[CUBE] 2 cents on Restarts, ADSL, samsung, and "Mac compatible"

[Joseph B. Gurman]

     Our friend across the sea, Chris Hack, wrote:

>many thanks for all the excellent and useful replies about restarting the
>cube without trying to find that switch.
>
>I now write in response to the question on ADSL modems. I had an Intel 3220
>which came with my UK ADSL line (British Telecom). it worked fine on a PC,
>and also on OSX, but would do nothing on OS9 - even after hours of technical
>"support" from Intel including fiddling with preferences etc.
>I went out and bought an ADSL router D-Link DSL-504. All my problems are
>solved, it is very easy to operate, and I can now link all my other Macs and
>PCs to the internet at the same time. Only drawback is pretty pathetic
>support for Macs.
>Despite the Mac logo on the outside of the box, with the big friendly words
>"Mac compatible" there was no documentation in the box for a Mac (though a
>whole book for a PC). The telephone helpline also suggested I contact Apple
>because "the Mac support person is not in this week..."
>so my advice would be to get an ADSL router with an Ethernet connection, and
>avoid the USB modems. and make sure its 100% Mac friendly.

     Certain DSL/cable router vendors will provide decent Mac support 
(e.g. Mac executables for firmware updates), and some won't. 
Virtually all current products are manageable (even for firmware 
updates) via a Web interface, so the OS question is nearly moot. For 
instance, Asanté's FR3004 series uses the same circuitry as slightly 
less expensive Linksys and other products, but has clearly better QA 
and, in the year plus that I've had one, no problems working with a 
Motorola SURFboard cable modem and various flavors of OS 9 and OS X. 
The simple fact is that, with an inexpensive cable/DSL router, you 
don't have to care about what's upstream (cable, DSL flavo[u]r, &c.).

						Joe Gurman
-- 
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by."
                                                             - Douglas 
Adams, 1952 - 2001

Joseph B. Gurman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar Physics
Branch, Greenbelt MD 20771 USA