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Floppy Based Linux Distributions For Routers?
grimmy asks: "I've been looking around freshmeat at the floppy-Based Linux distro's, and would like some input on what fellow /. Readers think is the best one for older systems. I'm in need of a way to get a small NAT/firewall box running for my home lan with the dilemma of having very little HD space. Any recommendations would be great." [If it doesn't have to be Linux, you might find PicoBSD attractive. Does all you want, and is a doddle to reconfigure for other tasks too - nik]
Well, there's always the ever-trusty Linux Router Project single-floppy distribution. That's exactly what it's designed for: a single-floppy that can do NAT/IP masq/routing etc. Unfortunately, Dave Cinege, the maintainer of the official distribution recently suffered a major systems failure, so the website might not be up. Might want to try the catch-all info site, lrp.c0wz.com for mirrors and better information, as the main site is outdated, anyway.
Also, there's a spinoff distribution using 2.2.x, and named after mountains. Previously there was Materhorn, and now it's Eiger, I think. It's maintained by Matthew Grant and is located at lrp.plain.co.nz.
There's also a commercial LRP spinoff called Coyote Linux. Looks pretty easy to use, but it costs money if you want a Windows-based disk creator (the free one is Linux based).
Trevor Marshall at Byte did a series of articles on using LRP as a home router. You can find them starting here to see how to have just a modem and your 10bT NICs set up. They continue here to add in DHCPd and 100bT cards, which teaches you all about LRP modules. Not sure there are any more in the series, but you can look around Byte's site.
--Vito