>Righto, not being a linux head, I'm trying to get my head around what this
>all means to the rest of us.

>Am I right in assuming that if the ppp connection is made on the linux box
>that means the linux box has a real world IP address?

In the case of a modem the PPP session terminates at the PPP software in the
system that is attached to the modem, in a router that PPP session teminates
in the router and some "functionality" is beyond the control of the "user".

The IP address is given out in the PPP handshake and "resides" at the
interface of the Point to Point link. Thus with a modem (be it USB or PCI
Internal) the PC has a "real world" IP address or what ever IP address the
ISP allocates to the user name, a scenario identical to 56k dialup. For this
reason it is wise to ensure that modem connected systems have some
firewalling or packet filtering installed.

The 3com Dual Link is a modem that supports USB for Windows or emulation of
bridged ethernet for one ethernet connected device (be it Windows, *nix, or
Mac).

Windows users can choose between USB (PPPoA) or RJ45/Ethernet (PPPoE)
connectivity, PPPoE would probably consume less processor overhead on the PC
and get around USB performance issues. Also you are less reliant on
manufacturer supplied drivers for upcoming versions of Windows.

*nix and Mac users can only use the PPPoE mode as there are no PPPoA and USB
drivers for these platforms.

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Received on Fri Feb 2 10:28:31 2001