Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 21:56:02 +0200 From: Peter Korsten <peter@grendel.IAEhv.nl> To: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ISDN Modems Message-ID: <19970918215602.50570@grendel.IAEhv.nl> In-Reply-To: <199709181232.OAA09840@labinfo.iet.unipi.it>; from Luigi Rizzo on Thu, Sep 18, 1997 at 02:32:57PM %2B0200 References: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970917235804.1734B-100000@counterintelligence.ml.org> <199709181232.OAA09840@labinfo.iet.unipi.it>
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(Please follow-up to freebsd-chat.) Luigi Rizzo shared with us: > > To be honest with you I thought about this for a few months, If you in the > > US the best solution is something like an Ascend Pipeline 50 router (no > > firewall) ($599), with a crossover (included) to an inexpensive NE2000 > > card ($40). This is about twice as expensive as a Motorola Bitsurfer > > I think in europe as well it is way more convenient to have a router > instead of an internal card. Prices are in fact comparable (I would say > even a little bit lower) to those mentioned above, and going through a > messy serial device driver does not help at all. The simplicity in > setting up things pays back much more than the extra cost. Personally, I think your own ISDN router is a bit overkill at home. The elegant thing about an ISDN card is that it's a digital interface, just like Ethernet, that plugs right into your computer. No fuss with wiring, just a simple RJ-45 plug and your connected to the rest of the world. This also makes a FreeBSD box with an ISDN card an ideal 'Internet- box' for a small company. Put an ISDN card plus an Ethernet in it (and pray that they don't start mixing up the UTP and ISDN connec- tors :) ) and you can use it as a dial-up proxy server, mail/uucp host, news server for selected newsgroups, firewall, you name it. You can do it with NT server too (boy, Microsoft sure is pushing it's stuff towards small companies, I noticed this week), but at far higher costs for both hardware and software. Just grab the ole' 386 off the shelves and use it with FreeBSD. > Now if ISDN cards were sold in volumes and priced reasonably (i.e. > as much as an NE2000, since they are actually simpler!) and accessed > through a dedicated device driver, then things would certainly be > different. You really don't want to know what I paid for my ISDN card: nothing. The Dutch PTT wants to shove as much ISDN connections as possible, so they have special offers once in a while where you get the ISDN connection and the card for free, when you swap you analog line. You only have the cost of an A/B-adapter then. There must be some sort of vicious scheme behind it, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet. - Peter
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