I use a DSL/Cable router that I found off of buy.com for $35. It is a TW100-S4W1CA 4-port DSL/Cable Modem Internet Station. You can manage it through a web browser or a local admin GUI. It also has flash upgrades. Here is a link to it on buy.com. Sorry, but they are a little more expensive now ($49). http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10333132&loc=101 Here is a link to Trendware's decription. http://www.trendware.net/Hardware/Networking/Trendnet/tw100-s4w1ca.htm For your time and money, it might be more efficient of a solution than the linux route. James Riley Seth Dimbert To: JD Runyan , Sent by: "John O'Brien @itazuke.org" owner-kclug@marauder.i lliana.net cc: kclug@kclug.org Subject: RE: Gateway? 11/27/2002 10:42 AM I'd also point out that there are a number of router/switches available on the market for less than $80. Now, I know that it's sacrilegious to suggest that a Linux solution might not be the best one, but if you're talking about only 4 PC's and your time and effort is worth more than $80 then the solution is a no-brainer. Head to MicroCenter/CompUSA and buy a 4-port Router/Switch. You plug the modem into its WAN port and each PC into the 4 ports. You administer it via a web browser on any machine on the network, it can handle PPoE and DHCP out of the box and the firewall is reliable. Or, if you want to get fancy, you can get a unit that supports 802.11b wireless networking also (a solution that is tougher and much more complicated in Linux) for a bit more cash. What the decision boils down to is this. you can choose between: - Using a free solution on an old PC with 3 NICs that you administer, or - buying a cheap, reliable, specialized piece of hardware designed to do just this one task. Set it and forget it. Up to you. -SD -----Original Message----- From: owner-kclug@marauder.illiana.net [mailto:owner-kclug@marauder.illiana.net]On Behalf Of JD Runyan Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 10:16 AM To: John O'Brien @itazuke.org Cc: kclug@kclug.org Subject: Re: Gateway? On Wed, 2002-11-27 at 09:55, John O'Brien @itazuke.org wrote: > > I would like them to install a DSL or Cable modem > in a linux box (a 486 I'm setting up with SuSe 8.1 > personal). The supplier wants a lot of money for a > router. What I read says, install the modem in the > linux box and let it be the router. But never having > actually done it, I'm not sure. > Am I correct? I would suggest getting the standard external modem with ethernet connectivity. Your Linux box would have 2-NICs, one for the internal network, and one for the cable/dsl modem. Set the linux system up to do dhcp on the internal network, and NAT. You then use private addressing on the internal network. You can then use the cheaper single dynamic IP services from the provider. You also have the flexibility to change providers on the fly, if the one you choose isn't working out. Just change out the external modem for the new one, and plug the cable into the linux box. The only config that may have to be changed, is whether or not the Linux box has to do PPOE. SuSE's YAST makes it easy to configure the NAT, and the dhcp client and server. -- Jason D. Runyan USDA NITC KC Mid-Range Systems