1You can do network installations over 3 types of communications links: 2 3 Serial port: SLIP / PPP 4 Parallel port: PLIP (laplink cable) 5 Ethernet: A standard Ethernet controller (includes some 6 PCMCIA networking cards). 7 8SLIP support is rather primitive and limited primarily to directly 9connected links, such as a serial cable running between a laptop 10computer and another PC. The link must be hard-wired as the SLIP 11installation doesn't currently offer a dialing capability (that 12facility is offered by the PPP utility, which should be used in 13preference to SLIP whenever possible). When you choose the SLIP 14option, you'll be given the option of later editing the slattach 15command before it's run on the serial line. It is expected that 16you'll run slattach (or some equivalent command) on the other end of 17the link at that time and bring up the line. FreeBSD will then 18install itself at serial speeds of up to 115.2K/baud (the recommended 19speed for a hardwired cable). 20 21If you're using a modem then PPP is almost certainly your only choice. 22Make sure that you have your service provider's information handy as 23you'll need to know it fairly early in the installation process. You 24will need to know your service provider's IP address, the IP address 25of your provider's DNS server, and possibly your own IP address unless 26your ISP supports dynamic negotiation, most do. If you do not choose 27a PAP or CHAP login you will also need to know how to use the various 28"AT commands" to dial the ISP with your particular brand of modem as 29the PPP dialer provides only a very simple terminal emulator and has no 30"modem capabilities database". If you choose a PAP or CHAP login you 31can simply enter `dial' (without the quotes) at the ppp prompt if your 32modem uses the Hayes compatible AT command set. 33 34If a hard-wired connection to another FreeBSD (2.0R or later) machine 35is available, you might also consider installing over a "laplink" 36parallel port cable. The data rate over the parallel port is much 37higher than what is typically possible over a serial line, and speeds 38of over 50KB/sec are not uncommon. 39 40Finally, for the fastest possible network installation, an Ethernet 41adaptor is always a good choice! FreeBSD supports most common PC 42Ethernet cards, a table of which is provided in the FreeBSD Hardware 43Guide (see the `Documentation' entry in the main menu). If you are 44using one of the supported PCMCIA Ethernet cards, also be sure that 45it's plugged in BEFORE the laptop is powered on! Sysinstall does not, 46unfortunately, currently support "hot insertion" of PCMCIA cards. 47 48You will also need to know your IP address on the network, the 49"netmask" value for your address class, and the name of your machine. 50Your system administrator can tell you which values to use for your 51particular network setup. If you will be referring to other hosts by 52name rather than IP address, you'll also need a name server and 53possibly the address of a gateway (if you're using PPP, it's your 54provider's IP address) to use in talking to it. If you do not know 55the answers to all or most of these questions then you should really 56probably talk to your system administrator FIRST before trying this 57type of installation! Choosing the wrong IP address on a busy network 58will NOT make you popular with your systems administrator! :-) 59