Hello. I want to use my Debian box as an internet connection for a Win95 laptop. The laptop is old enough that the only port I have available to connect to the internet from is the serial port. I have heard that a serial port redirector will allow it to access the internet through my debian box, but I have no clue how to set one up. Any advice. Thanks

I think you should put your doorstop back where it belongs get a Mini. Really, running Win95 on the Internet is not safe. Even if you setup your Linux box as a router, including setting up a PPP server, the browsing would be soo slooow.

Next you'll want to try to add a USB NIC to the laptop, but USB wasn't quite ready for prime-time in the W95 era, so you'll end up with a USB NIC that will stick out from your doorstop and cut your foot when you walk by.

Don't do it.

Let it die.

I want to use the 95 machine for one trivial task. It waits for a loud noise and plays a sound (halloween prop). I happened to have it laying around and thought that would be a nice use for it. I ran into a problem, though. The original owner must have used it as a mobile work station, so none of the multimedia codecs are installed. I only need internet access long enough for it to find and install the proper codecs to play WAV files. I am thinking I can set my Debian server up as a SLIP server temporarly and bridge the connection between the LAN an SLIP server.

Maybe put Xbuntu on it and play an ogg instead. Wait! Now you've got me sucked into it's vortex....mu$t break free....