Alternatives to Frys?

[Kurt Granroth]

Craig White wrote:
> > I disagree.  I was using a Linux box with 2 NICs as my router and
> > wasn't very pleased.  It was too big, too hot, and too loud to be used
> > in my living room (where my BB cable comes in).  I got a Linuxsys
> > router and have been pleased as punch ever since.
> >
> > It took me all of 5 minutes to setup and has been rock-solid ever
> > since.  Configuration is next to trivial and the "advanced" features
> > (while not as complete as what ipchains or netfilter can do) did
> > everything that I needed doing! It is also tiny, cool, and silent so I
> > can easily hide it. :-)
> >
> > I did quite some research on 'net routers before buying it and the
> > Linksys was very well recommended.  There *were* some complaints about
> > a particular version of the firmware, but mine had the updated one.
> >
> > I would recommend this product to anyone!
>
> I do recommend this product to people for home use but that wasn't the
> point.

You said that we should be "ashamed" for buying a "marginal quality"
Linksys router and I responded to that.  Your point wasn't at all
clear in your original email and (IMO) not very convincing in this
one.

> This is a linux exchange - what better advocacy can we make than to suggest
> that by setting up your own router

Going with a Linux solution as a knee-jerk reaction rather then
evaluating individual situation needs isn't exactly the message we
should be sending out... even though this is a Linux exchange.  A
firewall is a TOOL and should be implemented in the best possible way
for the situation.

> You will gain invaluable knowledge about routing and linux by
> rolling your own instead of doing the easy thing...buying a NON-open
> source box.

Sure, if somebody is trying to learn such topics, then setting up a
Linux (or *BSD) firewall is a great way to do so.  But that doesn't
factor in at all in the cases where:

a) You already know how to do this and have done it many times before
or
b) You don't care to learn this particular aspect

I fit the first category and could see myself in the second.  Back
when I first started with Linux, I made sure that I tinkered with
almost everything on my system.  These days, I do default installs of
preconfigured tools and leave them pretty much alone except in cases
where I *need* to touch them.

> As for your box...
> - noisy? buy better parts.

Doesn't help if you have super-sensitive (not necessary *good*.. just
sensitive) hearing.  I bought an Enermax "whisper" power supply and
CPU fan with the lowest dBA rating I could find.  The case was a solid
quality thick one and the entire deal was sequestered away in another
room.  The result was a computer MUCH quieter than your normal one..
but still too loud.

Keep in mind that I often have to unplug TVs when I'm in working in
the same room as one since even though they are off, the sounds they
make really get on my nerves.

> - big? I would love to find a cheap small box/motherboard combo with
> 2 integrated NIC's.

So would I.  As far as I can tell, they don't exist without massive
hardware hacking.

> - slow?

Never said my box was slow.  In fact, if anything it was too FAST
(900Mhz Athlon).  That kind of CPU requires a much louder fan than,
say, a plain Pentium or 486
 
> Moreover, you can learn how to configure sendmail, apache and other
> daemons - the experience thing...it's valuable.

Don't need to have it as a firewall for that.  In fact, it's a much
better idea to have all the daemons on a DMZ (or at least a separate
machine), anyway.

> As for the LinkSys, there have been some rather buggy releases which
> I guess that they have provided firmware updates to fix most of
> these issues but they are apparently still haunted by DHCP bugs.

Maybe.. I can only say that *I* have had no problems at all.
-- 
Kurt Granroth            | http://www.granroth.org
KDE Developer/Evangelist | SuSE Labs Open Source Developer
granroth@kde.org         | granroth@suse.com
            KDE -- Conquer Your Desktop