DSL with WebTV

[Budweiser]

Hello,
I have Sony WebTV plus, and I was wondering, could I hook the WebTV up to my computer via Null Modem cable, and use my DSL through the WebTV. Would the connection via serial be fast enough, I only need it to be about 350KBS. That would suit me plenty.

[jason]

I don't think COM ports can transmit at speeds greater than 128000 (that appears to be the Windows limit), and depending on the equipment your actual speeds will likely be much lower.

Also, do you know if the WebTV box can support a null modem connection? I've never used a WebTV box, but as far as I can tell, the port is for connecting a printer. If the box doesn't know how to "listen" to a null modem then you won't get too far.

--Jason

[Budweiser]

I know that there is a serial port on the back. Would I not get very far because I think windows might not support Internet connection sharing on a PPP connection. Would there be any hacking I could do to the software to have it pull a connection of it's serial port?

Thanks alot,

David

[jason]

There is software out there that lets you network computers via serial connections, but what I'm saying is that the WebTV box might not support connecting through its serial port. Just plugging a null modem cable into a serial port doesn't give you an instant network--the software you are using needs to know how to connect through it.

In the "old days" we used to play Doom via null modem cable. In that case, the Doom software had code in it to manage such connections. In a Windows environment, often this connectivity is handled by the operating system by way of various drivers instead of having to be programmed into individual programs themselves, but it is still there. If the WebTV box doesn't have the know-how of making a connection through its serial port there no matter what you make your Windows machine do, the WebTV box won't be able to see it.

--Jason