[ILUG] Followup 1: Naive ADSL/WiFi questions (long (sorry!))?

[Brian Foster]

 about six weeks ago I asked a set of naïve questions
 about switching from a 56K dialout straw to ADSL for
 my SUSE 9.1 system.  I was broadly advised to stick
 to wired ethernet, among many other very helpful hints.
 many thanks!

 three followup questions ...

 for assorted reasons, I've only now gotten around to
 looking into the matter of a network card for my PC.
 today, locally, I found three different PCI cards,
 all using the RealTek RTL8139 chip, a chip YaST2
 lists as supported:  the “Ovsilink EVO 8139 ITX”
 (a bargin at 10€), and some fairly anonymous units
 by “Heden” and “Bluestork”.  baring information to
 the contrary, I'll probably try the “Ovsilink” (all
 three units to their credit, list Linux as supported).

 1st, any comments one way or the other?  good or bad?
 ( as soon as I can connect via my straw I'll double
  check these units myself — apologies for not doing
  some research here first! )

 2nd, a possibly trickier question:  it's a c.12 metre
 cable run from the phone socket to the computer.
 should I go for a 10m cable from socked to ADSL modem
 (and then a 5m(?) cable to the computer), or visa-versa
 (5m to the modem and 10m to the computer)?  the latter
 would position the modem in an inaccessible location,
 so I'm inclined to go 10m phone-modem and 5m modem-PC.
 ( I can get all the implied 5m and 10m cables easily,
  which is why I am restricting my question to those
  two lengths.  to the best of my knowledge (my notes
  are incomplete ;-\ ), all the cables are shielded. )

 3rd, my (current) test plan — prior to arrival of the
 modem — is to use my printer (an HP 6180) as the peer.
 is there any difference between a cable (cat 5,
 I presume?) that connects PC-printer to one connecting
 PC-modem?   ( I'm thinking in RS-232 terms here, where
 there _is_ a difference:  PC-printer is DTE-DTE (hence
 needs a null) while PC-modem is DTE-DCE (no null). )

 I throughly forgot to research the 3rd point, so again
 apologies for asking before looking.

cheers!
	-blf-
-- 
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