Two questions...

[i845_]

I have an old box (built around a Pentium III, 600 MHz, with 256 Mbytes of RAM), which I'm thinking of turning into a multipurpose network machine (for sharing a my Internet connection with my other machines (wired and wireless), and as a proxy and central file and print server on my home network). The problem is that the mobo has only two PCI slots, of which, one will be taken up by the wireless NIC. Also, the mobo does not come with an Ethernet adpater built-in.

I fished around on the Internet, and came across dual-port Fast Ethernet PCI cards (image (http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7628/3310610806oh7.jpg)), which should serve my desired purpose.

Now, my questions are:

a. Do you guys think my machine will be able to withstand all this (or am I expecting way too much from it)...?

b. Are dual-port Fast Ethernet cards (based on the PCI architecture) really up to snuff? I mean will multiple interfaces running in parallel swamp the PCI bus?

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The forum software seems to be acting up... it allowed me to log in and compose the thread, but on trying to submit the same, it threw an error telling me that I was not logged in. I hope I haven't (inadvertently) posted the same topic twice.

Edit: Redundant posts deleted, am extremely sorry for the mix-up. :o :o :o :o :o

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[banzaikai]

Pentium III, 600 MHz, with 256 Mbytes of RAM
That's what's in my F7 box right now. Actually, mine has 384MB, but you get the picture.
a. Do you guys think my machine will be able to withstand all this (or am I expecting way too much from it)...?
It'll work. Mine's kinda pokey running a full-feature distro like F7, but it's adequate for my needs.
b. Are dual-port Fast Ethernet cards (based on the PCI architecture) really up to snuff? I mean will multiple interfaces running in parallel swamp the PCI bus?
I don't think you'd have much to worry about. Although I've never even seen a dual-NIC, if you're not using other ports of the mobo, the ones you do use will be at full tilt. In other words, if there's little (or no) activity on the ttyS, lp, mouse, kybd, or video busses, then the NICs should have a field day. If this'll be a server, then just the IDE and NICs will be busy, as they're the only things you really need running.

Another thought: I've got an old 3Com 3C19250 usb-ethernet adaptor, which only works at 10Mbps (usb 1.1 speed), but works just fine with Fedora. If a slower speed isn't an issue, you may want to hit eBay or Amazon to see if anyone still has these. It'd give you an extra two (or more) ports (at 10Mbps) if you use ps/2 for mouse/keyboard.

If you're setting this up as a router, then you only need two ethernet ports (one in, one out), as you can put an ethernet switch (like a D-Link DSS-8+) to connect the rest of the computers to the router's out port:
Inet <-> {eth0 <-> computer/router/firewall <-> eth1} <-> switch <-> network
- or -
Inet <-> {eth0 <-> computer/router/firewall <-> eth1} <-> computerA
{usb -> eth2} <-> computerB
{usb -> eth3} <-> computerC

banzai "older school" kai

[bwkaz]

I'm not sure whether it'll work, but I would be interested in finding out how that card appears in sysfs. If you do end up getting it, would you mind posting the output of the following (with it plugged in)?:

ls -l /sys/class/net

Also whether the various Ethernet interfaces (I assume there will be more than one?) have the same or different MAC addresses. (The MAC addresses are in the various files at /sys/class/net/*/address.)

Thanks! :)

[i845_]

@banzaikai

Thanks for the info.

BTW, I intend to run Ubuntu 6.06-1 LTS Server Edition (it's got support till 2011) on the machine, in headless mode, and with X turned off.

Also whether the various Ethernet interfaces (I assume there will be more than one?) have the same or different MAC addresses. (The MAC addresses are in the various files at /sys/class/net/*/address.)

@bwkaz

The adapter that I'm after is the Intel Pro/100 S Dual-Port Server Adapter (PILA8472C3, link (http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/pro100dport_adapter.htm)), since Intel adapters have solid support on Linux. Intel apparently provides its dual-port adapters with sequential MAC addresses (at least two users have reported as such on the FreeBSD mailing-list: here are the links (1 (http://osdir.com/ml/freebsd.isp/2002-06/msg00130.html)) and (2 (http://osdir.com/ml/freebsd.isp/2002-06/msg00121.html)).)

** Edit **

One more thing... regarding wireless adapters, should I go for one with an Atheros chip or one with a Ralink chip? While Ralink appears to be more open-source friendly (see here (https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/net/wireless/cards.html) and here (http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/293/)), Atheros-based cards have the most exposed dials to tweak... and my adapter also needs to be able to work as an access-point...

[bwkaz]

Intel apparently provides its dual-port adapters with sequential MAC addresses (at least two users have reported as such on the FreeBSD mailing-list: here are the links (1 (http://osdir.com/ml/freebsd.isp/2002-06/msg00130.html)) and (2 (http://osdir.com/ml/freebsd.isp/2002-06/msg00121.html)).) Ah ha!

Thanks! :)

(I should have thought of that... duh...)