. The upshot is that it seems I have been advised to buy yet one more piece of useless kit and I have a crippled ADSL connection and I am just a little bit miffed. Since I plan to create a wireless network and connect my other PC I shall now buy a wireless router and hope that ftp will then work. I will try to get to the meeting on Saturday. I think you are a bunch of guys I would like to know. Tony Sumner -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe.