Greetings all,

I'm looking to build a small network and wish to use an old pc to run IPCop. I'm also getting broadband soon and so i need to get an ethernet modem/router as most ISPs (UK) only offer USB modems. Most of the modems routers however all seem to come with firewalls, this thing, that thing and i just can't seem to find a plain modem/router anywhere.

The reason i don't need a fancy modem/router is because the pc running IPCop is going to do all that for me so all i need is something to get me online. My question is then, if i can't find a plain modem and i have to buy one with all the fancy stuff will that somehow conflict with the machine running IPCop? I was thinking about opting for a PCI adsl modem if all else failed, is this a good option?

Maybe someone can offer an alternative solution perhaps. I could just buy a decent router and use that and not even bother with IPCop but then would be to easy and boring.

Thanks for your time and any help you can offer..

Cheers

Have a look in the HCL
( hardware compatibility list )
on this site
I found the speedtouch 330
it is however USB only but it doesn't mention firewall.
good luck
live long and prosper
floppy

PS also found the "speedtouch home"
connects via ethernet
check out the speedtouch website
speedtouchdsl.com
check out the websites of all the manufacturers
you'll find a lot more than what the shops stock
and then order from an outlet you trust
floppy

Thanks alot floppy, i'll have a search round and see what i can find.

Cheers

Any decent DSL modem should operate in bridge mode.
This will make it operate as a "standard" modem.
If you have the option, install an ethernet card for your RED side (IPCop speak for the WAN/Internet).
This way you don't have to toy with drivers.

I have a DLink-504G running in bridge mode, attached to an IPCop box (1.4.1) via a PCI ethernet card, and it was almost scarey to see just how easy it was to make it go
I beleive DLink used to offer a plain DSL modem (the 300 ?), but I like the idea of having a peice of hardware that can turn into a router in case the IPCop box fails for some reason.

The other option is to run the IPCop box behind the route (doing a double NAT), which can add a layer of security for you, but then you'd have two places to check for logs, and IPCop won't let you check the router via web page (unless you install lynx or something), so it'd be more trouble than its worth imo.

And while I'm thinking of it, if you do go with the DLink 504G, download the latest firmware.
Apparently there were various problems with the earlier ones, but they might be shipping it with the better ones by now (v18 was the one I saw recommended, I got v20).
I don't know if the firmware fixes problems with the bridge mode etc, but I didn't think it was worth finding out the hard way

Thanks alot Caysho for the replies. I did look into the D-Link 300 but noticed that the reviews for it weren't up to much. I'll take a look at some of the others models.

Thanks again.

FWIW, I've had my DLink 504G running pretty much since I got on ADSL, so that's about 3 weeks now.
I typically turn my firewall off during the day unless I'm downloading something, but the modem hasn't been turned off yet.