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Linux and Satellite Internet Services

Posted by Cliff on from the searching-for-information dept.

jd142 asks: "I'm considering getting a satellite dish, DirectPC, for high speed Internet access. Has anyone had experience setting one of these up with Linux, and if so, does one distribution do a markedly better job out of the box? I'm not interested in the DirectPC push content; I already pay for a decent news feed, so all I want is highspeed download from the Web, ftp, and news. This will go in a PC I haven't bought yet, probably a CyberMax AMD 700 or 800 Athalon dual booting some flavor of Linux and some flavor of Windows. Thanks!" Satellite Internet service? Now this is interesting. Where can one find more information on this?

6 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Satellite Internet by pb · · Score: 4

    Here's a site in Australia that has some more detailed information. Everything the Anonymous Coward first poster said sounds pretty accurate (!).

    The card they're using here is the Telsat Turbo, from SatNet. It's a PCI card, and it says in their FAQ that they're working on drivers for MacOS and Linux. It should already work under Windows NT. And yeah, you need a modem too.
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  2. Push feeds by slim · · Score: 4
    The original poster might not care, but I imagine the average reader will. These providers run push services, whereby email and news get broadcast, and your computer receiveds it without the upstream modem connection being needed.


    Two things worry me about this: one is that I don't know the protocol, and whether it is open (and therefore supportable in Linux). The second is that I'm concerned that mail might be being broadcast from a sattelite in plaintext.


    I think I'll investigate these things now, and follow myself up if I unearth anything...
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  3. *sigh* by revnight · · Score: 4

    anyone considering using DirecPC should probably read the following article.


    http://www.hamradio-online.com/1999/nov/direcpc2 .html

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    "The things we wizards have to put up with."--Jethro Bodine
  4. Not a good option by mauddib~ · · Score: 4

    Like said above because you'll need an ordinary modem connection for upload, it won't push the telephone costs. And if you want a satelite uplink it will cost you money, a huge lot of money.

    We've been asking for such an option for an outdoor lan-party here in Europe, the total cost of rent for one year would be around 400,000 dollars (800,000 dutch guilders). Besides, the ISP which with you're connecting (here in West-Europe) is mostly relying on cached stuff. As soon as you try to obtain stuff which is not cached (newsfeed, slashdot, freshmeat etc.), the connection is very slow.

    Therefor, I think a satelite link has too much disadvantages to be ever cost-effective in the near future, however I don't know how the situation in the States is.


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  5. PLEASE read alt.satellite.direcpc before buying by JohnA · · Score: 4

    Please check out alt.satellite.direcpc before making any purchase decisions. There is a whole lot of bad mojo associated with this outfit, and most people never receive the advertised performance.

    Buyer Beware.

  6. Direc PC Limits Total Download Per User - D'Oh! by cybrpnk · · Score: 5

    I had DirecPC for a while and bailed out of it. In addition to the disadvantages I see others listing here, they had what they called a "Fair Use" policy that choked down your personal data flow per day once you hit a certain limit - around 1 or 2 MP3 files worth, roughly. Sure, you get 400 Kbs, but only for the fraction of a second required to download a static web page. Sustained high speed downloads? Forget it.