Ubuntu not liking the Internets

Void Dragon

I just reformatted my old dell laptop over to ubuntu. The problem is, I am not able to get on the net with it. When I plug it in, it thinks for a minute, declares that things are connected, and then won't load anything. AN investigation reveals that everything but the hardware address is set to 0, ie it is not acquiring any addresses. Anyone know how I can fix this? I am having some other glitches but they are driver related, which I need the internet to fix.

info:

Dell Inspiron 8600
2Ghz Intel Pentium M
1GB ram

on comcast cable connection (in Pittsburgh, they have a monopoly, but that is a separate topic)

Void Dragon

Update:

I tried dhclient form the root and it told me the network was down.

Apreche

Is your computer connected directly to the cable modem? How does the cable modem work, DHCP?

Void Dragon

Yes, I am connecting directly to the cable modem. I am going to see about getting a router later today, though.
I believe it is DHCP based on the windows network manager, that's the best info I can get on it. The comcast people wouldn't give me a manual (I asked, they said "call us if anything goes wrong, BTW it's $15 a service call").

Must remember to post about internet monopolies later.

Apreche

Yes, a router is the best bet when trying to get Linux to connect to weird DSL and cable modems. Since routers, like the Linksys WRT54g, run Linux themselves it is possible to connect to just about any DSL or cable modem in Linux as long as your NIC works. However, distributions like Ubuntu and such often do not provide the user interface required to make that configuration simple.

Even so, I don't really consider this a problem since I suggest that anyone using a household Cable or DSL modem should have a NAT router. Even if you have only one computer, even if it runs Windows, everyone should have a router attached to their modem and then computer attached to the router. It greatly enhances your network security and makes connecting your computer to the net much easier and more stable. When you consider the price of the equipment, there's no reason not to.

snookernet

on comcast cable connection (in Pittsburgh, they have a monopoly, but that is a separate topic)

I live in Pittsburgh and we get DSL through Nauticom. Have you considered using that?

Void Dragon

I'm a graduate student, so I am going to have tons of (perfectly legal) data going back and forth on my connection all the time. Also will be spending extended periods SSH'd into Unix servers. DSL doesn't provide the speed or reliability I need. Comcast is the only alternative in town, everyone else uses DSL and I am not having (or since I am renting, even allowed to have) Verizon come in and FIOS cripple (wire my house with fiber and strip out all the copper lines making it impossible for me or any future tenant to use anyone else's service ever again) my place.


BTW, I don't know what I did, but I got it to work. It just sort of happened...