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Networking vintage machines, linux bridge/router?

Networking vintage machines, linux bridge/router?

  • Cobalt Qube 3

    Votes: 1 8.3%

  • Laptop or other custom harware

    Votes: 2 16.7%

  • F*&# it and have a beer

    Votes: 6 50.0%

  • other - please elaborate

    Votes: 3 25.0%
  • Total voters
    12
  • Poll closed .
L

luckybob

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Location
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I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to decide the best path to take to network my older machines into my "modern" network. I thought I would poll for some input and go from there. I don't use my old systems on the network a lot, so I'm looking for something low power and/or something I can easily switch off.

Option #1: Ethernet <-> token ring using a Cobalt Qube 3. (hard)

Option #2: Ethernet <-> token ring using a laptop. (medium)

Option #3: Forget the whole ting, use Ethernet and have a cold beer. (easy)

I want to go with option #1, but I know next to nothing about Linux. From what I understand of the Cobalt Qube 3, they basically replaced the bios with a 2.2 linux kernel. It then boots from HDD. This is a really neat little box based with 512mb of ram and a k6-2+ @ 450 (may be upgraded to 3+ because reasons) Option #2
would be the same, but with an old laptop and a pcmcia token ring adapter. I have a small Sony P3 laptop that I can use. (Sony pcg-621L w/ 750mhz p3 & 256mb ram) Advantages include easy to install software, but its not nearly as sexy as the Qube. Granted #3 is an option...

So any advice would be appreciated.
 
Grab an old Cisco 2500 series router that handles token ring, if you really want to use token ring. They're super cheap since no one wants them, and the 2500 series is pretty old even for CCNA.

I don't know about the x86 series Cobalt hardware, but Linux support for the MIPS stuff wasn't great, unless you were running the Cobalt/Sun distribution. I think there's a current(ish?) project called Blue Quartz to replace it. Personally, I ended up running NetBSD on my Qube 2 after trying to do something useful with Debian.

EDIT: Ethernet is still your most hassle-free option, that's what I use as long as I have the choice.
 
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Since I never ran token ring back in the day I would certainly not try it now. If token ring is important to you then you should try to go for one of the other options. I recall that there were interconnection options "way back when"... maybe you need an all-vintage solution. I have no idea that that would cost, though.

FYI - I see that the Cisco 2513 has 1 ethernet, 1 token ring, and 2 serial lines.
 
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Uniballer said:
FYI - I see that the Cisco 2513 has 1 ethernet, 1 token ring, and 2 serial lines.
Click to expand...

That's the one to get, if you want to go Token Ring. You can use the two serial lines to link to other Cisco routers with a back-to-back cable, should you ever want to expand beyond two networks. I think you can also do SLIP or PPP over them with appropriate adapters.
 
interesting thought. The Cisco 2513 makes it look practically foolproof. plus they look pretty cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181026092728

I do have a friend that would literally get aroused if he found out I started buying Cisco equipment. (he works with the stuff for a living) In fact he might even have one laying around... HMM.
 
I use Thin ethernet where there is a fair amount of cards around, and an old 3com hub that has both coax and RJ45
 
A file server running Windows 2000 Server or server 2003 is in the sweet spot of supporting NFS, Appletalk, SMB, Novell and most of the early DOS networking protocols, ethernet adapter bridging is also supported so you can use it for routing as well over multiple cards and networking standards (twisted pair, coax, Token Ring, etc.) and of course for sharing files with every machine you own.
Linux might also work but a lot of the legacy support is either an unlicensed hack or simply doesn't work/no longer builds on modern kernels.
 
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