Old laptop into linux router

[ponyboy]

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?

 

[Guest]

Nothing.

Grumpy

 

[knudsen]

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.

 

[ponyboy]

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?

 

[sturm]

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.

 

[malefisocu]

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.

 

[curtis_87]

Come on peeps...
KINAMAX NT-USB20 USB 2.0 to RJ45 Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Network Adapter - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812203024&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Adapters+and+gender+changers-_-KINAMAX-_-12203024

 

[curtis_87]

Get a 4 port USB hub as well, although I'll say this, there is a CPU overhead that may impact your overal performance but...if you have 1 free USB port (as a quick search has indicated for your model)it may be do-able. I have found that a USB modem that we have connected to an old PC I think its a 386 with something like 128Mb of RAM really struggles every now and then with all the processes running for win XP so you may get lucky and have a smoother experience as a just a router

Come on peeps...
KINAMAX NT-USB20 USB 2.0 to RJ45 Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T Network Adapter - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-12203024