> Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 10:32:36 -0500 > From: Josh Trutwin <josh at trutwins.homeip.net> > I have a 486 PC that I've setup to route/firewall all my internet > traffic with Debian Linux and iptables. Been working like a champ for > over a year now. I'm planning on upgrading my bandwidth to > residential cable though from a 512 kbps up/down connection to a 6mbps > down / 384 kbps up. > > My question is does this box limit my bandwidth? The two NIC's are on > an ISA bus. It seems to work fine, it's only role in life is to > firewall, but I'm not sure if that hardware is just too plain old to > handle 6mbps. Any thoughts? Theoretical maximum bandwidth of ISA is 15.9MB/s. 6mb/s is under 4% of that. I/O wait states and interrupt-servicing routines will have a large impact on performance, though. The ISA bus should not limit your speed, nor should memory speed. I say give it a try and measure it. If your 486 does limit your top speed, check to see just what is limiting you. You can put a Pentium Overdrive at 83MHz in a 486 socket if your CPU slows you down. You might try tweaking the clock speed if you're brave. Heck, even an upgrade to PII speeds should be very cheap indeed. Old PCs go for a couple dozen dollars. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list