Jason Louie wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> This is a pet project that I'm working on that has been on going for
>over a year. I have a very low budget and would like some input on how the
>following things can be done with references and problems that might arise.
>
>Problem:
>1. Trying to set up a home network with Linux boxes, Windows boxes.
>
Good for you ;-)
>
>2. I would like all computers to have internet access and have the whole
>system more secure than just having my Win2k machine sitting on Shaw all the
>time turned on. I am willing to buy a router but what type should I get? I
>know a linux router box can be set up but with these old machines I think it
>would consume more power.
>
Unless power is a huge issue you probably wont notice the difference,
the gateway will
rarelly ever hit the disk except for logging. Though the hardware
solution is nice and
simple if you don't already have and old box to use (486 is plenty
good). I would recomend
one of the Linksys home gateways, they are about 130ish$ and you just
plug them in and
configure them throught the web interface..which offers a lot of options.
>
>
>3. I would like to avoid having duel boots systems and need Windows 2000,
>(for my family,) Windows 98, (Gaming,) and Linux boxes.
>
I've heard from people that WineX is quite good at running windows games
in Linux,
someone at work is using it to play Warcraft 3 and it runs very
nicelly...you wouldn't
know it's not completly native.
>
>4. I would like a FTP-site and a web-site on the system that can be accessed
>from outside, also, all machines must be able to share files, (so Samba
>would be installed.)
>
That's a pretty easy one to learn, many howtos on www.linuxdoc.org ..but
the samba
stuff is pretty straight forward just using their web interface (SWAT),
which is installed
along with samba.
>
>
>5. Which distros I should use. One Linux box should be somewhat user
>friendly and the other as a server, (FTP, www).
>
Uh oh, well, just about everyone will tell you something different here,
just pick
the one you're comfortable with, if you haven't really used any yet,
Nexus Computer
Books sells the major ones, I personally like SuSE because it comes with
everything
you need so you don't have to go hunting around the net for programs.
Debian doesn't
really come with anything but it will do the hunting for you, that's
another one I like.
RedHat really doesn't offer that much imho but a lot of people are
comfortable with it.
Mandrake is at the bottom of my list (even after slack) but that's just
because I don't
agree with things they do, but that shouldn't stop you from using it if
that's the one you
like. Basically there's no real answer to that question, flipping a
coin is probably your
safest bet ;-)
>
>
>6. An idea on how the system should be set up.
>
> WWW (Shaw)
> => Router/Firewall
> => Terminal 1 (Windows 2000)
> => Terminal 2 (Windows 98)
> => Terminal 3 (Linux)
> => Terminal 4 (Linux)
>
>Background:
> I have about 4 years users experience with Unix/Linux during my
>years at the UofC, (this means I have no admin. experience in Linux,) and
>miss my Linux platform. I currently have one computer running Windows 2000
>as my ftp-site, web-site.
>
You should be fine with that setup, good luck!
>
>
>Equiptment:
> 1 - Celeron 450 - Windows 2000
> 1 - P133 - 4Gb HDD (??? RAM)
> 2 - P90 - 2Gb HDD (??? RAM)
>
>Network:
> Running on Shaw.
> 1 - Hub
> Mostly 3Com cards for each computer.
>
>
