I use the Linksys router on a high speed connection to keep several
computers here at the NOSPIN NOC isolated from the Internet.  I don't notice
any particular performance degradation and it's pretty easy to set up.

Herbert Graf's suggestion of using a Linux Router has a lot of merit,
though.  I've installed the Netmax firewall/router to support a 150 computer
network's access to a T3 line on the Internet and it works flawlessly on an
old Pentium 90 system.  I don't see why something similar shouldn't work
well on a 486 with just a few computers connected to it.

I think that the Netmax software goes for around US100.00 retail, but there
are a number of free implementations...one that comes to mind is the Free
Cisco project at http://www.freesco.org.  It's supposed to allow you to boot
a fully functional Linux router/firewall from a single floppy disk.  Since I
haven't tried it, I can't vouch for it, but it's reputed to be a pretty good
performer.

Drew Dunn
The NOSPIN Group

-----Original Message-----
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Gary Cassidy
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2001 5:56 PM

Just wondering if anyone has a sense of any major advantages to using a
LinkSys (or other brand) Cable Modem Router  over a Proxy Server when
sharing an Internet Connection.

I have @Home service connected to a Celeron 366A.  This in turn is
networked to an ancient old 486 using a simple Peer To Peer network (an
Ethernet card in each beast connected by a Cat5 cable). The Internet is
currently shared to the 486 by means of AnalogX Proxy (www.analogx.com last
time I visited the site).  The connection on the Celeron is lightening
quick while the connection on the 486 resembles my old 56 K modem.  My son
and wife do some surfing while I work and they are quite frustrated by the
difference.

I'm considering picking up a LinkSys router both to speed up the connect
but also because I may possibly be adding another computer to the mix and
will need to connect all three so a hub or router will be needed.

The only other consideration I should mention is that I use ZoneAlarm
configured to allow access to the 486.

Thanks for any ideas/comments

Gary


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                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>