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Help me build a linux box...

E

EnragedPC

Banned
I want a linux box that will be my hardware firewall/file server/bandwith limiter...it will run Mandrake 8.0,,,i want it to be in the smallest possible case, and quiet..but also fairly powerful since i never want to restart since it wont have a monitor except for installation...ide like it to be pretty cheap to..
 
Small firewall type computer? Well, power has nothing to do with having to restart, that's stability. I'd say to go with a microATX motherboard and case. Which chipset you get it up to you but I'd go with a socket 370 board (intel 810 wouldn't be bad). For the cpu I'd choose a Via Cyrix III. Now a lot of people will blast the frell out of me for saying that, but it will be PLENTY powerful enough for a firewall and home fileserver but runs cool enough so that you don't need a fan (which will yield a very quite system you can place almost anywhere). Then add 128mb of ram, a network card (if one doesn't come built int. these can be had for cheap. get intel though for highest performance + lowest cpu utilization) and a cheap 7200rpm hard drive (you want a cdrom too for installation) and you're pretty much set.
 
I too am interested in this. What would be the minimum recommended specs for a Linux box that would serve various tasks such as server, firewall, etc?

-mosdef
 
Anything 486 and up would do routing and/or firewalling. For a file server (varying depending on load) anything 300mhz and up should do fine for the home setting. Business/professional setting needs a little more power but most focus is on stability and uptime (hot swappable PCI slots are available on some high end servers). As I said before though, one of those Via Cyrix III's would be PERFECT for such a tast. Quiet, cheap, and powerful-enough.

And that Shuttle board looks VERY good for this use. It comes in flexATX which yields an even smaller system than microATX. Also comes with a network card built in (though I just remembered you'll need 2 network cards for a router but it does have that 1 pci slot that can be used for that). Can't beat that.
 
Where's a good place to buy the Shuttle Board and a Cyrix III? Also can Cyrix IIIs be overclocked and at what point would I need to include a heatsink and/or fan?

-mosdef
 
I don't know about overclocking the Cyrix's. All I know is that at their default/rated speeds all that you need is a heatsink. NO FAN. 🙂 I just looked on pricewatch and the 700mhz chip is going for $38. Not too shabby. As for the shuttle board, I don't know. I just looked on price watch (thought about building a system for myself. you guys got me interested) but there are none there. agg123456789 said it was new though so nobody might be carrying it right now.
 
Ew... that shuttle board has a Realtek RTL 8139. I would never get that board. Go for a good standard mATX... that way you can add multiple quality NIC's if needed.
 
I've used an 8139 in the past. It worked perfectly. Only reason it's not in my machine now is that I'm home from college and have in a Diamond HomePNA card for the phoneline networking. I've also got 2 more friends with 8139's working fine. He should be fine with one of them.
 
Bah, Realtek is crap. totally unreliable, at least for me and poor performance. If I was going to build a LAN file/router/ftp/http server I would go for a board based on the KLE chipset, Duron 600, microtower, and Netgear nics. Although, I'm currently running a LAN file server off of a K6-3 350 BookPC (Mandrake 7.2)... now that's a small case. It has more than enough power to dish out MP3/MP4 via samba....It doesn't have a monitor/keyboard/mouse, just sits on my network shelf.
 
Directron has a selection of slim barebones PC's... they are prefect for little file servers. Expandablity is lacking on most of these systems though.
 
splice: I think you must have just gotten ahold of a bad card. The ones I've worked with while not the fastest (copying a large file took ~14 minutes on my Realtek compared to ~12:30 or so on my friends Netgear), were EXTREMELY reliable, worked in all OS's I tried (Windows 9x/2000, Linux, FreeBSD, BeOS, and Qnx) and generally gave me no hassles whatsoever. I work with a lot of these (during school time I work for the University I attend as a computer tech), and I've seen little difference between the Generic Realtek 8139's, the Netgear's and the the 3com's (I own a lot of cards myself. 1 3com, 1 Intel, 2 realtek's and a Diamond HomePNA). I see no reason why anyone should avoid a Realtek chip. Couples with the fact that the Shuttle board got spectacular reviews I'd say it would be the route to go for a small, quiet firewall (esp compared to a BookPC which is put out by PCChips. Now if we want to talk about a company that makes crappy stuff . . .)
 
Well you could be right about the Realtek thing.... I tend not to go back to products that give me trouble, Realtek being one of them, but that's just me. Your points are well taken though. About the PCChips/Amptron though... it's a great system, it's been running almost nonstop for the past year without a glitch.
 
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