* On 2011 20 Feb 14:22 -0600, Elmer E. Dow wrote: > Greetings: > > I'd like to set up a network with a firewall for my home computers > for security, control and convenience (file sharing), as well as to > learn about networking. We have the Internet entering via a Motorola > DSL modem and it currently passes data through a NetGear wireless > router. I'd like to construct my own firewall/router to connect our > three active machines and also use the NetGear for wireless access > when needed.
Reusing old hardware is fine. Be sure that you're not going to spend as much or more getting the hardware into an old computer as you might with a router capable of running OpenWRT or similar. Last year I bought an Asus WL-500 GP from New Egg for about $60. Granted, one must read specs carefully if more memory/hardware capability is required. Not to be overlooked are the space and energy requirements of an old desktop versus a modern router capable of running an embedded Linux distribution. I have my OpenWRT router working as an IPv4 DHCP server for my LAN and caching DNS server with DNSmasq. It also handles the IPv6 tunnel I have and serves as the IPv6 router and address configurator with the radvd package. As it is a limited platform with only vi available for an editor, I have it setup so I can mount the file system with sshfs, fuse, and sftp-server so I can do most of its management from my desktop. As I prefer to use a WRT55AG for 802.11a access, I disabled the WL500GP's 802.11b/g wireless so I cannot comment on its performance. While there is value in re-purposing old hardware, going this route has been a gain all the way around for me. It may be something to consider. - Nate >> -- "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://n0nb.us/index.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110221000335.gd4...@n0nb.us
