When I first introduce a device and view the Thompson Gateway on http://192.168.1.254 in the area:- Home > Home Network > Ethernet > ethport1 the device will show as:- unknown-xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx Does "unknown" = one of the "system-names" of the device? If so, on a Debian Linux machine, which name?
The xx:xx … part is obviously the MAC address of the network card. Possibly if that supplied a 'name' it might use it. When connecting Windows PCs I've only seen 'unknown- xx:xx …' appear, whether the connection is via Ethernet or wireless. For my convenience I replace this (using the "connection" menu) with the host name of the computer and 'wired' or 'wireless' as appropriate (without the MAC address). I think it is only a label.
Thank you spraxyt As a follow on - is it accurate to say the router displays the Mac Address it has collected from the device, plus "unknown" to indicate that the device has not yet been configured by the user?
I'm not sure one can place such a formal meaning on a component of the default device name, I imagine it just means the router doesn't know any better. The Physical Address field must be the one that matters, and what is shown there ties in with the Physical Address I see by running ipconfig /all at a DOS prompt on my PC. If the user wants to configure a name (and type) the router is happy to display these but probably doesn't make formal use of them itself.
