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Thread ID: 45872 2004-06-05 09:49:00 Linux Hardware Firewall Glassman (5101) Press F1
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242058 2004-06-05 09:49:00 I have just got my hands on an old P133 with 32MB ram and a 1Gig hard drive
what i would like to have a go at but do not have a clue how to do it is set up a hardware firewall using linux.

My main computer is running win xp home

1/ Is this possible
2/ which linux distro would be best for this job
3/ Do i need any other bits. If so what do i need
4/Or am i talking complete rubbish and should be watching telly on a saturday night.

Any help on this matter would be great
Thanks in advance
Glassman (5101)
242059 2004-06-05 09:54:00 If you're after purely a Linux based firewall then I would strongly recommend that you have a look at SmoothWall (http://www.smoothwall.org/). It is a linux distribution designed purely to be used as a firewall. It's fairly straight forward to set up. -=JM=- (16)
242060 2004-06-05 09:55:00 I cab only answer some of your questions....

is it posable? yes.
is it a good idea? yes

other bit you will needs are network cards.

info we will need is what internet conection do you have?
cable? ADSL? dial up?
robsonde (120)
242061 2004-06-05 09:56:00 Have a look here

http://www.ipcop.org

Got it running on similar hardware as you. You will need 1 network card and a decent hardware modem i.e. external serial or isa slot internal.
Works well
Good luck
rmcb (164)
242062 2004-06-05 10:00:00 There's a whole bunch of them listed at DisroWatch (www.distrowatch.com) Smoothwall and IPCop have good reps.

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
242063 2004-06-05 10:00:00 I forgot to add i will be using an external 56k modem
Is this ok to use

Another question
How do i connect the old P133 to my computer which is running win xp home

Please could someone tell me what i need ie which internal cards to get and what cables do i need

Once again thanks in advance
Glassman (5101)
242064 2004-06-05 10:11:00 You will need an NIC card (Lan, ethernet, network/card, all the same) in each pc.

Ph jack---> Modem ---> PC 133 Firewall with -> NIC --->cat 5 or 6 cable ---> NIC -> in Main PC with with network setup. Check out the firewalls documentation for the network setup. TCP/IP should be ok. If you want more info setting up the network just ask.

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
242065 2004-06-05 10:48:00 I think i am beginning to understand this a couple more questions

On my main computer the motherboad has an onboard network card

and i have an old isa network card laying around .

Can i use the above
Glassman (5101)
242066 2004-06-05 11:12:00 Yes . You need to ensure that the connecter on the ISA card is an RJ45 socket to accept the RJ45 plug on the cable, which will be what you onboard one is (neat how they have got all these little details just so ;) ) .

The RJ45 socket is about the same width as a ph jack (RJ11) but be deeper from top to bottom . Quiet a few of the old ISA cards have coaxial connections (circular with a pin in the middle) or both types . There may even be a card already installed in the 133 machine especially if it's lived its life in an office but it wont have onboard like the newer machine Hopefuly the older card will be detected by the firewall ok .

BTW, the firewall will be great if you ever have the oppurtunity to get a cable braodband connection . You stick it between the modem and your PC or Lan, as per now, and you can use it as a router/gateway for interenet connection sharing and routing to multiple PC's (Lan) . You can also set them up as content filters, access permissions, etc .

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
242067 2004-06-05 11:51:00 Ok i have found the old isa network card
I am going to use Smoothwall because this looks like a good one for newbies
I think i have worked out which cable i need from Dick Smith

The only thing now i am not sure off is what do i have to do to my win xp computer to make this work ie what do i have to do within windows

thanks for your help
Glassman (5101)
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