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Old laptop into linux router

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ponyboy   06-05-2008 at 12:24:41 PM

Hi guys,

I have an old Acer Travelmate 507t that I'd like to turn into a linux router but the problem is there's only 1 rj11 jack and 1 cardbus slot.

Any ideas?

I could buy a PCMCIA ethernet card for the cardbus slot, but what can I do with the rj11?

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knudsen   06-05-2008 at 02:33:03 PM
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LRP? Get a $25 used (of course) 486 or whatever. Once it's setup and running, you don't need the monitor or mouse. BIOS might require the keyboard. Don't need a hard drive either.

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ponyboy   06-05-2008 at 03:45:15 PM
- 0 +

Thanks for the responses.

What would I install the linux software on without the hard drive?

So is salvaging my old laptop out of the question for use as a router?

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sturm   06-05-2008 at 09:35:42 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

What would I install the linux software on without the hard drive?


There are linux setups that you can run off a bootable cd-rom, hence no hard drive needed.

In order to use the laptop as a router you will need two rj45 network ports. Since you only have one slot for a card and, I am assuming, no onboard nic you're out of luck as far as I know.

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malefisocu   10-07-2008 at 01:48:25 PM
- 0 +

I know it's a bit late, but maybe usefull for other people. I think that if you want you can use your only one ethernet notebook as router simulating two nics this way (on Linux. If you are on Windows not sure if you can):

ifconfig eth0:0 192.168.0.1
ifconfig eth0:1 192.168.0.2

It may be slowler than having two real nics.

With respect to buying a 486 without hd, there are Router Linux distros than fit on a floppy. You don't even need a cd.

Regards.

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