RE: [opensuse] Good fast PC and printer in the UK?
Fergus Wilde [mailto:fwilde@chethams.org.uk] wondered:
Hello Peeps,
Another dull query about hardware recommendations. I need to put a non-technical person onto a fast and comfy (and this means it can be quite expensive) Linux-only desktop PC that's going to route other pcs in the house (including wireless) through to a cable internet box, and onto a decent colour laser that is known to perform well with Linux. It needs to be available in the UK, too.
Any thoughts?
In the spirit of chiming in without having anything useful to say... I'm just curious why you'd want to do that. I mean, why not just get a dedicated wired-and-wireless router to connect between everybody and the cable modem? Cost a few bob (heckuvalot less than a modern, powerful general-purpose PC) and should be rock-solid reliable and need next-to-no config. If extra wired ports are needed, add a hub or two. Again, very basic and cheap. Some small routers also have a dedicated printer connection for sharing one or more printers with your networked PCs... meaning yet another task you wouldn't need to set up on a computer. If the routing function absolutely must be accomplished via Linux, well some routers already use embedded Linux, and some can have Linux (and the routing/firewall/etc. features) loaded in place of the native router OS. I realize that some people like to use an _old_ computer with Linux to perform routing duties, but that's because: a) they've got it lying around, good for little else, b) the routing is a non-demanding task for old hardware c) they like the hobby aspect of configuring it with Linux. But why use a new, powerful computer for that? If you have other tasks for the computer, that really make use of it's power, you might encounter software problems or update issues that might take down that computer on occasion... during which time your routing function goes away for the entire building. The dedicated hardware, on the other hand, does the routing job well and does nothing else, all day every day -- and so much less expensively. Again, just curious. There must have been other parameters not mentioned in your query. Kevin The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without copying or disclosing it. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
mlist@safenet-inc.com wrote:
In the spirit of chiming in without having anything useful to say...
But why use a new, powerful computer for that? If you have other tasks for the computer, that really make use of it's power, you might encounter software problems or update issues that might take down that computer on occasion... during which time your routing function goes away for the entire building.
I'm going to chime in and say it's a capital idea to run everything through linux, since our house has been run that way since the mid 1990s. If you've got nice powerful linux systems that are up 24/7, I don't see the need for an extra little box to do just the routing. There is a point there, about the possibility of downtime when the system is down for hardware maintenance or booted to load a new kernel, but in practice for us, that can be managed fairly easily. We used to route everything through my main workstation, so it was doing routing/firewall, dns, smtp in addition to gaming/multimedia, but I eventually decided to separate this out and now the routing/firewall/vpn/dns/dhcp functions are on a smallish old celeron, the smtp, webmail, spam quarantine and websites are on a little larger machine, our gaming/multimedia are newish suse boxes, and we have a couple of wireless access points for the various macs around the house and for visitors. I guess there are pros and cons for each approach, but using linux as gateway is one way to plunge in with both feet. Joe -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Friday November 17 2006 12:43 pm, J Sloan wrote:
mlist@safenet-inc.com wrote:
In the spirit of chiming in without having anything useful to say...
But why use a new, powerful computer for that? If you have other tasks for the computer, that really make use of it's power, you might encounter software problems or update issues that might take down that computer on occasion... during which time your routing function goes away for the entire building.
I'm going to chime in and say it's a capital idea to run everything through linux, since our house has been run that way since the mid 1990s. If you've got nice powerful linux systems that are up 24/7, I don't see the need for an extra little box to do just the routing.
Joe
Me too! I advocate a dd-wrt (www.dd-wrt.com) powered wired/wireless firewall/router. Check the site for a list of compatible devices. dd-wrt turns these little devices into a Linux communication server. I advocate this before a dedicated PC due to lower money consumption, lower power consumption, adding another layer into the security mix and consolidation of those services such as DNS, DHCP, iptable firewall, etc that need to be there all the time. Its not SUSE Linux but it is Linux and it is familiar. Does a great job on Linksys WRT54G and WRT54GS devices of almost all the different hardware versions. I don't even recommend learning all this on a big old PC when these devices will do the job. If your client has too much money, get a couple of the Linksys devices and play with connecting them into various wireless configurations to cover the mansion/estate. Stan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
1. The PC will be used only as Internet gateway, or as Multimedia station as well? 2. To configure NAT use "iptables", but first learn the docs for that package. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Hello, Fergus Wilde wrote:
colour laser that is known to perform well with Linux
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Purchasing_a_Printer_and_Compatibility http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi http://hplip.sourceforge.net/supported_devices/index.html Kind Regards Johannes Meixner -- SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5 Mail: jsmeix@suse.de 90409 Nuernberg, Germany WWW: http://www.suse.de/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (5)
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Alexey Eremenko
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J Sloan
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Johannes Meixner
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mlist@safenet-inc.com
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Stan Glasoe