FreeSCO router up 'n running!
Thread Starter
Plastic PPRuNer
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,902
Likes: 0
From: Rochechouart, France
FreeSCO router up 'n running!
Hah! Some of you may remember me mentioning that I was fiddling with setting up the FreeSCO (Free CiSCO) Linux router/firewall a few weeks ago. Finally got down to it seriously and it's up and going and very nicely merci!
In deference to the Towers I should point out that setting this up is pretty much a no-brainer and something that the average Joe should be able to do without trouble. The reason why I had problems was that I tried to be smart about TCP/IP and use non-standard settings. The dumber you are the better in this case....
You need:
Your machine (with a network card) and a crossover network cable to connect to
One old 386 class (or better) machine with a network card and at least 8megs of memory
A modem (or cable or broadband) ISP connection for the old machine
Set up your main machine to get it's TCP/IP address on the network automatically (the FREESCO/Linux router will take care of the addressing). Remove ALL references to your connection in Explorer/Tools/Internet options/Connections/Dial-up and Virtual Private Network settings on the Windows box. DON'T leave the reference and check "Dial when ever a network connection is not present" - this doesn't seen to work.
Get the FreeSCO mini-Linux distro from http://www.freesco.org/ - Freesco-032.zip is a 1.98Meg download. Unzip into it's own folder, put a blank stiffy in your machine and run make_fd.bat - this will create a bootable FreeSCO/Linux stiffy. The whole megillah runs off one stiffy!
Connect monitor and keyboard to old machine, put stiffy in old machine and boot from A: - you'll get a series of simple Q&As about your ISP. Do not make the mistake of trying to be clever - most of the time the default responses are OK and you only need to know the name of your ISP, their phone number, your logon and password. You do need to know their primary DNS number - looks like xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - which will necessitate a call to your ISP. Save, reboot the FreeSCO box and it'll connect to the Internet. Plays a little tune on successful connection.
Reconnect monitor and keyboard to your Windows box (or Mac or whatever), start IE and it should find your homepage through the router. Once both boxes are connected and up you can control the router through your main PC.
Very neat. The default firewall rules are reasonable (you may want to refine them if you're that way inclined) and being behind a router makes you much safer anyway. You still need a virus scanner on your Windows box BTW, not if you have a Mac or Linux.
I've done a few other nerdy things to smoothen things out but they're not relevant here.
If anyone wants to try it and has any questions I'll try and help but FreeSCO have an excellent support forum of folks much cleverer than me.
In deference to the Towers I should point out that setting this up is pretty much a no-brainer and something that the average Joe should be able to do without trouble. The reason why I had problems was that I tried to be smart about TCP/IP and use non-standard settings. The dumber you are the better in this case....
You need:
Your machine (with a network card) and a crossover network cable to connect to
One old 386 class (or better) machine with a network card and at least 8megs of memory
A modem (or cable or broadband) ISP connection for the old machine
Set up your main machine to get it's TCP/IP address on the network automatically (the FREESCO/Linux router will take care of the addressing). Remove ALL references to your connection in Explorer/Tools/Internet options/Connections/Dial-up and Virtual Private Network settings on the Windows box. DON'T leave the reference and check "Dial when ever a network connection is not present" - this doesn't seen to work.
Get the FreeSCO mini-Linux distro from http://www.freesco.org/ - Freesco-032.zip is a 1.98Meg download. Unzip into it's own folder, put a blank stiffy in your machine and run make_fd.bat - this will create a bootable FreeSCO/Linux stiffy. The whole megillah runs off one stiffy!
Connect monitor and keyboard to old machine, put stiffy in old machine and boot from A: - you'll get a series of simple Q&As about your ISP. Do not make the mistake of trying to be clever - most of the time the default responses are OK and you only need to know the name of your ISP, their phone number, your logon and password. You do need to know their primary DNS number - looks like xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - which will necessitate a call to your ISP. Save, reboot the FreeSCO box and it'll connect to the Internet. Plays a little tune on successful connection.
Reconnect monitor and keyboard to your Windows box (or Mac or whatever), start IE and it should find your homepage through the router. Once both boxes are connected and up you can control the router through your main PC.
Very neat. The default firewall rules are reasonable (you may want to refine them if you're that way inclined) and being behind a router makes you much safer anyway. You still need a virus scanner on your Windows box BTW, not if you have a Mac or Linux.
I've done a few other nerdy things to smoothen things out but they're not relevant here.
If anyone wants to try it and has any questions I'll try and help but FreeSCO have an excellent support forum of folks much cleverer than me.
The Oracle
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,902
Likes: 0
From: Naples, Florida U.S.A.
Mac the Knife,
Nice post! Could you PM me the:
I would ask that you post them for here for everyone to benefit from, but I think you are right, it might be too much for Rob the Mac user, and we do not want to suffer his wrath. 
Thanx,
Richard
Nice post! Could you PM me the:
I've done a few other nerdy things to smoothen things out but they're not relevant here.
Thanx,
Richard
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 448
Likes: 0
From: London, UK
MtK,
Helpful post. For completeness, however, I also draw people's attention to:
Smoothwall www.smoothwall.org
and
IPCop www.ipcop.org
which people may also want to consider
Helpful post. For completeness, however, I also draw people's attention to:
Smoothwall www.smoothwall.org
and
IPCop www.ipcop.org
which people may also want to consider
Last edited by RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike; 12th December 2003 at 17:07.
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
From: Bracknell
welcome to the freesco club, been running through one for a couple of years now, serving up to 5 computers around the house on 2 networks, to a cable modem. never been a problem.
even lets you frig the MAC address of the ethernet card for cable modem connections.
Rickity systems
even lets you frig the MAC address of the ethernet card for cable modem connections.
Rickity systems
