Using an old 486 as a "Router" for cable modem sharing - how?

[CichliSuite]

I've read a few threads where people used their old 486 to serve as a convenient "router" and firewall. I have two computers in my house and an old 486 that's doing nothing. I'd love to use my 486 this way if I could.

Is it as simple as installing the proxy software (Wingate or GNATbox) on the 486 and then running the connection out to the two pcs?

In this scenario I would need 4 NICS, correct? And would I need a "hub" to split the connection from the 486 to the two pcs?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Yes, you'd need a hub for the two PCs to connect to the router/server, and 4 NIC's total.

You don't need to go so far as installing Windows and the proxy/NAT software though. There are Linux solutions that run from a floppy disk and require only a few megs of RAM, no hard drive needed.

One Solution

There are other distributions of Linux routers around, that's just the only one I can remember.

One of my coworkers runs one of the other types on a 486 with 8 megs of RAM, and never has a problem. The system hardly ever needs to be rebooted, and you can do all sorts of firewalling, NAT, port forwarding, anything a hardware router can do. (I still prefer a hardware router though, for people that can afford it. They're smaller, quieter, and more techno-geekish, at least to me.)

 

[blstriker]

Here's another one: FREESCO

 

[Wik]

Go with FreeSco. It is an awesome router that will run on a 486 and 6 megs of ram with a floppy drive.