Re: Laptops as routers

From: Bill Schoolcraft (bill_at_wiliweld.com)
Date: 10/31/04

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    Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 08:42:27 -0800 (PST)
To: Emanuel Strobl <Emanuel.Strobl@gmx.net>

    At Sun, 31 Oct 2004 it looks like Emanuel Strobl composed:

    > Am Sonntag, 31. Oktober 2004 00:20 schrieb Paul Hoffman:
    > > Greetings again. I'm looking to buy a couple of cheap old laptops to
    > > be used as temporary routers. They just need to be able to handle
    > > PCMCIA Ethernet cards, not much more (having an Ethernet connector on
    > > the motherboard is fine, of course.) I don't want to run XWindows,
    > > and I'm sure 64 MB and a 1gig hard drive would suffice.
    > >
    > > Are there any brands/models I should lean towards? Ones I should avoid?
    >
    > Bad idea IMHO. I'd suggest having a look at http://www.soekris.com/ (net4501
    > for easiest requirements, better 4801, all in one extendable box) or if you
    > need just basic 586cpu-power without extendability and only (well designed)
    > ethernet ports see: http://www.pcengines.ch/wrap.htm
    > You can use any type of PC as terminal to operate these boxes vi the serial
    > interface. Perhaps you already have any old vt100 terminal handy.
    >
    > But I don''t have an answer to your original question, sorry. Although I'd
    > like to mention that old laptops often can't handle modern PC-CARDSs
    > (CARDBUS), PCMCIA was 5v and 16 bit wide, very slow and really not sutable
    > for routing purposes!

    I used to have a spare 486/dx4-100 laptop that I would use "ONLY"
    when I had to take my main machine off the grid here at home.

    It had the "exact" same ipaddr/settings as the main router/NAT
    machine did and it worked well. It was an old Toshiba that didn't
    even have a CDROM. It was that old. The thing about it was that
    it was brand new !! Nobody wanted to use it at my friends work so
    the IT guy just gave it to me. So I refer to it as my
    "brand-new-low-mileage-1962-Ford-Falcon-laptop"

    I would of course never have it on the net at the same time but
    kept the CAT5 cables just barely unsnapped at their points of
    entry to the network (DSL router and switch) so it would only take
    the time to boot it and snap in the CAT5's to be routing again. 

    --
Bill Schoolcraft           | Life's journey is not to arrive at the
PO Box 210076              | grave safely in a well preserved body,
San Francisco,CA 94121     | but rather to skid in sideways, totally
http://billschoolcraft.com | spent, yelling "holy ***, what a ride!"
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