[PLUG] Cable Modem/Linux Router Project, etc

[Kevin Mudrick <kevin@furhurts.com>]

Hey all,

I am going to be getting comcast@home soon, and am pondering setting up a
computer to use as a router/firewall, since I am going to have multiple
machines in my apartment.

I have 3 computers I could potentially use for this purpose: an old 386
(2M), a 486 dx-33 (20M), and a p-120 (40M).  None of them have hard
drives, and the only spare NICs I have are all ISA.

Is the floppy-based version of LRP tough to do?  How would I go about
setting up the ISA ethernet cards?  Would it be better to find a small
cheap hard drive for the p-120 and do a linux install, and set up ip masq
manually?

Also, what's the deal with these $50-$150 dsl/cable routers that everyone
seems to be selling?  Microcenter has one on sale for $50 (SMC 4-port
cable/dsl router 10/100 Mbps) after rebates and such that claims to have a
built-in firewall.  Has anyone used these things, and if so, are they any
good?  Would it be better to just pick one of them up instead of going
with a dedicated machine to do ip masq and such?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Kevin

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 (kevin mudrick)  (kevin@furhurts.com)  (www.bleachedwhale.com)
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"Renounce all evil; Practice all good; Save the many beings."
 - The Three Pure Precepts


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