On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 9:26 PM, Greg Madden <gomadtr...@gci.net> wrote:
> > > On Sunday 20 February 2011 03:03:35 pm Nate Bargmann wrote: > > * 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. > > > +1 > > ditch the old computer , todays routers with dd-wrt or openwrt are more > reliable > and cheaper to run. Buffalo routers come with dd-wrt pre-installed. > > Your netgear router may be supported by dd-wrt, some are. If it has wired > ports > along with the wireless it could be fine. > > > really? i'd be truly interested if you can show me a peace of hardware that can do what vyatta can do on old pc hardware. in fact, i'll give you a $500 finders fee if you can find me hardware that does what vyatta can do for under $500.... hell, if you can find anything for under $2k, i'll be impressed - i think the asa 5525 has the ids capabilities for ~2500 or something like that which is the closest and cheapest i think you'll find. that said, i still use a fon for a wifi bridge to my network which runs wrt (err, sorta) and i highly recommend these devices for everything wifi (even business networks - no poe though).
