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Ideas for P166MHZ system 16MB ram

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Philippine Mango

Diamond Member
Ok I have a Sony Vaio system that normally had a P200MHZ processor but decided to use a 166MHZ processor I had lying around since I could use the faster processor in a system that might needed it. I want to use a very minimalist setup and was thinking if I can get my hands on another system I would use an even slower processor (My slowest processor is a Pentium 90). I have 16MB of ram (4MB SIMMS) and I want to turn this computer into a firewall. I'm wondering what firewall program I should use, I was thinking of using norton personal fire wall 1.0 (think 2.0) or another program if it uses less ram. I'm also wondering what operating system I should install on this system with so little ram. I have the option of:
Windows 3.1
Windows For workgroups 3.11
Windows 95
Windows 98SE
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 2000

I could use others but don't want to and I don't have Windows NT 3.1 or 3.51.
 
For a system running a firewall, especially one that limited in terms of hardware, you probably want some Linux variant. You might also want to ask in the Operating Systems and/or Networking forums.

Or just buy a cheap router with a firewall; they cost about $20. 😛
 
My router DOES have a firewall but I heard they were crap and this would provide more "specialized" configuations for opening and closing ports. I have not installed linux but have used it before, it was very brief though. I'm not sure if I want to learn how to configure linux and everything JUST yet, I will eventually and would like to.
 
I was about to suggest Windows 2000 but I realize you typed 16MB instead of the 64MB I thought I saw. (I'm pretty sure it won't even install if you have under 32MB)

I'd probably look into the Linux thing too (even though I don't really have experience with it) - otherwise, probably Win98SE, but I'd sooner trash the computer than have to use Windows 98 again, lol....
 
I'm purposly trying to make a very minimalist setup, I want to use the oldest processor+ram combo possible and I know under 16MB of ram is REALLY pushing it. Any firewall programs can you recommend?
 
Should I use an old version of linux slackware? I see 9.1 and 10.0 download, looking for an operating system with a very SMALL foot print which I hope I will get with this linux distro.
 
what kind or ram does it use? and how many slots? I have lots of 32M edo dimms common in pentium class machines, and a ton of 200mmx a few of wich are unlocked so run 233 fine.
 
Sadly its fastpage so you can't expect much. I'm kind of a ram nazi and have been reserving the "good" ram for other systems. I want the firewall to use only bare minimum hardware/crappiest, lowest I can go is pentium class and for ram I would like to have more ram so I can acheive 32MB of ram but the two 8MB SIMMS aren't going nicely with the other 4MB SIMMS I got.... I got quite a few so I don't understand why they won't go together. I think the 8MB SIMMS are EDO ram, god it's such a horrible combo and it sucks. Maybe I could some how obtain more ram?
 
You may have a hard time finding a current full distribution that can run X with 16mb ram. You could however install w/out X and use SSH to administer the system as a small file/webserver. However, using a CLI-only interface can be a PITA.

You may use one or more floppy-based distributions that can turn your old pc into a firewall, number cruncher, etc. While you won't crunch too many work units at that speed, you can turn your old pc into a darned fast firewall/router with the use of 2 nics and Coyote Linux.

As a third option, you could donate it and take it as a tax write-off. I forgot the calculation, but you can legally deduct *substantially more* than its currently worth and use that as money in the bank for a new purchase.
 
I like option 2, but dang you guys treat this system like as if 16MB of ram is litterally nothing! 16MB of ram is not actually THAT bad, you can even run windows 95 on 16MB of ram. But since you guys are agianst the whole windows thing for a firewall, it seems I should go with this solution instead. Looks like I should get an EVEN CRAPPIER system, maybe one with a max processor speed of 166MHZ (mobo limited). I'm wondering if a laptop would be better suited for my needs (486/early pentium laptop).
 
Clark Connect is the way to go. I do not know what the minimums are but it has no X and you do the config via web front end or an ncurses interface. It is based on RH 9 and is available in 2 flavors. www.clarkconnect.org
 
16 MB of RAM isn't that bad I agree. But running full-on GUI using X might be too much for it. I would agree with magomago, just forgo the X installation and run linux from the shell. Since its going to be minimalistic anyway, it will be fine. I think slackware 10.0 will run fine, you do not necessarily need an older version just to run it (if I'm wrong, someone pls correct me). It comes with the 2.4.26 kernel and also has the 2.6.7 kernel if you are willing to recompile it.
 
Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
Smoothwall
Click to expand...

The newest clark connect is really going to tax that system if he is going to use more that the firewall routing.

Smoothwall has a smaller footprint would work better on this system.
 
Originally posted by: IPLaw
You may have a hard time finding a current full distribution that can run X with 16mb ram. You could however install w/out X and use SSH to administer the system as a small file/webserver. However, using a CLI-only interface can be a PITA.

You may use one or more floppy-based distributions that can turn your old pc into a firewall, number cruncher, etc. While you won't crunch too many work units at that speed, you can turn your old pc into a darned fast firewall/router with the use of 2 nics and Coyote Linux.

As a third option, you could donate it and take it as a tax write-off. I forgot the calculation, but you can legally deduct *substantially more* than its currently worth and use that as money in the bank for a new purchase.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much! I just found an old pentium based system at a friend's house and he is letting me use the machine (AT based). Since I have a pentium 90, I installed it with 16MB of ram, no HDD/optical drive and now running coyote linux (my first linux distro I've installed). It was the perfect system since it didn't come with any moving parts (except PSU fan) which makes for it being more reliable (less likely to break) and quiet.

I have one question though, when in the menu (after loggin in) and you select to change firewall settings for example (on the machine and not from web browser) how do you save the settings you made? I tried ALT+H but it said something like ^S or of the sort and I'm wondering WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!? What key is that? And when I gave up I couldn't escape either so I had to do a hard boot. Anybody have any idea?

Oh BTW, since I saw you guys recommend other distros of linux after I installed coyote linux, I was wondering if my choice was a good one. Its a variant of linux so I would assume that it's pretty secure and doesn't have any stupid windows "features" that we all know about. "It's not a bug, its an undocumented feature!" Lol
 
I have been using Smoothwall for about 6 months now and it is working great. A friend of mine also ran an earlier smoothwall version on a 486 with 8MB, although it does need a hard disk.

I use mine as a proxy server which works very well.
 
I'd install OpenBSD.
Not Linux, but close enough, doesn't eat much in terms of HD or RAM, very well documented, and pf(the builtin packet filter) rules.

It's not a point and click OS, but I have a hard time anyone with some fairly basic hardware knowledge, as well as some fundamental reading skills would have much trouble setting it up, took me some 2 hours or so first time I tried, from install to finished firewall.
 
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