I love free things

[SagaciousKJB]

Well, my router has been dying for a while, so I wanted to replace it. I wasn't sure what kind I should buy, and I really didn't want to spend that much money. Solution? Turn my Linux server into a router.

After a week or so of figuring out how to do it, I finally got it figured out, configured with shorewall, and for free. I was trying to convey this to a car friend yesterday when I said, "Well, it's like not paying $4,000 for the crappy Ford and getting the Ferrari for free."

Sure having a free operating system is cool, and free web hosting and server is also pretty sweet, but this is the first time I think I've actually done something extremely practical and awesome with Linux. You know, something that you actually feel like you've accomplished something from doing. I know it's not complicated, but you almost get the feeling like you've beaten the system. I could have bought a $50 router, with limited features, that will probably break in a few years. Instead, I made one that is indefinitely far more capable thanks to Linux.

Anyway, I've just been wanting to brag, and felt like this was the place.

PS
As if it were any surprise, I'm also greatly enjoying my increased internet speeds. Turns out my old router was bottle-knecking my throughput by about half.

[arderydd]

Ooooooh.... I think you might be onto something.... *is now tempted to throw perfectly fine router out the window*

[SagaciousKJB]

It was a bit of a sketchy setup considering that half the time I was trying to figure out how to do it I wanted to get on line but couldn't.

I looked up the hardware specs. of my old router. 75 mhz processor and 8 MB of onboard ram. That's vs. my new 1.5 Ghz processor and 256 MB of RAM for my new router. Heh, I just can't help but be thrilled by this.

[ryokimball]

Ooooooh.... I think you might be onto something.... *is now tempted to throw perfectly fine router out the window*

I'll take it!!!! (I like free stuff too --even more so if it usually isn't free...)

[Agent-X]

I've seen the Linux router project, and a few things worry me.

1. Power consumption.
2. Accessibility

Wouldn't a computer take more power than a simple router bought at a computer store? If so, does the cost-benefit analysis display a negative slope? Are you losing more money via the energy bill by turning a computer into a router?

And doesn't a computer have to be on in order for it to become a router? Maybe if you could find some awesome PCIs that take the energy from the PSU, but I don't think that's what is being referred to here.

[SagaciousKJB]

I've seen the Linux router project, and a few things worry me.

1. Power consumption.
2. Accessibility

Wouldn't a computer take more power than a simple router bought at a computer store? If so, does the cost-benefit analysis display a negative slope? Are you losing more money via the energy bill by turning a computer into a router?

And doesn't a computer have to be on in order for it to become a router? Maybe if you could find some awesome PCIs that take the energy from the PSU, but I don't think that's what is being referred to here.

It really depends on what kind of computer you're using. The one I'm using now definitely draws more than a router, but if you were to get a very old PC, I wouldn't expect the power draw to be very high at all, especially if there were no monitor plugged into the computer.

They do have to run 24/7, so it's probably not practical for a desktop linux computer, but the computer I used was already a dedicated server anyway, so in my case I probably lessened my power consumption by turning my dedicated server into a router as well; one less device draining power.