How do i turn an old pc into a router?

Tbirdkid

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2002
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I have been told that I only need a base old system without a cdrom or hdd. How do i do this and how do I get started doing it?
 

Need4Speed

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 1999
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there are plenty of floppy linux distros that will do routing..i think the best one is Freesco

Smoothwall is also a great package, but u will need a cdrom and hdd for installation.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
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I would still use a hdd and set the ramdisk to max.

I use an old Packard Bell P166 pc as my router running Freesco and it just rocks. I use 32 megs of ram because i wanted the added performance.

To install is pretty easy. You download it and follow the directions. It goes on a floppy then you can transfer it using a command to the hdd. Make sure your nics are compatible with linux and you will be up and running in about 10-20 mins.

You will also need Xover cables and some nics.

This is really way more flexible and fun compared to a hardware router you would buy at a store.
 

monckywrench

Senior member
Aug 27, 2000
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FreeSCO works nicely, and even better from a CF card than from a floppy.
It was easy to set up using a PC Engines http://www.pcengines.com/cfdisk5a.jpg
flash card to IDE connector adapter. I got a 32 meg card for room to expand, but an 8 meg would work fine. The cards are dirt cheap.
Just plug in the adapter w. flash card and boot from a DOS boot floppy, run ideinfo.exe (search on google or download from
http://chinese-watercolor.com/LRP/ and write down the partition info.
I just added ideinfo.exe to a standard DOS boot disk instead of using the LRP floppies.
Enter the parameters from ideinfo.exe manually if your BIOS does not detect the same values
Delete original partitions on the CF card and repartition with fdisk, then format with the DOS disk.
Reboot with previously configured FreeSCO floppy and execute move2hdd.
If you want to set up your CF card in another computer before taking down your FreeSCO box to plug it in, do NOT have your network interface set up for DHCP or the FreeSCO boot process will hang "waiting for dhcpoffer".
Run setup per FreeSCO manual after moving to CF card to correct this, and remember to set the swapfile size to zero so it won't write excessively to the CF card.
To avoid having to manually run router.bat after reboot, rename router.bat to autoexec.bat after booting to a DOS prompt.
It boots much faster from CF than floppy especially if you turn off "floppy seek" in the BIOS and set it to boot from C: first.
 

rw120555

Golden Member
Jun 13, 2001
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Other than maybe saving a little money (which you won't do anyway if you buy a cf card or hdd) why would you want to do this? What are the advantages of this kind of pc router over a store-bought router? Obviously, this is a popular option with some people, but I'm not clear as to why.
 

RemyCanad

Golden Member
Sep 28, 2001
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Well when I head to college in august I will be using a PC as a router. I am because first off it will be much more flexible. Secondly I already have another computer that will work great for it. Third, I already have a switch without routing capabilities.
So for me this is the best option. But unless you will really use the extra flexibility of a computer as a router or already have everything I don't see any advantages.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
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Originally posted by: rw120555
Other than maybe saving a little money (which you won't do anyway if you buy a cf card or hdd) why would you want to do this? What are the advantages of this kind of pc router over a store-bought router? Obviously, this is a popular option with some people, but I'm not clear as to why.
There are lots of reasons why.

You can actually learn how networking works by running a full OS like Linux and have practical knowledge of how everything works.

Maybe you want to run a webserver. Freesco comes with one. It comes with a printserver too. Ideal for a small business on a budget.

Picking up a good hardware router costs more than picking up a complete early Pentium pc. Or you have an old 486 or early pentium laying around. Now you can put it to use.

I run a P166 and a 360 meg hdd. I got the drive for $5. The barebones system was donated to me. The nics I had laying around and Freesco is free. Cabling is cheap for cat 5e. Sound and cdrom are not needed. The ram came with the system. For less than $40 I have a router that can do way more than any consumer grade router can.
 

rw120555

Golden Member
Jun 13, 2001
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Thanks. I actually have 2 or 3 old PCs, with ethernet NICs, sitting on a shelf in my basement. I was just going to trash them someday, but maybe I'll hold on to them now. If nothing else, I was thinking about using them as some sort of bridge or print server. I actually used a pc as a router for a while, but was not at all pleased with the performance. But, I just had crummy ICS-type software with it. The small size of a router is a big plus though, at least in my house.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
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Oct 10, 1999
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Tis true. Size can be important.

Performance with ICS is never great. Freesco is almost scary because it is very fast.

I did try a full linux OS for a router. I used PMfirewall which is a great router/firewall app. Combined with Apache it made a great setup, but, I found freesco to be faster. Probably because it has none of the bloat of a full OS.
 

rw120555

Golden Member
Jun 13, 2001
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Once you get one of these things configured, can you get by without using a monitor on it? Perhaps even control it from another PC? That would make such a setup more tolerable space-wise. Also, I often re-use old monitors, so I've got more old cpus than I do monitors.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
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Originally posted by: rw120555
Once you get one of these things configured, can you get by without using a monitor on it? Perhaps even control it from another PC? That would make such a setup more tolerable space-wise. Also, I often re-use old monitors, so I've got more old cpus than I do monitors.
Freesco has remote administration. I used to use an old 14" monitor for it, but not any more. The remote admin is really easy to use.

Space wise a PC uses more than a small router would. You could always use one of the tiny pcs they got out now.