On 2002.01.07 15:24 Ben Thorp wrote: > I have recently acquired a second hand computer for my wife to use, and she > is[ like most wives ;o) ] a Windows user. However, having only the one > printer, I was thinking that a little Linux print server would come in > handy. I have an old 486 kicking about, which I would be able to furnish > with 2 ethernet NICs, one to connect to her machine, one to my main box, > and use that as the print server.
>Which would be the best distro to install to allow this to happen with minimal input >from me? >I'm reasonably happy > setting up static IP addresses, but have never really used Samba at all, > nor is my networking experience much beyond theory. > > I have full copies of SuSE 6.3 & 7.1, and Debian 2.2r2. I also have single > disk copies of RedHat 5.2, RedHat 6.0, Mandrake 7.2, TurboLinux, Corel 1.0 > :oD, and a couple of other oddments. I could also gain access to a cable > modem and CD writer if necessary. > > Does anybody have any thoughts? > > [As a further point, I would also be interested in setting up internet > connection sharing through the same machine, but it's not as necessary. > Would this change the decision?] Probably the best way to go is use the 486 as a router/firewall/gateway (it would only require one nic, btw), and have the printer on either your box, or the win box. It's reasonably simple to set up samba to share the printer. Depending on the size of the hdd on the 486, you might have difficulty installing a modern distro on it, though I have, with difficulty, installed suse 6.4 on a 486 8mb ram 240mb hdd. todd@brahms:~ > df Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/hda1 243950 201708 29643 87% / todd@brahms:~ > uptime 3:54pm up 396 days, 23:03, 2 users, load average: 0.01, 0.03, 0.00 As you can see from the uptime, once started you can pretty much forget it. I can't even remember where my gateway _is_. ;-) I'm not so sure about other distros, but setting up masquerading is trivial under SuSE. I'd imagine they're all simple though. (Although you can't use mandrake. That requires at least a pentium) Good luck Lawrence -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------
