OLD PC to HARWARE FIREWALL
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URL: https://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=15939
Printed Date: 31 March 2026 at 1:18pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.08 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: OLD PC to HARWARE FIREWALL
Posted By: BoLt
Subject: OLD PC to HARWARE FIREWALL
Date Posted: 22 July 2005 at 4:24am
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A short time ago there was a post on what someone could do with there old PCs instead of just putting them in the bin. Well how about this a hardware fire wall. "SmoothWall Express is an open source firewall distribution based on the GNU/Linux operating system. Linux is the ideal choice for security systems; it is well proven, secure, highly configurable and freely††† available as open source code. SmoothWall includes a hardened subset of the GNU/Linux operating system, so there is no separate OS to install. Designed for ease of use, SmoothWall is configured via a web-based GUI, and requires absolutely no knowledge of Linux to install or use" Use this link for more info http://www.smoothwall.org/ - http://www.smoothwall.org/ ------------- BoLt (Computer Engineer) I suffer from Dyslexia, it means I can not spell to well not that I am thick. www.welshlens.co.uk |
Replies:
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 22 July 2005 at 1:26pm
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I use SecureBSD as a DMZ box with hardware firewalls before and after it but this looks interesting and relatively simple. Anyone have any stories to relate about it? ------------- 
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: huwnet
Date Posted: 23 July 2005 at 11:35am
| Smoothwall is great. There is also a corporate version that includes site content filtering. |
Posted By: the boss
Date Posted: 28 July 2005 at 5:58am
well im gonna try this.. i have a good stock of discareded old PC's  ------------- http://www.web2messenger.com/theboss"> 
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Posted By: BoLt
Date Posted: 29 July 2005 at 4:09am
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For the short time I had to play with it, it looks good and works well. ------------- BoLt (Computer Engineer) I suffer from Dyslexia, it means I can not spell to well not that I am thick. www.welshlens.co.uk |
Posted By: theSCIENTIST
Date Posted: 29 July 2005 at 2:04pm
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Well, I also thought on using an old PC just for that, but then it came to me that, having another PC sucking on all that power just to be a software firewall, that it's not worth it, not to mention more noise from that PC.
If this firewall is going to protect a server it will have to be on 24/7 just like the server, after a year, imagine the ammount of power you would have spent, in relation to having a dedicated hardware firewall, that could also do other things you need, DSL modem, 4/8 or more ports hub, wireless and it's a great firewall, alot better than the software one, and this small box, only consumes 10/20% of what a whole PC does, with that saving you could go on holliday or something. You may think that because Linux and Smoothwall are free, you are saving, but a year down the road you would have spent more on electricity to feed this PC, that you could have bought a dedicated firewall in the first place, which is a much better firewall solution. I think it's not a good idea, that's why I discarded it, of course if this PC is going to be doing other things, then it might be worth considering, otherwise, stick with a dedicated hardware firewall, nothing beats that. ------------- :: http://www.mylittlehost.com/ - www.mylittlehost.com |
Posted By: the boss
Date Posted: 31 July 2005 at 9:17am
u mean 87watts consumed by a discared 133Mhz pentium PC really counts that much on ur budget. Dude u better stay away from computing if u have to calculate your watts this hard!!  ------------- http://www.web2messenger.com/theboss">
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Posted By: theSCIENTIST
Date Posted: 31 July 2005 at 11:40am
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Of-course I have to calculate the pros and cons of something like this.
I managed to get some numbers for you to digest: 87 watts/hour x 24 hours/day x 365 days/year = over £100 in London/UK That's what you pay per year, and that's just the computer, not the monitor (if we include the monitor, the price gets ridiculous), now say you buy a dedicated hardware firewall, that will do a much better (you can't even compare) job, say a modest NetGear FR114P firewall, that's also a Cable/DSL modem, 4 port hub and a print server thrown in just for good measure, it costs around £65, and consumes under 5 watts. After the first year running your old PC firewall, that don't do the same great job as a hardware firewall, you would be loosing already and you didn't even bought anything, just electricity bill. One year down the road, you then decide to buy a hardware firewall, then you have spent £100 already on electricity plus another £100 on the new harware firewall, sorry but the numbers just don't add up. Remember: It's your money, but it's our planet. ------------- :: http://www.mylittlehost.com/ - www.mylittlehost.com |
Posted By: BoLt
Date Posted: 01 August 2005 at 7:53am
Interesting comment but just putting a old PC in the bin costs the Earth in the long run. If the software is free and so is the old PC your only paying the running costs of power not adding to the junk supply of old used PCs.
4 got to say when all set up you do not need a monitor. ------------- BoLt (Computer Engineer) I suffer from Dyslexia, it means I can not spell to well not that I am thick. www.welshlens.co.uk |
theSCIENTIST wrote:Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 01 August 2005 at 11:34am
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Good points from theSCIENTIST and BoLt. In my town, junked PC's and monitors go to the hazardous waste pile which requires special handling and disposal. I usually junk a class of machine at a time - e.g. 8088+8086, 286, 386+486, < P2, etc. Used to send a lot of parts - to an educational NGO I had worked with in Suriname through a foundation in the US. It's not something an individual can do though. A carry-on suitcase full of parts weighs over 30 kg. Shipping boxes is expensive. In this instance the NGO had a deal with customs so the used parts weren't subject to import duties otherwise they would have to pay the same duty as new parts. Not uncommon for the customs fees for used equipment shipped to 2nd/3rd world countries to be 2 or 3 times the cost of new stuff. Used to take an old laptop down on each trip "for business use" and manage to "lose" it. -------------
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: theSCIENTIST
Date Posted: 01 August 2005 at 5:51pm
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I think that all those superfluous machines we hold, should be disposed of to a special handling center, where most parts will be recycled, the rest destroyed safely.
From all the junk I had, I only keep now 2 old computers I hold dear, my old 286, and my 486 which will never work again, I only keep it because it marks the end of the 486's it was the last generation of them before the Pentium, its an AMD 486 DX4 100Mhz, I use this computer to show my students the internals if a computer and how everything interacts. My 286, I will turn into a coffee machine when I have time, will need 4 electronic valves, 2 for liquids [water and milk] and 2 for solids [coffe and sugar] plus a controller and software, then I can program the perfect coffee, this machine will only operate when I need a coffee, that's it. I'm not an environmentalist, but if we all do our little bit, it's a piece of cake. ------------- :: http://www.mylittlehost.com/ - www.mylittlehost.com |
Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 02 August 2005 at 12:11am
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The coffeee machine sounds cool. My wife paints her pc cases and monitors. Does a some real interesting things with them. A lot better than beige, black, or neon lights. The lcd monotors are easy to paint but with the older style ones you have to be careful not to drip paint into the internals. -------------
Lead me not into temptation... I know the short cut, follow me. |
Posted By: BoLt
Date Posted: 02 August 2005 at 5:09am
Coffee machine sounds cool. 
------------- BoLt (Computer Engineer) I suffer from Dyslexia, it means I can not spell to well not that I am thick. www.welshlens.co.uk |