David
No,there is another.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
clubs:
 ·DIRECTV
 ·magicjack.com
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to pnh102
Re: Take Control
said by pnh102  :If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great! You can also do that with m0n0wall as well as DD-WRT
Loved m0n0wall when I had it. Don't even need a hard disk if you don't want.
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Quake110
join:2003-12-20
Ottawa, ON
·Velcom
| reply to Cjaiceman
said by Cjaiceman :said by Quake110 :Or buy a Linksys WRT54GL and load it with tomato (firmware). If you want MLPPP (combining 2 dsl lines together), get Tomato/MLPPP. The firmware is open source so there's no way a feature like that is going to be there. The WRT54G is underpowered for most power users, most consumer grade routers are underpowered as well. I had a WRT54G w/ tomato and DD-WRT as my router, but every time I would fire up bittorrent or a streaming HD feed it would lock up. I tried 3 of them, they just can't take the speed. A pfsense box works much better and has yet to lock up, 2 years running! Does pfsense support MLPPP (Because Bell throttles the DSL lines of 3rd party ISPs and MLPPP circumvents that).
Also, what's the computer you're using as a router? I have an AND K6-2 300 mhz sitting in a corner and it would be great to know if it would be powerful enough. |
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KodiacZiller
join:2008-09-04
73368
| reply to Sir Meowmix III
said by Sir Meowmix III : quote:
If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great!
Because not every wants another device sucking 60W+ from their outlet to do something as simple as routing when there are numerous MIPS devices which can run OpenWRT or Tomato which use a fraction of the power AND usually include a four-port switch. WRT-54GL, WHR-G54S, etc, etc. Exactly. I have an old Athlon 950Mhz machine here that I could use as a router but instead it just sits in the corner.
There are three reasons it isn't used:
1) The thing sounds like a jet engine.
2) It makes the room very hot, which increases the use of AC.
3) I don't want a bunch of idle CPU cycles sucking up more energy when all the box is doing is routing which takes very little CPU power anyway.
Instead I use the WRT54GL flashed with Tomato and I see the same speeds as I do without the router, even when torrenting. Never had a problem with either. It's rock solid, doesn't use much energy, and is silent. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to Cjaiceman
said by Cjaiceman :said by Quake110 :Or buy a Linksys WRT54GL and load it with tomato (firmware). If you want MLPPP (combining 2 dsl lines together), get Tomato/MLPPP. The firmware is open source so there's no way a feature like that is going to be there. The WRT54G is underpowered for most power users, most consumer grade routers are underpowered as well. I had a WRT54G w/ tomato and DD-WRT as my router, but every time I would fire up bittorrent or a streaming HD feed it would lock up. I tried 3 of them, they just can't take the speed. A pfsense box works much better and has yet to lock up, 2 years running! This was my experience as well. DD-WRT was an especially bad offender. Trying to perform QoS while running a small torrent session would choke it. Tomato was MUCH better on the same hardware, but browsing was still painful with downloading a torrent. The Buffalo WHR-G54S was a tad better, but still not powerful enough.
I have zero problems now since I switched to a real computer and I'm much happier. |
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Cjaiceman
Premium,MVM
join:2004-10-12
Parker, CO
 ·Comcast Workplace
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to Quake110
said by Quake110 :Or buy a Linksys WRT54GL and load it with tomato (firmware). If you want MLPPP (combining 2 dsl lines together), get Tomato/MLPPP. The firmware is open source so there's no way a feature like that is going to be there. The WRT54G is underpowered for most power users, most consumer grade routers are underpowered as well. I had a WRT54G w/ tomato and DD-WRT as my router, but every time I would fire up bittorrent or a streaming HD feed it would lock up. I tried 3 of them, they just can't take the speed. A pfsense box works much better and has yet to lock up, 2 years running! |
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Tsume
join:2004-02-23
Johnson City, TN
·Embarq
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
| reply to pnh102
said by pnh102 :If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great! Because pfSense has had this irritating problem with one of my games that was never fully fixed. Can't see each other in game, game is GunZ Online. Or if we can, ping is insanely high because it's using the "firewalled" server that GunZ uses to relay traffic when two clients can't establish a direct p2p connection.
Never had this problem with any D-Link router. I complained to the pfSense people and we found a solution, but it is a PAIN TO SET UP since I have to make 3 rules for each LAN IP to get all 4 to talk to eachother. Seems like something that should "just work" - I know the problem is probably with GunZ, but for the same reason Firefox parses crappy HTML coding, pfSense should make it work with GunZ.
In summary, that is why I do not use pfSense. One game.  |
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cornelius785
join:2006-10-26
Worcester, MA
| reply to pnh102
i like the idea of using a dedicated computer as a firewall box thing. i have a linux box myself being used as a firewall plus much more. imo, if you are going to dedicate and entire computer, you might as well turn into a full server too, if you have the time, patience, and knowledge to do so. i have no intention of getting any special purpose firewall hardware for a home network. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail :said by pnh102 :If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great! That works, but there is a cost - more electricity to run a PC than a small retail WIFi router. If you have a home media server, just combine them all into one like I have.
Shuttle K45 SFF
Celeron E1200
1GB RAM
Windows 2003 R2 Standard
Routing and Remote Access
DHCP / DNS
UPnP Media Server for my Home Network (stream my DVD collection to my 360 as an extender)
PRTG for Traffic Graphing
cFos for Traffic Shaping
I kept my 802.11n router as an AP because I want to use the 802.11n PCI card for my desktop so I can move it to a location that doesn't have wired ethernet access. But you could easily turn it into an 802.11n AP too! You can do this with Linux for free, although it's a bit more difficult and not as intuitive. |
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Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL | reply to pnh102
but then you will need a switch and wifi AP also can that system do gig-e 2 ways like the DIR-655 can also it will need to be done for about $100 as you can get a DIR-655 for that price. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| reply to pnh102
said by pnh102 :If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great! That works, but there is a cost - more electricity to run a PC than a small retail WIFi router.
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aaronwt
Premium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | reply to pnh102
said by pnh102 :If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great! I used a PC as a router back in the 90's. It's much easier and more convenient now to just use a standalone router.
I'm using nine Dlink Gigabit switches and a Dlink DGL4500 router. I have been very pleased with them since I have used several brands of routers and gigabit switches over the last 8 years. |
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Sir Meowmix III
 from:
TKJunkMail
riturno
avd706
blueeyesm
| reply to pnh102
quote:
If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great!
Because not every wants another device sucking 60W+ from their outlet to do something as simple as routing when there are numerous MIPS devices which can run OpenWRT or Tomato which use a fraction of the power AND usually include a four-port switch.
WRT-54GL, WHR-G54S, etc, etc. |
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Quake110
join:2003-12-20
Ottawa, ON | reply to pnh102
Or buy a Linksys WRT54GL and load it with tomato (firmware). If you want MLPPP (combining 2 dsl lines together), get Tomato/MLPPP.
The firmware is open source so there's no way a feature like that is going to be there. |
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Bupkis
join:2002-07-16
Hillsboro, OR | reply to pnh102
Amen to that! |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | If you have a spare computer with 2 NICs laying around, why not roll your own router? pfSense is great!
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Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty |
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