Hi there.

First of all I apologise for the excessive posting, but.....

Recently I decided to switch ISP from a telephone to a cable-network
based ISP, allthough I knew that the new ISP do not offer support
for anything else than PC's and Macs (just as the old one do).

The connection takes place through a black box labeled COM21,
modelno. CP1100D. I do not know what kind of device it is, my
ISP calls it a cable modem.

I was given the following IP-information:
ip-address:		192.168.89.234
network-address:	192.168.89.0
gateway:		192.168.89.254

so I made the following network configuration:

/etc/myname:
riscpc.stofanet.dk

/etc/defaultdomain:
stofanet.dk

/etc/mygate:
gateway

/etc/hosts:
127.0.0.1		localhost localhost.stofanet.dk
192.168.89.234		riscpc.stofanet.dk	riscpc
192.168.89.254		gateway

/etc/ifconfig.em0:
inet riscpc.stofanet.dk  


After booting NetBSD/arm32 v1.3a I can issue some commands:

1998-10-15 19:12:53 # ifconfig -a
1998-10-15 19:12:53 em0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
1998-10-15 19:12:53 address: 00:00:a4:11:57:d8
1998-10-15 19:12:53 inet 192.168.89.234 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.89.255
1998-10-15 19:12:53 lo0: flags=8009<UP,LOOPBACK,MULTICAST> mtu 32976
1998-10-15 19:12:53 inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
1998-10-15 19:12:54 sl0: flags=c010<POINTOPOINT,LINK2,MULTICAST> mtu 296
1998-10-15 19:12:54 sl1: flags=c010<POINTOPOINT,LINK2,MULTICAST> mtu 296
1998-10-15 19:12:54 ppp0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
1998-10-15 19:12:54 ppp1: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
1998-10-15 19:12:54 tun0: flags=10<POINTOPOINT> mtu 1500
1998-10-15 19:12:54 tun1: flags=10<POINTOPOINT> mtu 1500

The next command executes very fast:
1998-10-15 19:12:54 # route -vn show
1998-10-15 19:12:54 Routing tables
1998-10-15 19:12:55 
1998-10-15 19:12:55 Internet:
1998-10-15 19:12:55 Destination      Gateway            Flags 
1998-10-15 19:12:55 default          192.168.89.254     UG     
1998-10-15 19:12:55 127.0.0.1        127.0.0.1          UH     
1998-10-15 19:12:55 192.168.89.0     link#1             U      
1998-10-15 19:12:55 192.168.89.234   0:0:a4:11:57:d8    UH     
1998-10-15 19:12:55 192.168.89.254   link#1             UH     

But this one has a delay for 41 seconds after displaying the 4th line:
1998-10-15 19:12:55 # route -v show
1998-10-15 19:12:55 Routing tables
1998-10-15 19:12:55 
1998-10-15 19:12:55 Internet:
1998-10-15 19:12:55 Destination      Gateway            Flags 
1998-10-15 19:13:36 default          192.168.89.254     UG     
1998-10-15 19:13:36 localhost        127.0.0.1          UH     
1998-10-15 19:13:36 192.168.89.0     link#1             U      
1998-10-15 19:13:36 riscpc           0:0:a4:11:57:d8    UH     
1998-10-15 19:13:36 gateway          link#1             UH     

Likewise this command is pretty fast:
1998-10-15 19:13:36 # netstat -rn
1998-10-15 19:13:37 Routing tables
1998-10-15 19:13:37 
1998-10-15 19:13:37 Internet:
1998-10-15 19:13:37 Destination        Gateway            Flags     Refs     Use    Mtu  Interface
1998-10-15 19:13:37 default            192.168.89.254     UGS         0       46      -  em0
1998-10-15 19:13:37 127.0.0.1          127.0.0.1          UH          0        0      -  lo0
1998-10-15 19:13:37 192.168.89         link#1             UC          0        0      -  em0
1998-10-15 19:13:38 192.168.89.234     00:00:a4:11:57:d8  UHL         1       89      -  lo0
1998-10-15 19:13:38 192.168.89.254     link#1             UHRL        1       29      -  em0
1998-10-15 19:13:38 
1998-10-15 19:13:38 AppleTalk:
1998-10-15 19:13:38 Destination        Gateway            Flags     Refs     Use    Mtu  Interface

but this one has a delay of more than 2 minutes after the 6th line:
1998-10-15 19:13:38 # netstat -r
1998-10-15 19:13:38 Routing tables
1998-10-15 19:13:39 
1998-10-15 19:13:39 Internet:
1998-10-15 19:13:39 Destination        Gateway            Flags     Refs     Use    Mtu  Interface
1998-10-15 19:13:39 default            gateway            UGS         0       46      -  em0
1998-10-15 19:13:39 localhost          localhost          UH          0        0      -  lo0
1998-10-15 19:16:19 192.168.89         link#1             UC          0        0      -  em0
1998-10-15 19:16:19 riscpc             00:00:a4:11:57:d8  UHL         1       89      -  lo0
1998-10-15 19:16:19 gateway            link#1             UHRL        1       29      -  em0
1998-10-15 19:16:19 
1998-10-15 19:16:19 AppleTalk:
1998-10-15 19:16:19 Destination        Gateway            Flags     Refs     Use    Mtu  Interface

In the above listing I can decipher the 1st line (default) as the the default
route, the 2nd line as the standard loopback definition and the 4th as my host
definition.

But why are the 3rd and 5th line present?
I did not define any net or gateway routes.

Why is the gateway definition marked as unreachable (flag=R)?

What does the link#1 mean?

And why does it take so long to display a netstat -r by names?
Do I have a loop-definition somewhere?


Appearently I have made a setup-blunder somewhere as I cannot ping the
gateway nor any other addresses on the Internet (the net on the other
side of the cable modem).

The ping gateway returns:
1998-10-15 19:16:20 # ping gateway
1998-10-15 19:16:20 PING gateway (192.168.89.254): 56 data bytes
1998-10-15 19:16:27 ping: sendto: Host is down
1998-10-15 19:16:28 ping: sendto: Host is down
1998-10-15 19:16:29 ping: sendto: Host is down
1998-10-15 19:16:30 ping: sendto: Host is down
1998-10-15 19:16:31 ping: sendto: Host is down
1998-10-15 19:16:31 ^C
1998-10-15 19:16:32 ----gateway PING Statistics----
1998-10-15 19:16:32 11 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss


Before anyone suggest my hardware may be faulty I can say that I tested
the cable modem with a PC, and it worked flawlessly. But during boot of
NetBSD/arm32 I have noticed, that when booting and the RiscPC is 
connected to a PC the boot messages show:

Oct  8 18:02:02 nethotel /netbsd: em0 at podulebus0 [ netslot 0 ]:
Oct  8 18:02:02 nethotel /netbsd: em0: Ethernet address 00:00:a4:11:57:d8
Oct  8 18:02:02 nethotel /netbsd: em0: 16KB buffer memory, UTP

OK, the PC might have been turned off at time of NetBSD boot. But when
booting with the RiscPC connected to the cable modem, I get:

Oct 17 13:31:32 riscpc /netbsd: em0 at podulebus0 [ netslot 0 ]:
Oct 17 13:31:32 riscpc /netbsd: em0: Ethernet address 00:00:a4:11:57:d8
Oct 17 13:31:32 riscpc /netbsd: em0: 16KB buffer memory, UTP reverse polarity, link OK, UTP

Is the reverse polarity the cause of the troubles?
I am using an Atomwide RiscPC EtherM card.

If anybody cares to answer then please do so by email, as it is
currently impossibly for me to download news using my current
telephone-based ISP.

Best regards
   Ib-Michael
-- 
Ib-Michael Martinsen		Email at work: dtpimm@dsg.dk
Fidomail:      2:234/181.9	Email at home: imm@nethotel.dk

Running NetBSD/arm32 v1.3a on an Acorn RiscPC with a 202MHz StrongArm.