PIII 1.0Ghz laptop as pfsense router/firewall?

Knuckle-Head

Knuckle-Head

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
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I currently have an E1200/2 gig ram/Intel 10/100/1000 pci nics/ mini-tower running pfsense. And I like it. Can not and will not go back to a basic router. I came across my first purchased new laptop- a Dell Inspiron 8100 in ok shape.

My question:
1) Would I see any performance penalty going to a PIII 1.0Ghz/512MB ram(max) laptop? The onboard nic is 10/100. Could I supplement it with a pcmcia rj45 connection? Or usb? This laptop is limited to usb 1.1 speeds, I believe...

Will it/can it work?

Or keep what I have and just put linux on this laptop?

Thanks!!!
 
It'll be great. I used to run PFSense on a P3 800 with 256 megs of RAM, and I wasn't able to push her hard.

Currently running on a Pentium M 1.2 with 512...with half a dozen PCs and the kids XBox going full bore I don't think I've ever had the CPU past 30%, and RAM past 50%.

Yeah PCMCIA will be good.
 
Thanks, YeOldeStonecat!!
I think I start looking for a pcmcia card supported under pfsense.
What card would you recommend? Highest stability possible and preferably Intel. Should I stay away from usb rj45 adapters? Any suggestions/pointers are appreciated!

Thanks again!
 
I've used a 3COM, Linksys, and I think the one currently in my IBM Thinkpad running it is a DLink. The HSL on their website is rather dated, so some of it is trial and error.
 
Knuckle-Head said:
I currently have an E1200/2 gig ram/Intel 10/100/1000 pci nics/ mini-tower running pfsense. And I like it. Can not and will not go back to a basic router. I came across my first purchased new laptop- a Dell Inspiron 8100 in ok shape.

My question:
1) Would I see any performance penalty going to a PIII 1.0Ghz/512MB ram(max) laptop? The onboard nic is 10/100. Could I supplement it with a pcmcia rj45 connection? Or usb? This laptop is limited to usb 1.1 speeds, I believe...

Will it/can it work?

Or keep what I have and just put linux on this laptop?

Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

on a small implementation not at all. actually i would say the current setup you have is way overkill. I would use that as a media center computer and find a slower computer for pfsense.
 
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