I helped a client of mine set up this exact scenerio about a year or so ago.
He was running a Toshiba laptop with two pcmcia network cards... one going
to broadband, the other to his inside lan.  I setup dhcpd, bind, sendmail,
apache and ip firewalling on it... and it's been running ever since.  No
reported heat problems, and virtually no down time (aside from power outages
and such).

It can be done... just make sure that your laptop doesn't have heating
problems.  It would probably behoove you to go with der.hans's suggestion of
an old PC with some ram though.  Should a hardware component fail, you can
just run to fry's. :))

~ ciao ~
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Gary Nichols  RHCE        gary@neoplanet.com
Network Operations Mgr       NeoPlanet, Inc.
http://www.neoplanet.com     Penguin Powered
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-





|-----Original Message-----
|From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
|[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Steven
|Martindale
|Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 10:11 PM
|To: Plug Discuss Mailing List
|Subject: Laptop as a server?
|
|
|I've been struck by an idea and wonder if anyone on the list has done
|something like it.  I've been wanting to put together a modest computer to
|use as a dial-up server for a modest network (Hey, only two working
|computers in the apartment currently).  My current desktop computer is
|running a bit too hot right now to consider leaving it on for long lengths,
|and my old box is mostly put back together (pentium 100 on an old Intel
|board I can't seem to find any documentation for), but I've only got one
|monitor and as of yet no KVM switch (Yes I said to working computers in the
|apartment, the other is my Sister's not mine).
|
|So I got to wondering, I keep running across listings for older laptops for
|$350-400 and lower.  Later 486 models and early pentium and pentium clones.
| Has anyone tried simply running a laptop of a wall-wart rather than
|battery and using it as a modest home network server?  When I didn't need
|to work on it I could simply fold down the monitor (hmm, well as long as it
|isn't a model that shuts down when you do that) to keep the keyboard from
|getting poked and set it aside.
|
|Now I know the newer laptops can get quite hot, but would I be likely to
|have heat problems with say a pentium 100?
|
|Sure it wouldn't be a "great" server, but I'd think it ought to be at least
|adequate, and best of all no need to either get a second monitor (taking up
|the last of the free space on the desk) or a KVM switch.  Though I would
|need to more than likely get a PCMCIA network card and modem (though if the
|laptop has a serial port then I could simply plug in my external modem).
|
|
|It's an idea anyway.
|