Small format factor 486-PI/PII needed for ipcop firewall

[Colin McGregor]

--- Lennart Sorensen <lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 10, 2007 at 01:19:31PM -0500, John Moniz
> wrote:
> > Teddy David Mills wrote:
> > 
> > >
> > >I am looking for a small form factor 486/Pentium
> I/II.
> > >If you have one that is collecting dust, let me
> know offlist.
> > 
> > Teddy, I may have something, although getting it
> to you may be a chore 
> > (or maybe not). Let me know if you still need it
> and I'll check my 
> > surplus stuff. A 486 at least should be no problem
> to find.
> 
> I am trying to remember the smallest 486 I ever saw
> (not counting
> laptops)... :)  Small form factor does not come to
> mind.

I have seen some very small '486 PCs aimed at the POS
(point of sale) market (i.e. smart cash registers).
But there is another issue with '486 boxes namely
ALMOST none of the '486 boxes had PCI slots (yes, I
did see a few of the last '486 boxes (i.e. 100/120 MHz
boxes) with PCI, but they were RARE). The lack of PCI
means you are basically limited to ISA bus and ALMOST
none of the ISA bus cards support 100 mbps ethernet
(yes, 3com did make one 100 mbps ISA card, but now we
are talking extremely exotic). Further in many cases
you are talking trouble with installing 2 ISA ethernet
cards in the same box... 

Bottom line, going to a '486 is more of a nightmare
than I would take on by choice. These days Pentium II
PCs are in the "garbage PC" class, (i.e.: hunt around
a bit and you can find them being put out with the
trash), and with the PCI bus are a LOT less pain to
deal with, and would be my pick for a custom
firewall...


Colin McGregor
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