On Tuesday 02 September 2008, Allen Weiner wrote: > I have a spare PC which I'm considering putting to use. It is a Dell > Dimension L566cx, eight years old: Celeron 566 mHz, 192 MB RAM, 10 GB > HDD, CD/RW drive (no DVD drive), integrated NIC, USB ports are USB 1.0 > only.
Mostly sounds fine for what you want to use it for. > possible uses for my spare PC. ... > Use 0: Spare PC: > > Stand-alone spare. The PC runs Knoppix 5.1.1 Live CD. It'll run but performance will be somewhat poor due to low RAM. > Use 1: Router/Firewall: > > Due to power consumption of this PC, I would use the PC as a router > only occasionally. I found using a really old PC as a firewall to be low in reliability, but it works. Old boxes like these are also good as a testbed for server software components. > I would use it for troubleshooting networking problems, as a backup to > the router portion of my Westell 6100 DSL modem/router, and for > learning more about routers and firewalls. Sure. > Q1: Given my specific hardware, is there a distro which would give me > greater flexibility and/or provide a more extensive learning experience > than specialized firewall/router distros like Ipcop and Smoothwall? Any Linux distro should be capable of turning a box into a firewall -- as long as you load iptables, which is not always loaded by default. > Use 2: Networked PC > > Using an ethernet crossover cable, connect spare PC to my primary PC > to form a LAN. I don't need a LAN, but this could provide an opportunity > to learn more about networking and NFS. I don't have a second keyboard, > monitor, or mouse. I don't want to buy a KVM switch. > > Q2: Is there a way to network my spare PC with my primary PC with the > spare PC being headless? Yes, but at minimum you should buy another keyboard, because hot-swapping a PS2 keyboard is bad and risks damage. (Hot-swapping a USB keyboard is fine.) You can run services on the headless machine to let you log into it, such as ssh, ftp, samba, etc. Remote graphics can work also, with X over ssh, NX, and/or VNC. > Q3: Is there a distro I could install on my spare PC that would allow me > to switch back and forth between Use 1 (router) and Use 2 (LAN) without > requiring Linux reinstallation every time? Any Linux distro will let you reconfigure the box for different uses like that, though if you want to do that you probably want a distro that's not specifically designed to make a box a firewall. -- Chris -- Chris Knadle [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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