Helius/Caldera Satellite Router running Linux

Shag writes "Helius has a press release up on their site about the latest thing to do with one of those little satellite dishes. It's still the same ol' DirecPC technology - 400kbps satellite feed inbound, landline ISP outbound - but now they've got a Linux-powered router beastie so you can handle your whole LAN this way. " This is a great solution for small businesses and school buildings-and it's good to see cutting edge stuff like this.

Hmmmm.....I've got a dish laying around??

[GreyFauk]

Anyone know anything about software decoders for those broadcasts? or ANY Satellite transmissions for that matter?
Always wanted to see what I could find out there using Linux and homing in on different satellites.. eh?
Like I said.. I doan know tiddly about it... just thought maybe someone would?
Piques my curiosity just a wee bit.

Juss ramblin

+ $1,300 for the server software

[eswan]

30 'light' users, 10 'heavy' users, or 1 'typical slashdot reader' :(
The 'lite' license is $200 for 4 'light' users or 2 'heavy' users (dontcha just love the well defined terms?) Light being defined as 'Mostly e-mail with light Internet browsing and chat, Heavy being 'Full-time Internet browsing, FTP, chat, e-mail, and other functions. And 200 hours?
phht.

That's not true!!

[Dast]

Windoze 95 will route a BSOD straight to your video card much faster than any other OS. (Although NT is almost as fast.)

test results with Helius satellite router

[gooberjr]

if you wanna see something really cool then you should check out the test results on the router.
http://www.helius.com/test_results/

Linux can do it too!

[dattaway]

Yes, Linux now can do BSODs with the GNOME BSOD xsrceensaver in the latest release. Its for those people that miss blue screens.

March 1st

[gooberjr]

I'm sure there will be more info at Linux World on Monday. I bet the press release is a pre-release before the confrence.

I'd check it over again monday... B)

Warning to heavy downloaders: Do not get DirecPC

[gooberjr]

But you haven't run the Helius satellite router with linux. Plus, Helius said, "It runs with the Hughes DirecPC stuff currently because they are the only one playing the game, but when other providers come online the Helius Satellite Router will be there too."

I WANT!

[bluGill]

Living in the middle of no where (no cable tv lines run by my house) too far from the central office by several miles, I want this!

Too bad as others have said it is so expensive currently. Still, with Masq/natd and a dish it might be worth it. Modems are too slow, and read the USR sportster ask /. for the problems I'm having with my modem that this would slove.

Last summer when I was looking for an aparmtnet I discovered that either I couldn't get xDSL in the building (too far) or I didn't want to live in that type of neighborhood. Not a good choice, I moved back to the parent's place and saved money.

free download

[John Kozan]

Trailware? thats no good
maybe we could get together an opensource replacement. Or would that require buying information from Hughes?

Hi Hank!

[jerodd]

Good to see you again! What was weird was that when I went to reply to this, it had me logged in as you... weird. Maybe it recognised our affinity from systalk. <grin> Ahh. I look forward to [e-mail]—may it return to its former greatness.

One problem with satellite links: isn't the SOL of a 44,000 mile roundtrip plus the latency of the modem uplink a problem? Of course, it's better than async dial...

bi-directional?

[Pegasus]

When will be such toys available with bi-directional communication via satelite for reasonable price?

Old Hat!!!

[jd]

Honestly, all this old-fashioned technology. Satellite dishes, indeed! Bah! Humbug!

I want an Internet connection that uses "entanglement". Teleporting your data stream - now, that's style. I can handle that.

This isn't exactly original

[silver]

The company I work for in New Zealand Ihug [ihug.co.nz] has been offering pretty much the same thing for a year or so now. It's called StarNet [star.net.nz]. 500Kbps incoming link from a small sattelite dish, uplink via modem. It works with Linux and Windows. And can be used to route lans, schools, small ISPs, pretty much anything, depending on the setup you get.

Silver

Heh.

[Dast]

I know. I was being sarcastic. :-)

just satilite?

[John Kozan]

Is there a way I could just plug the directpc satilite into my linux box without haveing to buy a router like that?

hmm...

[Stiletto]

Just imagine if they ran a Beowulf cluster there...

Not all satellites have 500ms lag

[gooberjr]

some providers will use LEOs that are low earth satellites and wouldn't have lag times that high.

MS? Sure thing...

[Erk]

I would like to see Windows handle that. Linux forever!