tiny firewall boxes

[Tyler Aviss]

IDE->CF adaptors work nicely too. I've seen firewall-oriented distros
that fit on a 32MB CF card, and I use a 4GB for fanless desktop (some
mini-ITX boards have an integrated cardreader that's bootable too).

The adaptors are on ebay for peanuts, but one has to beware the
female/male pinnings as some have to plug into the motherboard, while
others run on a standard IDE cable (sometimes you may need a
3.5"->2.5" HDD adaptor too for cable size).

With USB, boards that have an internal "extension" adaptor can be
nicely jury-rigged to have the USB stick inside, rather than sticking
out where it can be broken by accident. I've seen thin-client boxes
that have a USB cage for bootable sticks or wifi cards that's internal
in an easily-accessible location.

On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Robert
Brockway<robert-5LEc/6Zm6xCUd8a0hrldnti2O/JbrIOy at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Jul 2009, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
>
>> Tiny tends to make it expensive.  The cheapest way to build a firewall
>> is to go buy a used PC (like a P3/P4 level machine) for $100 or so,
>> or find one given away fo free.  Still much more capable and powerful
>> than any linksys box.
>
> I use this approach all the time.  If the box can boot USB then you can do
> without a HDD.  This cuts down the noise, power consumption and reduces the
> liklihood of a h/w failure.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Rob
>
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-- 
Tyler Aviss
Systems Support
LPIC/LPIC-2
(778) 890-0942
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