Only about five years ago. And yeah, I thought it worth republishing a link to it. It's good and it hasn't aged badly.

Uh? I mean, it is a fine piece of new new journalism, but I read it those seven or how many years ago; haven't you? Or why the interruption, then? [OK, I'm off to google rasfw...]

Dipping in, from time to time ...

Been reading rec.arts.sf.written again?

Edited by author 09-24-2002 04:59 PM
I think I have answered my own question...

You need to download the T39 modem scripts from here:
http://www.taniwha.org.uk/

and follow the instructions in the read me.

For connecting to the Orange GPRS service, the key extra information can be found here:

http://www.taniwha.org.uk/gprs.html

For other networks, phones, etc, you might also find this handy:

http://www.powerpage.org/story.lasso?newsID=9249

T39 + GPRS + orange + DLINK Bluetooth dongle + iBook + MacOS X = ??

I gather that you're a linux geek so maybe you haven't tried setting things up in this configuration, but if you have, and have managed to get it working, could you give me some clues ;)

I've got to the stage where phone & laptop can see each other, but am wondering how/where I get hold of a GPRS modem script for OS X and the T39, and what I need to fill in to the various configuration boxes. Do I need a GPRS enabled ISP? Will this entail even more expense?

Answers on a postcard...

John Lewis's -- honking great big department store chain (of all places!).

Where was the local shop selling the router (and how much)? currently i'm struggling to get an old p200 to behave nicely as a firewall/nat box and considering hitting it with a sledge hammer...

I've begun setting it up. Not using DHCP, as there doesn't seem to be a facility to bind hostnames to DHCP-assigned IP addresses -- a minor nuisance as we use names for host-to-host stuff behind the firewall. Got the basics working, but WEP setup is proving to be a head-scratcher, as is Appletalk/IP between 802.11b machines and a wired server. Despite the lack of WEP I've restricted access to known MAC addresses, and I'll attack WEP tomorrow.

First impressions: thumbs-up -- it's an impressive piece of kit, and the decomissioned Omnibook will go to Feorag to be her web development box. (Uptime was 2 years and 31 days when I put it to sleep :)

Edited by author 07-16-2002 06:50 AM
 I installed a similar D-Link non-wireless unit in a friend's place in America over the winter -- pretty well plug-and-forget, and it worked perfectly with an iMac, a PowerBook and my little Sony subnotebook all running at the same time. It also comsumes a lot less power than a complete PC or even a laptop, and it has no hard drive or fan or other rotating devices to wear out. To add to the party the software is in ROM and not open-source, so attacks on the firewall are not going to be easy -- in fact I haven't heard of one at all.

 The place I'm living in right now has a PC connected to the ADSL modem doing roughly what Charlie is currently set up with, but it's causing us all sorts of grief with HTTP timeouts and such. I'm severely tempted to just go out and get one of these routers and say "Here, try this."

What you're doing is what I did when Mary went freelance. Our DSL used to be routed through an old laptop, but now comes into a Vigor router. There's a 16 port 10/100Mps switch under my desk, with another 8 ports under Mary's. I also keep the airport hub by my desk, for wireless access elsewhere in the house. I haven't locked down the MAC yet, but it's on my to do list... Then all the servers are now KVM'd (and I just upgraded the KVM to one of the new USB-ready/flashable Belkin Sohos). Next task, KVM up Mary...