hey guys, i'm interested in building a complete linux solution at home.

i don't want to use spare pc parts, although i have plenty, i'd like linux to be embedded, in other words, damn quick and small.

i'm assumming this is far-too complex for a kid from jersey to build, either based on price (i'm thinking expensive), or realistically: i barely know what embedded means.

so, in other words, i probably won't build it. i guess i'm just curious how it's done.

thanks for the help, guys.

This site is called linuxquestions.org. There is no question in your post.

What do you want to achieve? Complete home solution for what?

oops.

a router/firewall, how is it embedded, how is it operated.

how can i build one, if i wanted to, where should i look-up more info.

a google search tried to seel me one, i want to know how to build one.

I built one out of spare parts that I use at home. All it needs beside basic stuff like a harrdrive is 2 NICs. You have to enable IP Forward. After that the way you configure it is to use iptables rules to configure the firewall aspect of it and also some of the router aspects of it. It's not exceedingly difficult but probably shouldn't be attempted by a complete novice (in other words, go for it). I uses Slackware linux on mine. Slackware is configured almost completely by editing config files so that help by not needing gui at all.

Really, you should run OpenBSD on the router if you want to do a home brew one because of its superior security track record. I know I don't, but someday I will.... or that's the plan anyways .

I don't see anything wrong w/ making one out of spare parts. It would be easier. If a part blows out it will be relatively easy to replace compared to an embedded system. If you have the parts around to use it is a great learning experience.

i have one too, it's an old celeron with a floppy-firewall distribution.

i'm pondering how embedded systems are built. i don't want a motherboard used only for it's networking capapilities, i'd rather put it to better use. i want to know where i can buy smaller systems.

i don't know what they're called, but they're not computers. limited capabilities (in anything other than firewalling), sole-use.

maybe this will help:

i want to build what i can go out and buy cheaper: a router.

I'm simply interested in how it's built.

The easiest way would be to get a mini-ITX motherboard with integrated Ethernet, video, CPU, etc. Then use a flash device, such as a Compact Flash card with an IDE Adaptor, to install a RAMDisk based minimal Linux system.

That is how I put together my embedded systems.

It isn't very hard, and not even that expensive. You could do it for less than $300 per device.

A step farther would be to use a PC104 device, but that would most likely be more complicated and expensive.

this RAMdisk, it's treated like a regular ol' hard-drive? you can boot off of it? can you install software onto it?

how do you wirte to it?

i have looked at the mini-itx form factor before; but thought i could find smaller.

what's pc104?

A RAMDisk is not a real device. It is a temporary file system that is stored in the system's RAM. The reason you use this with a flash media is because you can't run a system on flash media, it has a very limited read/write life-cycle.

While in operation, a RAMDisk will appear to be a normal HDD, but when power is cut, it all disappears.

PC104 is smaller than mini-ITX, but mini-ITX is already as small as most SOHO routers and similar devices.

PC104 is a very small embedded device. It uses all non-standard components, which makes it more expensive and more difficult to setup and maintain, but much smaller.

PC104 is a more "embedded" platform than using standard PC components, but due to the added expense and difficulty, hobbyists generally don't use it. It is more often found in commercial devices.

so is a pc-104 inside a netgear/belkin/linksys router?

i'd use mini-itx, but i think it's a waste to have all that potential (video, sound, whatever else) cut-off, I look at and say "I'm paying for all this stuff that I won't be using". Which I don't like, so I was looking for an alternative.

is there anything else out there?

Kind of like a live-cd which doesn't use a hard-drive? Everything is kept in memory? So, it's only used each time it's booted up?

Sorry for the repitition, just trying to wrap my head around it.

No, those are usually custom manufactured for the company. Those companies have enough money that they can have a single board computer custom designed and built for them, other companies that aren't looking to make such a large investment would be likely to use PC104.

You do "waste" the other abilities of a mini-ITX, but it is so cheap, it's not really a concern.

There really aren't any other options for a hobbyist looking to make a single device. You could get an older small board, like a 386 or 486 single board computer, but then the creation of the distro to run on it would be more difficult, since you would have to be much more frugal about what you install. The upside is that it would be cheaper.

And yes, LiveCD's run in RAMDisks.

cool.

thanks for the help man.

The linksys wireless cable/dns router uses a MIPS chip. You can go to the linksys site. They have the source files available for download.

Some people will take one of these devices and make changes.

Here is a Linux-Journal article about it that you might find interesting.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7322

i got lost somewhere in the post, but i thank you for pointing it out to me none-the-less: i *will* check it out later.

so i can pretty much buy one, and alter linux on it? like install my own software? i think i remember it saying the resources were pretty limited.

i am pretty upset about other company not complying with the GPL, if i read that last section correctly.

progressing this thread, i have been looking around at ipcop.org and similiar distributions., so i'll proably end up using some old 386 laying around.

but that doesnt mean i dont appreciate all the help you guys gave me.