[NTLUG:Discuss] @Home Setup

[Bug Hunter]

Quoting Kipton Moravec <kmoravec at airmail.net>:

> I just got @Home installed yesterday. They had a lot 
of problems as the
> network administration was down in Denver yesterday.  
It is currently
> setup on a Windows 98 machine.
>
> I have a home network of 6 computers and want to 
setup a Linux machine
> to hook to the @Home modem and allow all the machines 
to connect to the
> internet.  I also want the machine to be a firewall 
so no unauthorized
> person can get access to my internal network of 
Windows machines and one
> Linux machine.
>
> I am considering using a Pentium 90 with 48 MB and 
500 MB disk.  Is this
> enough?

  More than enough.

>
> I am not sure what I will be using for ethernet 
cards, but I can pick up
> two NE-2000 compatible cards cheaply. Is it better to 
have the two
> ethernet cards exactly the same, or different? Is 
there a recommended
> ethernet card?

  It is usually easier to set up with two different 
kinds of network cards.  I would recommend a 3com and 
an NE2000.
 
  You can make 2 NE2000 cards work, but you usually 
have to force the kernel to recognize the second card 
with an insmod command.  If you have two different 
cards, it seems to have an easier time of it.

>
> Since I am planning to have both 10 MB ethernet and 
100 MB ethernet does
> it make sense to have a 100 MB ethernet card on the 
internal network
> side of this machine?  The hub/switch auto senses and 
handles both 10 MB
> and 100 MB links.

  10MB will carry 1 megabyte per second, assuming a 
10BaseT full duplex hub and low intra-network traffic.  
On a heavy intra-network traffic type of system, 10MB 
will carry 450 kilobytes per second.  I can assure you 
that you not notice the difference between a 10BaseT 
network and a 100BaseT network unless you serve a lot 
of files to other machines a lot of the time.

  If you have a 768k cable modem feed, you will never 
strain your 10MB network.

>
> Can I also use the machine as a print server for a 
Cannon 5100 ink jet
> printer or is that not a good idea to have a print 
server on the
> firewall computer?

  http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/pht/printer_list.cgi

  find your printer there and see how well it does.  If 
you set your firewall machine up, a printer on it isn't 
much of a security risk.  Someone might print to it, 
but that is about it.