Beyond the Network and onto the Internet

Fedora supports Internet connections and the use of Internet resources in many different ways. You will find a wealth of Internet-related software included with this book's version of Fedora, and you can download hundreds of additional free utilities from a variety of sources. To use them, you must have a working Internet connection.

In this section, you learn how to set up an Internet connection in Fedora Core Linux using a modem and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) as well as other connection methods, including digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable modem services. Just a few years ago, getting a dial-up connection working was difficulthence, an entire chapter of this book was devoted to it. Nowadays, as long as you have a hardware modem, dial-up configuration is simple. The Fedora developers and the wider Linux community have made great progress in making connectivity easier.

Although many experienced Linux users continue to use manual scripts to establish their Internet connectivity, new users and experienced system administrators alike will find Fedora's graphical network configuration interface, the Internet Connection Wizard, much easier to use. You learn how to use the Internet Connection Wizard in this chapter, as well as how to configure Fedora to provide dial-in PPP support. The chapter also describes how to use Roaring Penguin's DSL utilities for managing connectivity through a cable modem connection.

Linux and America Online

The America Online service (AOL) used to be often cited as a reason that many more people don't use Linux. Why? Because AOL uses a proprietary protocol to connect and a proprietary client to access AOL content; no Linux interface is available, with no signs that AOL is about to provide one. Simply put, if you wanted to use Linux, you were forced to choose some Internet connection other than AOL.

Work was done on a client that would allow an AOL user to connect to the AOL service and at least access the Internet. The Penggy (formerly Pengaol) page at http://www.peng.apinc.org/eng/ provides links to binary RPM packages as well as source tarballs and HOWTOs. This software is not sanctioned by AOL, but it might allow an AOL user to experiment with Linux.

The situation is quite different if you are one of the many using a broadband connection to get onto AOL. Because routers tend to be OS-agnostic, you can easily connect a Linux machine to the network and access the Internet. In fact, the computer that I am typing this on is connected to AOL via a router. Okay, you will not get the AOL-specific content, but then again, are you really going to miss it?