New Home Network

Hi all

I would appreciate some advice on setting up an old 486 or P1 machine to act
as a router for a home network. I have done some browsing but was hoping to
get some thoughts from you people. My experience of linux is very limited
but did find what I have done pretty straightforward to learn.

I want to be able to use this machine as a firewall primarily, but also to
connect to a netgear switch I have (FS105), a server I can build using Win
2003 Ent from a course I am on, two XP pro PCs and a XP Home laptop.

I want the setup to be able to be used for home use, but also as a home lab
for my future MCSE study. The p1 or 486 machines I have I think will make
suitable routers according to what I have read.

So, if you have any thoughts, recommendations, tips or ideas then please let
me know!! One point is I have no monitor for the router machine, or the
server machine. Tips on connecting these via serial ports would be cool
too!! The aim is to avoid any more expense.

Cheers, many thanks in advance

Matty

"Matty" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bhnv2j$39v$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi all
>
> I would appreciate some advice on setting up an old 486 or P1 machine to
act
> as a router for a home network. I have done some browsing but was hoping
to
> get some thoughts from you people. My experience of linux is very limited
> but did find what I have done pretty straightforward to learn.
>
> I want to be able to use this machine as a firewall primarily, but also to
> connect to a netgear switch I have (FS105), a server I can build using Win
> 2003 Ent from a course I am on, two XP pro PCs and a XP Home laptop.
>
> I want the setup to be able to be used for home use, but also as a home
lab
> for my future MCSE study. The p1 or 486 machines I have I think will make
> suitable routers according to what I have read.
>
> So, if you have any thoughts, recommendations, tips or ideas then please
let
> me know!! One point is I have no monitor for the router machine, or the
> server machine. Tips on connecting these via serial ports would be cool
> too!! The aim is to avoid any more expense.
>
> Cheers, many thanks in advance
>
> Matty
>
>

I should have mentioned I live in the Uk, in an area not yet set up for ADSL
so internet is via dial up, but I want the system to be able to take b/b at
a later date.

Cheers for now!

Matty

Matty wrote:

> I should have mentioned I live in the Uk, in an area not yet set up for
> ADSL so internet is via dial up, but I want the system to be able to take
> b/b at a later date.
>

There's a lot of info on the internet, for setting up a firewall. The
details are a bit much, to post in a newsgroup. You can even get single
floppy firewalls.

--

Fundamentalism is fundamentally wrong.

To reply to this message, replace everything to the left of "@" with
james.knott.

Matty wrote:

>
> "Matty" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:bhnv2j$39v$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi all
>>
>> I would appreciate some advice on setting up an old 486 or P1 machine to
> act
>> as a router for a home network. I have done some browsing but was hoping
> to
>> get some thoughts from you people. My experience of linux is very limited
>> but did find what I have done pretty straightforward to learn.
>>
>> I want to be able to use this machine as a firewall primarily, but also
>> to connect to a netgear switch I have (FS105), a server I can build using
>> Win 2003 Ent from a course I am on, two XP pro PCs and a XP Home laptop.
>>
>> I want the setup to be able to be used for home use, but also as a home
> lab
>> for my future MCSE study. The p1 or 486 machines I have I think will make
>> suitable routers according to what I have read.
>>
>> So, if you have any thoughts, recommendations, tips or ideas then please
> let
>> me know!! One point is I have no monitor for the router machine, or the
>> server machine. Tips on connecting these via serial ports would be cool
>> too!! The aim is to avoid any more expense.
>>
>> Cheers, many thanks in advance
>>
>> Matty
>>
>>
>
> I should have mentioned I live in the Uk, in an area not yet set up for
> ADSL so internet is via dial up, but I want the system to be able to take
> b/b at a later date.
>
> Cheers for now!
>
> Matty

I suggest you look at IPCop (www.ipcop.org) which has a preconfigured
system which does just what you want, runs on just the kind of kit you
have, and is free. You can download an ISO image (~25Mb), burn a CD and
off you go. It will manage dialup (and ISDN) or ADSL upstream, and
ethernet downstream.

David