Old old laptop to run as router
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Hi all
So I have another new laptop so wish to use the old one as a router.
It is an hp nc4400 - 2GB memory and core 2 duo.
It is a 32 bit machine so I am limited to the older version of pfsense.I understand that USB nics are trouble to are avoiding them.
It has a PCMCIA slot & there are many 10/100 Mbit/s suitable nics available on ebay.
So it will be fine for a WAN connection with the onboard NIC for the LAN & maybe get an inexpensive switch for that.
It has wireless so if it works use it as a connection point also.I am mainly interested in using traffic shaping and web cache & filter. The are the squid & squidguard packages I understand. I have an old 60GB HD to install it on. It is for a home network. It is for nothing too demanding.
I am keen to know if I can use any old PCMCIA nic and it would just work or are there any I need to avoid or is there a list online somewhere?
The older 32 bit fpsense version seems practical as I understand from the forums that traffic shaping is fairly broken on the latest 64 bit version.
Thanks in advance. -
@ianmc said in Old old laptop to run as router:
The older 32 bit fpsense version seems practical
Nope, it's EOL and so no longer supported.
@ianmc said in Old old laptop to run as router:
as I understand from the forums that traffic shaping is fairly broken on the latest 64 bit version.
Again nope, it's not broken. There are some cases with issues when upgrading from an earlier version, but on fresh setup those shouldn't matter.
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Well the 64 bit version will not run on the machine.
I just need to know what PCMCIA Ethernet NICs work with pfsense..
I have installed & tried the 32 bit version on a virtualbox machine. It seems fine. It will be being the main router so are not very concerned about its security. -
@ianmc said in Old old laptop to run as router:
Well the 64 bit version will not run on the machine.
Then get hardware from this decade.
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Does anyone have any positive at all to say about a post. So what is I want to use an old version. If working then may consider a dedicated machine at a later time with an updated version of pfsense. If this is what to expect from asking genuine questions the software then maybe I could give it a miss.
If anyone cares I am in a less than ideal financial situation so are using what I have with minimal spend. Am I correct in assuming no? -
@ianmc said in Old old laptop to run as router:
If anyone cares I am in a less than ideal financial situation so are using what I have with minimal spend. Am I correct in assuming no?
Then look at eBay, lot's of cheap used devices that can run 64 bit software. Just make sure you get something with Intel or Broadcom NICs.
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I have been looking around for something suitable. I want the machine to be quiet, low power and not much space. A laptop is ideal - like the one I have maybe.
As for other hardware it is time consuming to find a small affordable machine that can take a second nic. I was hoping to find a something like an old second hand lenovo tiny machine but there are no pci slots in them. Ideally the netgate hardware is the best option but not for me right now. I will get a cheap PCMCIA from ebay and see how it goes. That is my option for now. Presently I am using a virtual version of pfsense. I would like an always on , small, quiet, inexpensive and low power option. -
What happens when you try to boot 64bit on that? I'm not aware of any core2duos that are 32bit.
Edit: Googling looks like it has some 32bit parts but Ubuntu 64bit runs on it so...
Steve
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You need to provide more details before we can solve the problem.
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@ianmc said in Old old laptop to run as router:
Does anyone have any positive at all to say about a post. So what is I want to use an old version. If working then may consider a dedicated machine at a later time with an updated version of pfsense. If this is what to expect from asking genuine questions the software then maybe I could give it a miss.
True.
But, why are you waiting ? Install pfSense on it right now. It can be done in a couple of minutes.
But keep in mind : pfSense is based on FreeBSD, it uses actually has a recent 11.2 kernel - and as you know : your PC might run (== accept) some Windows versions - but other OS's ? These devices are known to be very picky.
FreeBSD might not recognize your Wifi NIC : test this first ! No one on this forum could predict the results.Still : no one can remembers what worked with your device (10 years ago) with what software. And keep in mind that the "32 bits" game is over very soon - this isn't a pfSense rule. Apple and Microsoft decides the same thing already years ago.
