brodie
07-24-2001, 11:16 AM
i posted this in networking, but the more i think about it, the more i think it should be here...
ok, some i'm building a system to act as my firewall/router at school. yes, it would be easier to just buy a router, but this is cooler, and more importantly, cheaper, as i have all the parts....
so here's the system:
athlon 500/druon 750 (i can get the 500 now from a friend, or wait till school starts and maybe get the 750)
biostar m7mke (http://biostar-usa.com/Products/Motherboard/M7MKE/M7MKE_Products.htm) motherboard
250W PSU
floppy drive
extra 8" (yes, 8 INCH) cooling fan w/ independant PSU 56x cdrom
64 mb pc133 ram (another 128 is on the way)
tnt2 16 mb vid card
3com 3c905c nic
WD 1.6 gb hdd (x3) (looking for a 5 - 10 GB hard drive to use...
how do these specs look for a linux install? like i said, it doesn't have to do much, just ip forwarding, port forwarding, and port blocking. basic firewall/router. also, is this hard to set up? i have used windows my entire computer life, and i have a win2k pro install on my main box. i know 2k really well, as well as windows in general. is xwindows similar in function to windows? any huge differences? i have a really old comp w/ command line slackware on it (6.5 i think), so i understand the basic way linux works differently than windows.
so in any case, i am just looking for basic advice on how to do this, what to watch out for, and just general advice. also, what distro should i use, and what version? i keep up on geek news, and i've heard some grumbling about the 8.0 kernel (is that the right term? GOD i sound like a newbie). should i d/l the 7.1? also, mandrake has been suggested by a great many people as a very easy distro to use.
i'm opening the floor to questions and advice now :)
to forestall the "overkill" comments:
i know it's way overkill, but i don't have any use for a system like that right now, as my main box is already better than that, but i can't just let it sit there, and i can't sell the parts. i'd go for a lower machine, but the next lower machine i have is a pentium 90 with 96 mb of ram.... :( so why go for that when i can go for something with a little punch? plus, i may serve an ftp off of it too. but the distributed computing idea isn't bad. i run rc5 right now, so i could run it on that.... :)
in any case, i know i can run any distro, but given that i'm a newbie and given what i want to do with it, what would be the best distro for me?
also, at mandrake's site, there's a lot of choices for what to download (Mandrake 8.0/i586 | Mandrake 8.0/i586 ISO Image | Mandrake 7.1/SPARC/UltraSPARC ISO Image | Mandrake 7.1/AXP ISO Image | Mandrake 7.0/i486 ISO Image | Mandrake 8.0/IA64 | Mandrake 8.0/PPC | Corporate Server | MandrakeSecurity Single Network Firewall)
what do i want?
ok, some i'm building a system to act as my firewall/router at school. yes, it would be easier to just buy a router, but this is cooler, and more importantly, cheaper, as i have all the parts....
so here's the system:
athlon 500/druon 750 (i can get the 500 now from a friend, or wait till school starts and maybe get the 750)
biostar m7mke (http://biostar-usa.com/Products/Motherboard/M7MKE/M7MKE_Products.htm) motherboard
250W PSU
floppy drive
extra 8" (yes, 8 INCH) cooling fan w/ independant PSU 56x cdrom
64 mb pc133 ram (another 128 is on the way)
tnt2 16 mb vid card
3com 3c905c nic
WD 1.6 gb hdd (x3) (looking for a 5 - 10 GB hard drive to use...
how do these specs look for a linux install? like i said, it doesn't have to do much, just ip forwarding, port forwarding, and port blocking. basic firewall/router. also, is this hard to set up? i have used windows my entire computer life, and i have a win2k pro install on my main box. i know 2k really well, as well as windows in general. is xwindows similar in function to windows? any huge differences? i have a really old comp w/ command line slackware on it (6.5 i think), so i understand the basic way linux works differently than windows.
so in any case, i am just looking for basic advice on how to do this, what to watch out for, and just general advice. also, what distro should i use, and what version? i keep up on geek news, and i've heard some grumbling about the 8.0 kernel (is that the right term? GOD i sound like a newbie). should i d/l the 7.1? also, mandrake has been suggested by a great many people as a very easy distro to use.
i'm opening the floor to questions and advice now :)
to forestall the "overkill" comments:
i know it's way overkill, but i don't have any use for a system like that right now, as my main box is already better than that, but i can't just let it sit there, and i can't sell the parts. i'd go for a lower machine, but the next lower machine i have is a pentium 90 with 96 mb of ram.... :( so why go for that when i can go for something with a little punch? plus, i may serve an ftp off of it too. but the distributed computing idea isn't bad. i run rc5 right now, so i could run it on that.... :)
in any case, i know i can run any distro, but given that i'm a newbie and given what i want to do with it, what would be the best distro for me?
also, at mandrake's site, there's a lot of choices for what to download (Mandrake 8.0/i586 | Mandrake 8.0/i586 ISO Image | Mandrake 7.1/SPARC/UltraSPARC ISO Image | Mandrake 7.1/AXP ISO Image | Mandrake 7.0/i486 ISO Image | Mandrake 8.0/IA64 | Mandrake 8.0/PPC | Corporate Server | MandrakeSecurity Single Network Firewall)
what do i want?