? make a super router from an old p.c.

title pretty much says it all...i've done a little 'Google' searching and not really found an easy answer... is it possible to make a super router from an old pc

 

DA NA NA NA

SUPER!

DA NA NA NA

ROUTER!



Sorry, I thought that was a pretty funny way of putting it.

If you mean the equivalent of a corporate router, the answer is yes, to be simple. There are various ways to do it, many of which revolve around a special linux distro.

My router is an Celeron 433/128mb/dual 100mbit NICs/1.44mb floppy, it runs Freesco Linux ( http://www.freesco.org/)

Other possible distros are Coyote Linux ( http://www.coyotelinux.com/)
and IP Cop ( http://ipcop.org/)

I have used both, Freesco is personally my favorite mainly because of all the add ons that can be created. IP Cop is nice because it's a fairly easy setup, but it runs from a CD (I prefer the floppy because it allows writes, though I think most of these could be installed to a hard drive). IP Cop also natively supports VPNs if you're into remote stuff like me, though with a bit of work you can have that in Freesco as well.

I am sure there are others out there too.

My question is: Why do you want this "super router"?
Generally, a linksys, d-link, or whatever you have is enough for the basic consumer. I went for the more extreme route because 1) My internet connection (18mbit/4mbit) was killing Linksys routers monthly by overworking them, as I had servers constantly utilizing between 1 and 3 mbits, which was too much for them to handle. Unless you have a reason, I suggest sticking to what you have. Unless this is a proof on concept of course, in which case, I support you fully.

Also, don't forget, this will just be a router. When people think of routers, they usually are thinking of like a linksys, which is actually a combo unit - router + 5 port switch (yes, it's a 5 port, 4 on the back, the 5th is connecting to the router side). You will need a switch in addition to your router if you want to have multiple computers.

There are ways to do multiple computers with multiple NICs, but I don't recommend it.

 

why stop at a router,,, make it an opensource firewall/vpn as well

http://www.smoothwall.org/

 

I use ClarkConnect as a router.

 

I would think a Linksys WRT54GL would make a better linux router. You need to take into consideration heat, power, and maintenance...
Network cards for a cheap PC don't really come cheap

 

i have tons of them (old NICs) laying around
well 5 pounds worth anyway...

hard to find docs and drivers for some of them anymore

 

...it's like climbing a mountain...just because it's there...really i just like to tinker with things...and experiment

 

I think you're better off getting a 35 buck gigabit switch, hooking it up to your old computer and using it as a router with a firewall. Most of those nics are probably just 100baseT which is pretty much the standard and nothing special. You'll also be without any Wifi, which sucks.

If you ask me, theres something better you can do with that old computer. Install Linux on it and turn it into a NAS (network accessible storage) and back up your computer with it. You'll want to get a 1000baseT gigabit switch or router if your going to back up with it though. You can also try WOL (wake on lan) so you don't need to have the computer up and running all the time.

 

Check out DD-WRT.com. They have firmwares for routers and softwares for x86 machines.

 

Are there any special NAS software out there that you use or you just make regular network shares?

 

Back when I ran my own server, I used IPCop for a router since even an $80 router could not handle the load. Even an old Pentium PC has more RAM than any consumer router.

And although I have not tested it yet, it should be possible to run a NFS and/or FTP server on the same system.

 

got the backing problem solved...ordered a couple of these off of 'NewEgg' yesterday...ide to usb connector...gonna make a couble of external drives for backing up...lol...nuther piddle around project

link for connector

Code:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156101

 

Should have just gotten a PCI IDE controller.