On Tue, 2008-09-02 at 13:12 -0400, Chris Knadle wrote: > On Tuesday 02 September 2008, Allen Weiner wrote: > > I have a spare PC which I'm considering putting to use. It is a Dell > > Dimension L566cx, eight years old: Celeron 566 mHz, 192 MB RAM, 10 GB > > HDD, CD/RW drive (no DVD drive), integrated NIC, USB ports are USB 1.0 > > only. > > Mostly sounds fine for what you want to use it for. > > > possible uses for my spare PC. > > ... > > Use 0: Spare PC: > > > > Stand-alone spare. The PC runs Knoppix 5.1.1 Live CD. > > It'll run but performance will be somewhat poor due to low RAM. > > > Use 1: Router/Firewall: > > > > Due to power consumption of this PC, I would use the PC as a router > > only occasionally. > > I found using a really old PC as a firewall to be low in reliability, but > it works. > Could you give some examples of problems you encountered.
> Old boxes like these are also good as a testbed for server software > components. > Could you give some examples. I have zero exposure to servers. > > > Q1: Given my specific hardware, is there a distro which would give me > > greater flexibility and/or provide a more extensive learning experience > > than specialized firewall/router distros like Ipcop and Smoothwall? > > Any Linux distro should be capable of turning a box into a firewall -- as > long as you load iptables, which is not always loaded by default. I was under the impression that in order to get the iptables functionality for routing, the kernel needed to be compiled with a bunch of "routing" options specified. Am I wrong? > > > Use 2: Networked PC > > > > Using an ethernet crossover cable, connect spare PC to my primary PC > > to form a LAN. I don't need a LAN, but this could provide an opportunity > > to learn more about networking and NFS. I don't have a second keyboard, > > monitor, or mouse. I don't want to buy a KVM switch. > > > > Q2: Is there a way to network my spare PC with my primary PC with the > > spare PC being headless? > > Yes, but at minimum you should buy another keyboard, because hot-swapping > a > PS2 keyboard is bad and risks damage. (Hot-swapping a USB keyboard is fine.) > > You can run services on the headless machine to let you log into it, such as > ssh, ftp, samba, etc. Remote graphics can work also, with X over ssh, NX, > and/or VNC. > I didn't have in mind swapping the keyboard between PCs. I envisioned having the keyboard permanently attached to the primary PC. I thought maybe I could use the primary PC as a remote-serial-console just to bring up the second PC. Once the second PC is up, I could then use something like SSH to connect to it. Is something like this feasible? > -- Chris > > _______________________________________________ > Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org > > http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug > Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium > > Jun 4 - Sqeak! and eToys > Jul 2 - KVM (Tenative) > Aug 6 - Zenos > Sep 3 - TBD _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Jun 4 - Sqeak! and eToys Jul 2 - KVM (Tenative) Aug 6 - Zenos Sep 3 - TBD
