(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hello
I have been looking araund for a distro that can be run on a system that does not have a HDD, and as far as I can read (can I even say that?) Puppy seems to do just that.
I have however not been able to find anything in the howto section on how to use it as an DHCP server and router.

I have some 2GHz machines laying around wich could be fitted with 1GB of RAM, so if I am not mistaken they should be able to run puppy just fine, and with lots of system rescourses left.
These machines could then perfectly fill a job at a Hotel where the guests must have access to the internet, and where the little SOHO things just keep dropping dead from the load, but the there is no plans to letting the IT-department (me) use any large pile of money on a "real" server, or more importantly a better location for the gear.

So I thought that if I could get one of the old machines running without a HDD I would'nt have to worry about it again for a long time, sice it should be able to handle the load without breaking a sweat. And I really dont want a HDD on it 'cause as we all know these do die from time to time, and in a less than perfect enviroment (read: HOT) the HDD is in my experience on of the first things to go.

One more thing: How about a webinterface on it so I can view statistics and do various maintenance from home. Or is there another distro that would be better for my precise needs? Remembering that the most important factor is that Puppy runs with no HDD in the system.

Well I must have wasted enough of your time with my story now (sorry for that:), so I guess it is time so say "Just about any input will be greatly appreciated"

Hi cOmOneO;

Try the Linux router distro. called: Freesco, it's made exactly for what your talking about.
It runs off of a 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy disk & needs only a 486 PC to do the job.
Using a 2 ghz PC is MASSIVE overkill for a router, it's even too much for a Samba server!
The reason is that most LAN speeds are 100Mb (12MB),
& even a 1Gb (120MB) LAN isn't very demanding of CPU power.
It doesn't take a fast CPU if all it does is move data to & from the LAN & routing it.

sunburnt:
Freesco souns nice, I think I'll dig into that. Do you know if it runs from usb stick to? Don't have a floppy. Thx never the less.

Hehe, I know that 2GHz is massive overkill, but it's the slowest machine i have, and if I have to spend more than a few minutes finding a slower machine, the saving in hardware, would be eaten up by my pay (wich I am still hoping to get, silly me

And again, thx for the info

It runs on FAT32 file system, so it should be easy to setup a USB drive to boot it.
The Freesco site may have instructions, I've never tried it, but I have run it from a HD.

cOmOneO; You know you can buy a router for $10 right? For $20 they have a firewall.
With the ease of setup & use I can't see myself wasting time making one.

cOmOneO wrote:Hehe, I know that 2GHz is massive overkill, but it's the slowest machine i have, and if I have to spend more than a few minutes finding a slower machine, the saving in hardware, would be eaten up by my pay (wich I am still hoping to get, silly me

I understand your situation, but after getting over the shock of 1) comprehending that there are actually 2Ghz-1G Ram machines 'just lying around', and 2) the idea that they would be used as routers, and 3) the drool dribbling down my chin, I just have to, jokingly of course, say that i would gladly trade you a P 100mhz-16MB 72 pin EDO Ram machine that would be just perfect as a router, in exchange for a 2Ghz-1GB RAM.

By the way, this machine is a PII 233-192 RAM.

On a serious note, you may wish to consider using one of those 2Ghz with puppy, perhaps as an additional/spare office computer (maybe dedicated to the internet?), because it would be low maintenance (less/no malware) and it would FLY!!!

Good luck, and success, with your project.

A howto is all that we need now - see this
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?&t=477

Do you know if it runs from usb stick to?

Unfortunatly no, freeso uses a um 2.0.38 kernel and so doesnt have usb support. It is possable to make a bootable cd with some fiddling or a hard drive install. But I dont know if you can do that with out booting from a floppy. Im looking at 0.3.7 beta-19 tonight so I'll try if you like.

Auda

First off:
Sorry for the long response time, I have had so much to do that i almost forgot this thread, since it does not concern a priority case. But you guys haven't been lazy i see.

Auda:
No need to try that, at least not for me Reason further down.

Raffy:
Thx it seems that there is a solution for my problem right there.

sunburnt:
I know that the little SOHO's is very cheap (though in Denmark not as cheap as where you live), but the primary reason for all the hassle is that these things simply cant handle the pressure, nor control more than 50 hosts in the DHCP.

The secondary reason is, that whatever kind of machinery I use for the gateway, there is no moving parts allowed. Not because the moving parts is the specific problem, but because all the storage hardware that I estimate will not survive for a very long in the enviroment I am going to put it in, all have moving parts.

The nice thing about the RAM + USBstick combo, was that it is more durable. This means less maintenance, for me

And since Puppy seems to have a really nice interface it would be great for me, since I am certanly no linux-guru (perhaps even the opposite).

CatmanDru:
Hehe, I dont know where you live, but I somehow can't see that being a good deal for me, no matter how much of the logistics you pay

I have no need for an extra terminal (if we can call it that) at the moment, but there is one other place where I am most certanly going to put a puppy.
I have a laptop with a broken HDD. It's a 2,6Ghz celly ( ) so there is no point in wasting any money on a new hdd for it, but with puppy it might find a new life somehow. One can only hope and try.


And I almost forgot.
A big THNAK YOU for all the help so far. This has to be one of the most forthcomming communities I have ever used. This is my first post, and what a pile of answers, and even a little humor
Give yourself a pat on the shoulder there boys and girls

cOmOneO; Boys & girls????? None here... only Puppy Dogs!

I didn't know about small box routers not being able to handle a full sub net.
As I'm in a home environment I can't test my D-Link router for what you said.
Passing data packets back & forth doesn't take much cpu power at all.
However that still doesn't mean that your not correct about cheap routers.

I have a package for DHCP3, the DHCP server daemon for issuing IP addresses.
But how to make Puppy act as a router, I don't know of any packages for that.
BUT I'm SURE that there are some, maybe look at: www.debian.org
If there is a package for it, it'll most probably do the DHCP server also.

I also don't know why a router shouldn't be able to handle 50 connections! At work a $59.95 Linksys router serves about 70 PC's and a bunch of servers...

Juergen

I'd check to see if there is a firmware upgrade from the manufacturer of your existing routers... they do fix a lot of problems.

You should also check out the dd-wrt firmware. Its a replacement firmware for MANY diffrent models of routers, it is VERY stable, and adds all sorts of functionalies that only $600 dollar routers tend to have.

DD-wrt also now has an x86 version (runs on a normal PC) that is free for wired only devices, but is $$$ when you add wireless... not sure how much. I'm currently playing with this and am booting off of a 128meg compact flash card in a memory card reader.