🚀 go-pugleaf

Not sure if this is the right place for this query, but it is to do with
W95 and IP. I'll cross-post it to d.i.s.win95 and demon.ip.developers. 

I want to know if there is a way to run an IP intranet on my local
machines, without messing up my Demon connection. When I added IP
networking to my LAN, Turnpike could no longer find the news and mail
servers at Demon when I logged in. 

The root problem is that, unlike many other ISPs, Demon assigns a
permanent IP address to each user, and this conflicts with the IP
address which my machine uses on the local intranet. 

I use two other ISPs on this machine. They both use dynamically assigned
IP addresses, and have no problems. I don't intuitively see why a
dynamic IP address should conflict less than a static one (they would
both be in danger of seeing two IP addresses on this box) but there you
are... 

Demon support is emphatic about this. They say I can't do it. I should
either 
1. use NetBEUI or IPX on the LAN, or 
2. Only connect from a standalone box (a dedicated Demon box, with no
file transfer to my other machines? not an option really)

Or of course, the one they didn't mention: 

3. Stop using Demon. 

It seems to me that there must be another option. Indeed, given that
every W95 and NT user has IP available, and the intranet is currently
the hottest topic in corporate networking, for Demon's sake there had
*better* be another answer. There are going to be thousands of people
trying this - I got the impression from Support that this is a regular
and irritating call for them. 

Obviously, I can reset my intranet so that my PC has the same IP address
on the intranet as on Demon. The problem then is that I have to renumber
the other machines - can I do this without conflicting with other Demon
subscribers when online? 

The preferred intranet addresses are the 'official' internet addresses
reserved for intranet use:  192.168.0.0, and up from that, 192.168.0.1
etc. With a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

This conflicts with a Demon dial-up, so I put my own ip number a.b.c.d
(can't remember it off-hand) on my machine. I can then use the same
subnet mask, and use addresses a.b.c.d+1 on the other machines. 

However, chances are Demon already uses these numbers for other
subscribers. It's no problem while I'm not connected to Demon, the
intranet runs happily, but am I right in thinking that if I logged in
while the intranet is up, there could be a conflict, with the legitimate
users of those addresses? 

I don't intend to try this blind - I'll take the intranet down before I
log in again. 

But if that set-up causes a problem, is there a combination of IP
numbers and/or subnet masks I can safely use on my intranet which would
allow me to use my own Demon number on the intranet? 

Peter Judge                               
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