From owner-freebsd-isp Fri Apr 11 03:21:38 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id DAA09123 for isp-outgoing; Fri, 11 Apr 1997 03:21:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from hydrogen.nike.efn.org (resnet.uoregon.edu [128.223.170.28]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id DAA09114 for ; Fri, 11 Apr 1997 03:21:34 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from jmg@localhost) by hydrogen.nike.efn.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id DAA29249; Fri, 11 Apr 1997 03:21:31 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <19970411032131.61820@hydrogen.nike.efn.org> Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 03:21:31 -0700 From: John-Mark Gurney To: Vincent Poy Cc: Steve , isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Some advice needed. References: <199704102335.QAA09566@kirk.edmweb.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.69 In-Reply-To: ; from Vincent Poy on Thu, Apr 10, 1997 at 08:36:58PM -0700 Reply-To: John-Mark Gurney Organization: Cu Networking X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 2.2-960801-SNAP i386 X-PGP-Fingerprint: B7 EC EF F8 AE ED A7 31 96 7A 22 B3 D8 56 36 F4 X-Files: The truth is out there X-URL: http://resnet.uoregon.edu/~gurney_j/ Sender: owner-isp@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Vincent Poy scribbled this message on Apr 10: > I already know about the phone lines part and an upstream provider > since the upstream provider is a must. Is there anyway for the remote > pop to just have numbers that forward to another number or does a terminal > server physically have to be there? actually.. talk to the telco.. I have heard of phone lines from out of local calling area being delievered locally over a T1 line... of course this will cost more than the actually phone lines.. but it saves the cost of office space and location... > > FreeBSD has all of the necessary software needed to function as a > > terminal server. Hardware and connectivity are the only other tech > > issues to worry about. Business issues (marketing, accounting, etc) are > > also important. > > What is the maximum modems a multi-port serial card can handle and > how many can you put into a box? well there are many different brands... Comtrol, Stallion, Cyclades, and RISCom all make boards that have drivers for FreeBSD... Stallion has a PCI card supporting 64 ports off one card... with something like this smart board it's more or of a question of how much cpu power you put under the hood on the number of ports you can support... I run a mini terminal server (it's even diskless) and it's a 486/33dx w/ a couple AST compatible boards... works great... I've hacked mgetty to pieces to support various functions... but as Danny said.. the default getty now supports autoppp detection... hope it goes well... I've thought about starting a local isp too... one that actually provides good service to the more enlighted *grin*... but startup capital is my problem... hope it goes well for your friend... ttyll -- John-Mark Cu Networking Modem/FAX: +1 541 683 6954 Live in Peace, destroy Micro$oft, support free software, run FreeBSD