Small Linux boxes?

[shadow]

Kevin,

>>A $70 Linksys WRT54G-L with OpenWRT firmware should do the trick.  I use
>>a similar setup to secure my home wireless network using WEP + OpenVPN +
>>IPTables.  OpenWRT is debian ipkg based and supports all of the packages
>>you mentioned.
> 
> Now, I like this!  Unfortunately, I think I need a hard drive or CF card of
> some kind.  Has anyone hacked a drive into one of those things?  I suppose I
> could attach an external USB drive, but that would be clumsy and probably
> too slow.

The WRT54GL doesn't have any USB ports, but there are packages to mount 
NFS or SMB for external storage.  For most home networks, a cacheing 
proxy really isn't needed with a 256Kbps+ connection unless you have 
more than a dozen users behind it.  You can still use the proxy as a 
filter without caching on this device with no external storage.  As a 
bonus you get a secure wireless connection as well (with OpenVPN, of 
course).

The second option would be to use the NSLU with the OpenSlug firmware, 
an external USB HDD, and a single arm proxy.  (A single are proxy is a 
network interface with two IP addresses in seperate networks.  It is 
easy to bypass since both networks are running on the same wire, but it 
may be sufficient for your needs.)  This option could also be used as 
network SMB or NFS storage for all of the connected systems.


-- 
Chris Lewis
shadow at digitalnirvana.com

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