Thanks Ben!
Ok... I'll start off by saying I'm not all that familiar with Mandrake, and I haven't fooled around much with printing, so I'll skip that part.
That's cool. Any help or improvement would be welcome. Besides just writing/talking it through might spark something. I do appreciate the response.
But as for the network, I'm kind of confused about what's going on there.
You and me both. First off. I am not learned on networking. I am reading and trying, but not getting traction. On the windows side of my machine I am connecting my machine to a large format HP printer (DesignJet 488 CA) through a 3Com network card and a 3Com 4 port fast ethernet hub. The HP requires that I send all the data to a HP JetDirect 300X box that transfers the data through a parallel conn. to the printer. It is faster for big projects that way if you believe the literature. That works fine in Windows , but again I can't "see" the important command settings that make trying to understand what works, and thus how to replicate it in Linux hard. I haven't been able to address the large HP in Linux through printing programs, network interfaces, or fiddling in network settings. My machine's network card is there (eth0) and I can ping that. Thus there is a way out and onto the network. All the connected items satisfy the 3Com hub and the appropriate indicator lights show a good connection. I was of the belief that the HP printer may have a "static" IP in its hardware so I tried pinging that. No luck. Nor any luck for trying to just assign an IP to it, though I have to admit that I may have done that improperly through ignorance. Each time I installed Mandrake I made sure that the hub and printer were on in the hopes that it might be automatically detected in the setup. That has not occurred. When I installed the PentiumI I made sure that the hub, printer and the main machine I work on were all up and running in the hopes that again it would detect that there was a network present. It did not. I figured that my general difficulties in overall printing might be part of the issue so I am trying to add to the network an old PentiumI using another 3Com card. I heard that connections are easier if you keep the connections all in the same family. That card is there as eth0 on that machine as well and I can ping the card from its machine. Part of the issue is trying to figure out how to set the settings in both of the machines such that they can find one another. I was originally thinking that this was a peer to peer relationship and that I needed to set the IP's on each of the machines and then try to have one ping the other. The Mandrake Config programs are not doing this automatically for me so I tried messing around in the terminal. I have Mandrake 7.2 running on the PentiumI, though when it is running properly I will try to stay out of a desktop environment unless I have some time on my hands.
You're trying to connect to another machine on the same network (I assume you've got them wired right, with a hub or crossover cable), right?
Yes I believe that the connections I have made are proper, and that the kernel has properly been set to the right network card drivers.
Does the network card show up as detected in the kernel start-up messages?
Yes, eth0 comes up properly in the kernel start up.
Is the interface configured correctly?
I believe that it is.
Can you ping another machine?
No. I have not yet been able to ping another machine.
Am I making any sense here?
Yes.
Also, how is your internet connection set up (ie dial-up, etc),
Dial up 3 Com modem to Ultranet, or rather, RCN.
and how are you trying to connect to them? (what commands do you run)
In KDE I pull up the internet connection dialog, and lately I simply go to the Terminal and go through the following: ATZ OK ATDT15084258111 CONNECT 49333/ARQ/V90/LAPM/V42BIS (Carriage Return) ** APXI.SBO.MA.RCN.NET Terminal Server ** Login: ****@** Password: ******** Entering PPP Session IP Address is 216.164.248.83 MTU is 1500 and then I am stuck not knowing what I need to do to complete the connect or if I am waiting for the server to send me something else.
It sounds like pppd isn't actually connecting to the other side, but it's hard to be sure.
Anyway I can check that? The Debug program offers no explanation. I can logon properly with the silly Windows dialer, but as there is no terminal or dialog window I have no idea how it is "properly" addressing things. The dialup worked on Linux until I went fiddling elsewhere in the Mandrake Config program. (Sharing an internet connection) Although I changed the settings back (to the best of my recollection anyway) still no dice. Any insights by anyone (other than the obvious one of my inexperience being the root of most of the problems) are valued like gold. Colin