Re: [OT] Recommended Router Hardware

[Samuel Bächler <linux@boeser.ch>]

> > > I want to improve my home network. I have got a Laptop and an old 
> > > desktop machine. I want to use the old desktop for server services such 
> > > as web- and mail-sever.
> > > I am connected to the ISP using a cable modem.
> > > 
> > > Question A:
> > > Can someone recommend a router with the following properties:
> > > -NAT
> > > -port forwarding
>
> Use your old desktop machine, just give it a second NIC to go to the
> cable modem.  Then install shorewall and read the shorewall-doc.  I
> should clarify this a bit: how old is the desktop machine?  Debian now
> needs at least a 486 and the installer needs 48 MB ram.  If the desktop
> is a 386 or has less ram, then you'll need either NetBSD or OpenBSD (24
> MB ram).

Well - it isn't that old. It is a Compaq Desktop EN, Pentium III with 
about 500MB RAM. But there is only one Ethernet-Connection which - I 
guess - can be solved by using a Hub or Switch, isn't it?

I now got a Linksys WRT54GL to which Eric Reymond refers to in "Linksys 
Blue Box Router HOWTO"[2].

> > Question B:
> > > Is it possible to install FREESCO on top of a commercial router 
> > > (hardware, e.g. linksys, netgear etc.)
>
> What's FREESCO?

FREESCO is a NAT/firewall router/server based on Linux and runs on a 
single 1.44MB floppy[1].

S.


[1] http://sourceforge.net/projects/freesco
[2] http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linksys-Blue-Box-Router-HOWTO/index.html