Which linux distro for turning a pc into a router.

[KingofFah]

If the sole purpose of this box is to act as a router for my computers, what OS would be best? I saw something called the LRP (linux router project), but unfortunately the person who was running it gave up on it.
I would like to hear some suggestions about the smallest linux distro that will be able to run as a router.
I am asking this because my DI-604 router drops connections too frequently (too many simultaneous connections kill it). I have tried many of the firmware versions for it, and it works fine for a couple days. Then it will simply stop working. Restarting modem, restarting router, resetting router settings. Nothing works. Just stops working, and I have no idea why. If I direct connect the modem to one of the computers it works fine. If I leave it like that for awhile then hook the router back up, it works again - for a few days.
I have no idea what is going on, but I have been meaning to replace the router with one of my old computers.

Now I am wondering which distro to use, so please give a suggestion if you know of one or are using one.

Also, if you know any sites that give detailed instructions for setting up that distro as a router (I believe it should be similar if not the same on every distro, but I am not sure).

 

[Confused]

Try out Clark Connect

I haven't used it myself, but i've heard it's supposed to be quite good


Confused

 

[KingofFah]

Looks pretty good. I also found my way to OpenBSD. I am reading about it, but Clark Connect looks pretty good.
Thanks Confused.

Anymore suggestion would be appreciated.

Edit: Just noticed Clark Connect requires 64 mb. I hope I have four 16mb modules LOL. I have like 5 P1 boards and a newer celeron board with SDRAM, but I would have to buy a celeron and cooler.

 

[DumbGuy]

I use smoothwall.org
I might be changing to ipcop tho

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Confused
Try out Clark Connect

I haven't used it myself, but i've heard it's supposed to be quite good


Confused

i have used clarkconnect for over 1 year, i also use it as a quick/easy generic red hat install for other pc's

it is very good, you can easily install php if you want to run it as a web server as well as your router

includes intrusion detection , very easy to setup/use

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: KingofFah
Looks pretty good. I also found my way to OpenBSD. I am reading about it, but Clark Connect looks pretty good.
Thanks Confused.

Anymore suggestion would be appreciated.

Edit: Just noticed Clark Connect requires 64 mb. I hope I have four 16mb modules LOL. I have like 5 P1 boards and a newer celeron board with SDRAM, but I would have to buy a celeron and cooler.

clarkconnect will run on older/slower/lower RAM than it specifies, just a bit slower

 

[skyking]

Freebsd's default gateway install, using IPFW, is fairly efficient and easy to configure. I have a 120mhz machine with 32 mb of ram, it has served me well for two years now.

 

[Nothinman]

Debian.

 

[flamingsouls]

FreeSCO. It runs just fine on a 486 and a floppy running next to me.

thx
Josh Kandiko

 

[chsh1ca]

For pure firewalling purposes, I've heard (and I stress, this is second hand) that OpenBSD is the best overall choice for a firewall, simply because of the plaintext rules it uses. If you think you can quickly pick up iptables syntax, then by all means, start with a slackware installation, and just unselect all packages except the kernel, and the base libs and base system packages. That's all you'll need, unless you maybe want perl to run your firewall script from.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

bah you don't need all that complicated stuff, floppyfw is what ya want.

 

[KingofFah]

Thanks for all the replys. I found out why my router was not working too well. This is the first time I have ever had this happen. The ethernet cable I was using from the modem to the router was the problem. It's very strange, since the cable works fine when its just connect a computer to the modem, but even when there was on one computer connected to the router it still caused problems. I replace the cable with one of my other ones. I am still going to turn one of my old computers into a router, though. As soon as I find a floppy drive that works. Hehe.

Thanks again.

 

[stash]

Astaro

 

[zeusfaber]

here ya go: http://www.linuxrouter.org/ and it fits on a floppy

 

[edfcmc]

I've used clark connect in the past and it worked for me, but it requires a computer with a harddrive.

Anyway, look at:

BBI AGENT

Frazierwall

Both Frazierwall and BBI agent are Linux floppy based firewall/router packages.

I recently ditched the PC as a router when I picked up the Netgear RP614 from BB last week. The thing is fast.

 

[calbars]

The Linux Router Project is dead. Long live LEAF. They forked from LRP and are quite active.