Creating a low-power machine

Hi,

I think unlike most modders I'm trying to do something relatively
contrarian.

I'd like to build a

-- low-power
-- fanless (heatsinks, prefer to avoid water cooling)
-- linux
-- two Ethernet ports, one for the cable modem, and one for the rest of
the net. That's right, it's a firewall/proxy machine.

....type machine. The form factor should be very small, and the cost
should likewise be very small, maybe just a couple hundred bucks for the
hardware.

I'd also like guidance on the best linux distro for this sort of thing.

On that machine, I want to install linux, and on top of linux, a
GPL/Open Source proxy and firewall software which I can deposit a decent
and long list of internet websites.

The purpose of the machine is to serve as a ad/porn/hate site filter for
my kids, aged 1 through 10. I want Open Source so that I can modify the
code if I want to, and so that I'm not beholden to some subscription
entity for thier interpretation of what I ought to be blocking.

Any ideas?

Rob (replies to newsgroup only please)

Rob Perkins writes:

Hi,

I think unlike most modders I'm trying to do something relatively
contrarian.

I'd like to build a

-- low-power
-- fanless (heatsinks, prefer to avoid water cooling)
-- linux
-- two Ethernet ports, one for the cable modem, and one for the rest
of the net. That's right, it's a firewall/proxy machine.

Take a look at http://www.soekris.com site.

Vilmos

"Rob Perkins" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I think unlike most modders I'm trying to do something relatively
contrarian.

I'd like to build a

-- low-power
-- fanless (heatsinks, prefer to avoid water cooling)
-- linux
-- two Ethernet ports, one for the cable modem, and one for the rest of
the net. That's right, it's a firewall/proxy machine.

...type machine. The form factor should be very small, and the cost should
likewise be very small, maybe just a couple hundred bucks for the
hardware.

I'd also like guidance on the best linux distro for this sort of thing.

On that machine, I want to install linux, and on top of linux, a GPL/Open
Source proxy and firewall software which I can deposit a decent and long
list of internet websites.

The purpose of the machine is to serve as a ad/porn/hate site filter for
my kids, aged 1 through 10. I want Open Source so that I can modify the
code if I want to, and so that I'm not beholden to some subscription
entity for thier interpretation of what I ought to be blocking.

Any ideas?

Rob (replies to newsgroup only please)

Well, what you plan to do is possible. It is also a wasted effort. Any
10-year-old could defeat it in about 30 seconds or less. You hook up cable
modem directly to computer (bypass linux box with ethernet cable). Then
fire up Internet Explorer, it detects the new proxy settings, and you are
done. But I wouldn't have to tell a 10-year-old how to do that, they
already know.

But if you insist on trying it, look into the mini-itx form factors with a
VIA processor. Should work OK with any distro of linux (try mandriva), can
be passively cooled, won't take up much space or power, etc. -Dave

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc Rob Perkins wrote:
Hi,

I think unlike most modders I'm trying to do something relatively
contrarian.

I'd like to build a

-- low-power
-- fanless (heatsinks, prefer to avoid water cooling)
-- linux
-- two Ethernet ports, one for the cable modem, and one for the rest of
the net. That's right, it's a firewall/proxy machine.

...type machine. The form factor should be very small, and the cost
should likewise be very small, maybe just a couple hundred bucks for the
hardware.

I'd also like guidance on the best linux distro for this sort of thing.

On that machine, I want to install linux, and on top of linux, a
GPL/Open Source proxy and firewall software which I can deposit a decent
and long list of internet websites.

The purpose of the machine is to serve as a ad/porn/hate site filter for
my kids, aged 1 through 10. I want Open Source so that I can modify the
code if I want to, and so that I'm not beholden to some subscription
entity for thier interpretation of what I ought to be blocking.

Any ideas?

I have something similar running for several years now. It is
a VIA mini-ITX board with a 800Mhz Via C3. Not fanless, you
have to go down to 600MHz for that. Still quite fast enough
for what you want.

For the second network card, I used the single PCI slot.
There are also mini-ITX boards with two network interfaces.

As for other cooling, I have a fan in the case, but I also
use a 3.5" disk. With a 4200/5400 rpm notebook HDD you should
be fine in a metal case without cooling.

As distro I use Debian stable, with automatic updates
every few days. No problems, except for the one time
when PAM was changed and I had errors in /etc/shadow.

Arno

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Rob Perkins wrote:
Hi,

I think unlike most modders I'm trying to do something relatively
contrarian.

I'd like to build a

-- low-power
-- fanless (heatsinks, prefer to avoid water cooling)
-- linux
-- two Ethernet ports, one for the cable modem, and one for the rest of
the net. That's right, it's a firewall/proxy machine.

...type machine. The form factor should be very small, and the cost
should likewise be very small, maybe just a couple hundred bucks for the
hardware.

http://www.gumstix.com/

I'd also like guidance on the best linux distro for this sort of thing.

see the gumstix site. They supply a customized distro


- --

Lew Pitcher, IT Specialist, Corporate Technology Solutions,
Enterprise Technology Solutions, TD Bank Financial Group

(Opinions expressed here are my own, not my employer's)
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On Tue, 16 May 2006 17:59:54 UTC, Rob Perkins
wrote:

I think unlike most modders I'm trying to do something relatively
contrarian.

I'd like to build a

-- low-power
-- fanless (heatsinks, prefer to avoid water cooling)
-- linux
-- two Ethernet ports, one for the cable modem, and one for the rest of
the net. That's right, it's a firewall/proxy machine.

http://www.pcengines.ch

Don't know about Linux support, but it certainly runs FreeBSD OK. And
who wants to run an an upstart wannabe UNIX like Linux anyway? :-)

--
Bob Eager
begin 123 a new life...take up Extreme Ironing!

Arno Wagner wrote:

I have something similar running for several years now. It is
a VIA mini-ITX board with a 800Mhz Via C3. Not fanless, you
have to go down to 600MHz for that. Still quite fast enough
for what you want.

Thanks, Arno, I think that's precisely what I'm going for.

Do you know of good firewall softwares which can sit on debian stable,
or the linux which comes with the VIA board, and one of those master
seed lists I've seen around, for white/blacklisting etc?

Rob

Well, what you plan to do is possible. It is also a wasted effort. Any
10-year-old could defeat it in about 30 seconds or less. You hook up cable
modem directly to computer (bypass linux box with ethernet cable). Then
fire up Internet Explorer, it detects the new proxy settings, and you are
done. But I wouldn't have to tell a 10-year-old how to do that, they
already know.

Mine doesn't. I've quizzed her on it, obliquely. (Her talents run in
other directions, and she doesn't have an interest in hate or porn.) And
my wife wants it in the house. That's pretty much the end of the
question; we're trying to prevent predatory popups and spam with it. A
low power linux distro seems appropriate as *part* of the strategy.

Thanks for the recommendation on hardware.

Rob

On Tue, 16 May 2006 13:34:12 -0700, Rob Perkins wrote:

Arno Wagner wrote:

I have something similar running for several years now. It is a VIA
mini-ITX board with a 800Mhz Via C3. Not fanless, you have to go down
to 600MHz for that. Still quite fast enough for what you want.

Thanks, Arno, I think that's precisely what I'm going for.

Do you know of good firewall softwares which can sit on debian stable, or
the linux which comes with the VIA board, and one of those master seed
lists I've seen around, for white/blacklisting etc?

Rob

Don't know anything about Debian but Fedora Core 5 installs a firewall as
part of the standard install. That's the norm for all of the complete
distros like FC, Mandriva, SUSE. If you want to use a Debian based distro
you might want to use Ubuntu. They do a better job of keeping Ubuntu up to
date and it's probably a little more user friendly then straight Debian.

As long as you are installing Linux on a server you should also consider
putting it on your daughters machine so you can have the piece of mind of
knowing that if a virus does slip though your filtering server it won't do
any harm. OpenOffice, Evolution, Firefox, Mplayer and GAIM should give her
everything she needs, with the exception of games, and you won't have to
waste your time cleaning viruses off of her machine.

Rob Perkins writes:

Hi,

I think unlike most modders I'm trying to do something relatively
contrarian.

I'd like to build a

-- low-power
-- fanless (heatsinks, prefer to avoid water cooling)
-- linux
-- two Ethernet ports, one for the cable modem, and one for the rest of
the net. That's right, it's a firewall/proxy machine.

Panasonic Toughbook laptops have no fans, are low power ( last up to 7
hours on a 5AHr battery-- ie they use just a few milliwatts of power) have one ethernet and one wireless network connection--
so just put your rest of the network on the wireless ( or put your cable
modem into a wireless router)

Acually I suspect if you took off the cover, no laptop would need a fan.
Convective cooling would be fine.


...type machine. The form factor should be very small, and the cost
should likewise be very small, maybe just a couple hundred bucks for the
hardware.

Ah, now you have trouble. The low power chips (Centrino, etc) are
expensive. The low power glue chips are also expensive. But then again old
laptops can probably be had for onle a couple of hundred bucks, and as I
say, remove the cover so they can convectively cook, and you should be
fine.



I'd also like guidance on the best linux distro for this sort of thing.

On that machine, I want to install linux, and on top of linux, a
GPL/Open Source proxy and firewall software which I can deposit a decent
and long list of internet websites.

laptops will run whatever Linux you want. I have Mandriva 2006 on a 40GB
hard drive.


The purpose of the machine is to serve as a ad/porn/hate site filter for
my kids, aged 1 through 10. I want Open Source so that I can modify the
code if I want to, and so that I'm not beholden to some subscription
entity for thier interpretation of what I ought to be blocking.

Any ideas?

You have my idea.


Rob (replies to newsgroup only please)