Alternatives to Frys?

[John Albee]

Kurt, I also agree with your statements, which is also the reason I purchased the Linksys.  I have already setup Apache, BIND, Qmail, and some firewalls before so so I knew how to do it, but since this is only a Home network and I want to use my current linux firewall (pent 200/ 64 megs RAM) as a test/dev system for myself.  Thanks for explaining everything.

John Albee


On Mon, 23 Apr 2001 12:20:55 -0700
Kurt Granroth <kurt@granroth.org> wrote:

> 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
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