Gateway?

[Charles Steinkuehler]

DAVID KUCHARSKI wrote:
> I know that Charles Steinkuehler, charles at steinkuehler.net has a 
> BOOTABLE CD router called dachstein but with the 486, you might have 
> problems with the bootable cd portion of that solution.  I think his has 
> some better firewalling features than coyote linux.  either way you 
> wouldn't NEED a harddrive at all!!

There is a single-floppy version of my firewall available as well, and 
if you want the extra packages available on the CD with a system that 
doesn't support CD-ROM booting, there's a floppy boot disk for the 
CD-ROM (it just boots slower).

Also, I would suggest you look at the Bering release, which uses the 
more modern 2.4 series kernel, and the Shorewall firewall scripts.

While you will probably spend more time (and possibly even money, 
depending on what spare PC parts you have lying around) on setting up a 
linux firewall than a "black box" from Linksys, 3com, etc., you will 
gain a lot in flexability.  If you just need to web-browse and access 
e-mail, you might as well just get an apx $75 black box, and plug in the 
wires.

If you want to be able to create a DMZ and put some servers online, 
create a VPN linking multiple sites, monitor network usage via SNMP, and 
other more advanced trickery (or if you just like "getting your hands 
dirty"), the linux solution is the way to go...

-- 
Charles Steinkuehler
charles at steinkuehler.net