[hpsdr] METIS - PC Connection - Thanks!

[Jeremy McDermond]

On Apr 21, 2011, at 5:34 AM, Ed Haggerty wrote:

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> 
> Hans
> 
> Thank you for letting us know who you resolved your problem.
> 
> What this implies to me is you are now resolving your DNS (IP assignment) from the Cable Modem.

This has nothing to do with DNS.  Not only does Metis not use DNS in any form, DNS has nothing to do with IP assignment.  I think you mean DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) which assigns IP addresses from a central server as well as configuring the client with other parameters such as DNS servers, time servers, routers, etc.

The DNS resolver is not used for Metis operations.  The system works with IP addresses only and never encounters DNS names.  The discovery uses broadcast packets to find potential Metis boards on the network.

>  And the use of the "Switch" portion eliminated the need  for a "Crossover Cable", ie... standard IP network.

I'm not sure what a "standard" IP network is.  DHCP isn't necessarily a component of a "standard" network depending on what you want to do with it.  A hosting provider certainly doesn't usually have DHCP on a majority of its networks.  Static addresses are the order of the day in those networks.  In fact, DHCP was specified originally in RFC1541 which wasn't even published until 1993.

> 
> So what I need to understand, is the Metis interface failing to resolve what type of cable your are using?
> This was stated by John (g0orx/n6lyt) and Phil (VK6APH) that the interface would auto configure to either a "straight through" or "cross over" cable.

The chip on Metis will auto-configure between MDI and MDI-X.  As long as you see a link light on Metis you've got a cable that's working.  A wrong cable will not cause the PHYs on either side to link.  As George has said, it sometimes takes Windows an inordinate amount of time to give up on DHCP and assign itself an Link-Local (in Microsoft-ish APIPA or "Automatic Private IP Addressing") address and bring the link up.  You can tell that Windows has assigned itself an APIPA address by looking at the interface and seeing if it has an address in the 169.254.0.0/16 subnet.

Because of this limitation, we recommend that if you're going to cable Metis directly to your computer on Windows that you use static addresses to do so.  Remember that you'll want to set set static addresses for both the computer side and Metis.

> 73  Ed (KB3TOX)

--
Jeremy McDermond (NH6Z)
Xenotropic Systems
mcdermj at xenotropic.com




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