question on lan

[Shinta]

ok ive been wanting to set up a lan and use either a linux machine or windows xp pro machine as a gateway

will this stablize my cable connection?

also does it matter how much memory or cpu speed is on the machine? im basically only using the machine as a giant switch so its only going to have 1 or 2gb on it

[PIETRO]

Umm doesn't really matter what speed machine you use I have a P200 with 64mb and a 1 gig hard drive as my router (RH 7.1). If you are going to use a slower machine I would go with linux though it will handle things alot better than Win XP pro.

Not sure what you mean by stabilize...

Good Luck!!

[Shinta]

how will it handle better than xp pro?

stabalize as in keeping my connection steady.. sometimes my connection speeds up or slows down at any instant.. would setting up another machine as a gateway work in keeping it at a steady connection?

[PIETRO]

With a slower machine XP would be UNBAREABLE to work on as far as setting it up and administrating it. What type of machine will you be using to do the gateway...if it can handle it wouldn't be a problem I guess...but if it is slower linux will run sooo much better.

As far as the stablize thing it probably isn't the cable modem ot your connection it is most likely the traffic on the network. More people the slower the connection...it can be really inconsistant...not much you can do about that.

[mcooper]

The only thing I can think to help "stabilize" your connection is to go with ADSL or load squid (proxy server) on your linux gateway. This would help if you had an extreme amount of web browsing on your network and a good number of users. For just you, however, I really doubt a proxy will help much. If your ISP has a proxy server you can use, you can try that. My @Home ISP does, for example.

Like everyone else says, Linux is the way to go if you want a router/gateway. In my opinion, it is the *only* way no matter what the use or speed!

[Shinta]

i have a choice between 2 machines..

pentium 2 300mhz
2gb hdd
64mb sdram pc133

amd k6-2 233mhz
2gb hdd
64mb pc133

i guess thats all that you really need to know since its only going to be used as a gateway

[mcooper]

There's really not much difference in those two. I'd use the 233 and save the 300 for playing games or processing databases. If you want to load X and monitor with GUI tools and whatnot, make sure you have a video card you are comfortable with.