This problem of mine must be an embarrassingly simple one, but right now I am standing on flat ground looking up at the learning curve.
Problem summary: I have a Windows 98 computer attached via Ethernet to a Pentium-based Linux computer. When I attempt to invoke an FTP client or TELNET client on the Windows 98 side, those clients indicate that a connection to the Linux computer is established, but they don't seem to be able to successfully transfer ASCII data back and forth -- I do not get the messages that I expect from the server, nor does keyboard input echo at all. I need help resolving this. Problem detail: Two computers. One is running Windows 98 [Version 4.10.1998]. The second is a Pentium/166 running Debian Linux. I loaded it yesterday from the base2_0.tgz file from the ftp.debian.org/.../stable/ directory three days ago. I don't how to check the version, but I believe it is 2.0.34. The remainder of the Debian package was loaded from a CD-ROM (purchased from Linux Central) using 'dselect'. That disk appears to have been cut in July of 1998. The two machines are connected by an end-to-end Ethernet cable, with no other connections. Each machine's NIC is a 3COM 3C509 Etherlink III. The network interface is running. Not only does 'ping' work properly, but I can successfully browse HTML content on the Linux machine (which is running squid and Apache) from the Windows 98 machine. The FTP server and the TELNET servers are running on the Linux machine; I can successfully access them from the keyboard on the Linux machine. When I start an FTP client from the Windows machine (with the console command 'ftp <ip-address>') I get an indication from FTP that I am <Connected to <ip-address>" Simultaneously, the disk drive light on the Linux machine blips. The exact same thing happens if I enter the command 'telnet <ip-address>'. But in both cases, the keyboard on the Microsoft side then locks up. I get the characteristic ticking sounds from the computer's speaker that means that the keystrokes are being ignored. The program isn't deadlocked; it responds to Ctrl+C to kill it. Microsoft's GUI telnet client responds to mouse clicks and whatnot -- it's just that the keyboard input apparently isn't being sent to the server, nor are the ASCII messages that I would expect from the server when the connection gets created appearing on the Microsoft side. After about 30 seconds, Microsoft's FTP program announces "Connection closed by remote host." It's not something obviously wrong with Microsoft's programs; I just used that same machine and the same command to access ftp.debian.org (via dial-up networking through Compuserve) without any problem. So -- confronted with a whole computational universe of things that might be wrong, and an almost empty toolbox, plus the conviction that I can't possibly be the first person in the world to have run up against this problem, I ask for help: What might be causing this partial connection situation, and how do I fix it? Thanks very much.
