Re: Computer sharing problems

["Dan Downs" <retnuh@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> > ...
> > So, what I was wondering is, how feasible would it be to build another
> > computer (at as low cost as possible), and then somehow network the two
> > and use my main machine (which is a dual Win95 and RedHat) for a proxy
> > server?
> >
> > Or would it be better to just use the slower, cheaper one with a
> > strictly Linux OS as a proxy or something, connect that one to the ISDN
> > line, and have dial-on-demand from the bigger, dual boot box?
>


At work I set up a 486 DX2/66 as a IP Masq/email server, and sometimes a fax
server. Right now we've only got a 56K modem connection being shared and for
the most part it works just fine, if three or more people are on the web you
can notice it, but we have a pretty small office. Its been up for 88 days,
redials when disconnected, and runs fetchmail every 5 minutes.

A couple of my friends have a 133 pentium with 32mb of ram masqing their
cable modem connection to five machines. They can all pull about 100k+/sec
and can't tell if anyone else in the house is on the net. The processor
usage was so low they were running SETI on the masqing box for awhile, and
couldn't tell the difference.

I'd suggest finding a older low end pentium and making a server out of it.
Should be able to find one for $100-$300 from some company getting rid of
they're older machines.

Dan Downs