on 04/22/2000 4:56 PM, Joe Laffey at joe@laffeycomputer.com is rumored to
have said:

> Ed Lauman <elauman@interlynx.net> is suspected of writing the following on
> 4/22/00 at 2:18 PM :
> 
>> I want to use Bell Sympatico ADSL with NetBSD. They only support MacOS or
>> Windoze. How difficult is it to set up on my own? Do I need any software
>> other than the networking stuff built into the kernel? Ed Lauman
>> 
> 
> With ADSL here in St. Louis you are given either one IP, or a subnet (or
> DHCP...
> whcih is to be avoided.. get a static ip). All you have to do is plg in the ip
> netmask and the default gateway (given by your provider).
> 
> If you use DHCP then I personally do not know how to set this up under NetBSD,
> but I would love to hear how...
> 
> Joseph Laffey
> LAFFEY Computer Imaging
> St. Louis, MO
> http://www.laffeycomputer.com/
> ------------------------------

I have not worked with ADSL per se, but, here in NJ at my location, we have
access to only 1-way cable modems.  Regular 28.8 for upstream and cable
downstream. We are only offered a DHCP based solution, however after
extensive talks with my ISP, I learned that the DHCP lease is for 7 years
effectively giving me a Static IP address.  In that regard, I just set up
NetBSD as a static IP and _if_ for some reason my IP changes (only changed
2x so far and that was when they replaced the Cable modem because it burned
out) I just make the switch under NetBSD and am up and running again in
minutes.

There is DHCP software out there that I remember trying to get to work under
NetBSD, but unfortunately I seem to remember being unsuccessful, don't ask
why because I cannot recall.  So I would agree with Joseph in that regard,
stay away from DHCP if possible, and if you cannot avoid it, find out how
long the DHCP lease at your provider is for, and if it is sufficiently long
just set it up as a static IP under NetBSD.  Maybe that is bad advice, but
it works in my situation without fail, and is a hell of a lot easier to set
it up as a static than getting that DHCP bit to work ;)

Greg