Can An Older Computer Be Used To Replace A Router?
Written by Garry Conn on September 4th, 2006My wireless router fried, and I lost the power adaptor to my old wired Linksys router. I have a few computer that I want to get networked together again for file sharing and Internet sharing. I have been looking on the Internet for answers and they are hard to find… so I figured I would create this post and let the answer find me.
Here is an inventory of what I am working with:
HARDWARE:
1. Emachine desktop computer AMD Sempron 1.99GHZ Running Windows XP Home SP2. Two network cards installed.
2. Gateway Laptop computer P3 600 MHZ Running Windows XP Home SP2. One network card installed.
3. 1 Older computer P2 233 MHZ three network cards.
4. Cable Modem.
5. Tons of Cat5 Cables.
6. Tons of Crossover Cables.
7. Extra Network Cards.Software Available:
1. Win 3x's, Win 95, Win 98'xs, Win NT 4.0, Win 2000, Advanced Server 2000, Win XP Home, Win XP Pro.
2. Various distro's of Linux.
What I wanted to do was using the p2 233 mhz computer, install linux, and use that as the router, and the computer that is connected to the cable modem. (BTW: Linux or Windows solutions are both welcome here). This computer would constantly be left running.
The laptop computer as well as the desktop computer would connect to the Internet by connecting to the P2 233 computer via crossover cables.
How do I set this type of network up?
September 5th, 2006 at 12:32 am
I don’t know if you know how to make your own cat-5 cables, but you will need to either make or buy one that is called a ‘crossover cable.’Instructions are readily available online, you just need a special crimping tool. All it is is crimping two wires differently. When data is piped through a router, it is inverted through the strands inside the cable. No router, no inversion. You are setting up a wired peer to peer network.
As far as the networking goes, you shouldn’t need the p2 computer. If you are dead set on it, a linux app will work but I am not sure how to set it up. If you are just using the two xp computers, you can set up the network through windows network wizard. One computer would be connecting directly to the isp, one would be connecting through another computer.
If you are still having problems, check this link out for the AnalogX Proxy server –> http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/proxy.htm
I have only ever set up a p2p network once, but it should work. The trick is the reconfiguring of the cable. After that you’re all set.
September 5th, 2006 at 4:46 am
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September 5th, 2006 at 6:34 am
A crossover connection would give you a shared connection - one where the traffic wouldn’t be running straight through any of the computers.
You’d have zero hardware firewall protection.
September 5th, 2006 at 6:45 am
Should Windows XP come with everything I need. I shouldn’t have to download third party software? Am I wrong? Also on the post, double check the inventory list. I have cross over cables, and have another post that talks about connecting two computers directly using a crossover cable.
September 5th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Ok… I am going to draw a diagram for both post because I am not sure if we are all on the same page with what I am trying to do.
September 5th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
You need to forget the crossover cables - they negate the ability to run a router or switch.
What you could do would require two network cards on your server computer, plus software on that computer to manage the router functions. This would create one computer as a router, with another as a network computer - but this isn’t without downfalls. Getting two network cards to run on most versions of Windows is like pulling teeth. It is only marginally easier in Linux.
If you want to run yet another computer on your “network” you would need another NIC to route the connection to the extra computer. Want four computers connected to your ‘router’ coumputer? You would need a NIC for the Internet connection, plus four NICs installed.
Needless to say, you probably ran out of available slots by this time.
Why go through all of the effort and headache when a Netgear or Linksys router is so cheap and crossover cables so expensive (and limiting)?
Inexpensive router.
September 5th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
That router is pretty cheap. But I am not going to be getting it anytime soon. I have what I have, and I need to make use of what I got. I have tons of NIC cards. However, I am more focused on the other post regarding using a crossover cable to direct connect my laptop to my desktop computer and share the Internet from that.
September 6th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
A ton of NIC cards?
NIC card is redundant, NIC standing for network-interface card.
Have fun getting multiple NICs to work on that old PC.