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| Just was wondering if anyone could give me some suggestions on what to do with these older machines I have. One is a Pentium 240mhz and the other is a Pentium 166. Is there anything I can use them for other than target practice. I know there is alot of Linux ware out there. Don't know about any personal web server, file server, ftp server or anything like that. I have looked at the Linux based firewall and that may be an option but just wanted to see what you all thought. Please go easy on this one too  | |
| Boulware5 2002-12-28, 10:42 pm |
| Put *nix on it. Or else sell it on ebay so someone else can. | |
| ChrisDfer 2002-12-29, 12:28 am |
| I will buy em from you for $25 each. | |
| ccieToBe 2002-12-29, 1:05 am |
| Linux or Unix would give those PCs a second life. To give you an idea of what's possible, I'm using a few 100MHz 486s as routers for my wireless ISP. They each handle up to 6Mbps without much strain on the processor. I also run 1 web server (use to be 3, but the other two were upgraded ) on PCs with 166MHz Pentiums. | |
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| ccieToBe what kind of Linux are you running for the webserver? Also what is a good flavor of Linux to put on that is really easy and not that complicated to learn? Thanks | |
| ccieToBe 2002-12-29, 10:27 am |
| All of my web servers run FreeBSD. I think Red Hat would be a good Linux distro to start out with. | |
| RichardJW 2002-12-29, 3:15 pm |
| What's wrong with Suse as a distro? Any particular reason for favoring redhat? I installed Suse 8.1 pro today. Though it is tolerably quick in KDE or gnome (both graphical user interfaces) I wouldn't like it much slower. The targeted machine has an AMD K6 500mhz processor (P2 class) and 312mb SDRAM. | |
| ccieToBe 2002-12-29, 5:48 pm |
| There's nothing wrong with Suse. If it works for you, that's great. Mandrake's another distro that's very newbie friendly.
Once you get past the GUIs, Linux is Linux. | |
| macaries 2002-12-29, 6:22 pm |
| You can get a wireless router for $100 made by Microsoft from Best buy. What was the cost to make the wireless linux router? Did you have to get a wireless access card of any special type to work with FreeBSD? I'd like to give it a try if the components were <$50 | |
| ccieToBe 2002-12-29, 9:15 pm |
| Each access point costs me around $400 to make. These aren't being used in a typical application though. I'm deploying a few of them around the city to provide Internet access to cells with 1-4 mile radiuses. For this application I need Unix's flexibility to do things like routing and firewalling, along with beefier hardware then most access points provide (100MHz is actually a lot for this application).
The only cards I know of that can be placed in Access Point mode w/o proprietary software are based on a Prism 2 or 3 chipset.
For most SOHO type applications I recommend going with Orinoco gear. It's high quality and cheap. I think Microsoft's gear is just rebranded Linksys (generally very low quality). | |
| jonhiker 2002-12-30, 4:02 pm |
| You can use them as Linux boxes to learn Linux. OR, you can donate them to an organzation like this one: www.freegeek.org. | |
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| I have explored different distros of Linux and wonder if anyone has any suggestions on which on to go with?
elxlinux.com
lycoris.org
icepack-linux.com
libranet.com
lutelinux.com
mandrakelinux.com
suse.com
If you have any other distros that are easy for newbies and free and don't require alot of processor power let me know. Any suggestions are helpful. Thanks. | |
| Boulware5 2002-12-30, 7:21 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by bkone
I have explored different distros of Linux and wonder if anyone has any suggestions on which on to go with?
elxlinux.com
lycoris.org
icepack-linux.com
libranet.com
lutelinux.com
mandrakelinux.com
suse.com
If you have any other distros that are easy for newbies and free and don't require alot of processor power let me know. Any suggestions are helpful. Thanks.
Best for the beginner is Mandrake or Red Hat 8.0. I just installed Red Hat 8.0 and love it. Slackware is also good but maybe not for the newbie. |
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