[KLUG Members] question about Linux-based firewall/router/AP appliance

[Bruce Smith]

>>>>>> Why would you use a firewall distro that requires, a heat  
>>>>>> generating,
>>>>>> noise making, power sucking, high point of failure, hard  
>>>>>> drive?  :-)
>>>>>>
>>> Well, I used to; running IPCop off of flash/USB is apparently  
>>> pretty easy.
>>>
>> Devil-Linux supports that out of the box.  :-)
>>
> Well, The line between "out ofthe box" and "pretty easy" is rather  
> a lotta
> progress from "outtathe box" vs. "Not at all".

You lost me.  (no need to clarify, that would imply I care :)

My point is since D-L "supports" running from a USB device means D-L
comes with a script to set things up, and if it doesn't work the  
developers
will fix it (or do their best to fix it).

One other point is USB flash drives have a VERY LIMITED number of
writes (compared to a hard drive), which leads me to believe that  
running
a distro like ipcop on a USB drive is NOT a good idea since it is  
constantly
writing to the media (log files, etc.).

D-L copies the CD ISO image to the USB drive, and all the partitions are
mounted read-only.  The only time write is required is when the  
config is
modified.

>> The problem is you need a fairly new motherboard to be able to  
>> boot from
>> a USB drive.  Not good for recycling old hardware to be a  
>> firewall.  :-(
>>
> Recently, I saw some pretty old mobos do this. What was needed was  
> a BIOS
> upgrade. Another was a 4 year-old ATX board, 500 mHz P-III.... I know,
> that used to be "bleeding edge"... 4 years or more back.. not any  
> more!

What brand/make of mobo?  I'd like to find something like that!!!

  - BS