Hello to all,

I'm trying to networking two 486's. As of now they are not running Linux, but I'm going to install linux on both of them. The only problem is I don't know what distro I'd want to put on them. I am a newbie and have never really used linux. But to get back to the topic of networking you can ask me any questions about linux distro's later. Now, as far as the networking goes I was thinking of just buying a hub, but when I went to the store to buy one the tech guy I spoke with said he didn't know if the hubs they had would work for linux. Furthermore, he said he didn't know if they would work for the old 486's I was going to be using. I want to mention one last thing. I plan on possibly networking two other machines-a 266mhz celeron and another whose speed is much faster, but I do not know what it is exactly. So basically what I need to do is network 2 computers with room for 2 more. The first two will definitely have linux and the other 2 may and may not. If you have any question, please post them. I'd really like some help. My plan for networking these machines is to learn linux, security, and of course networking. Thanks for reading the thread. Look forward to reading your posts.

Fellow computer user,
digital nite

Hubs are universal. They will work with 386's right up to AMD Opteron's. They will work with QNX, Solaris, Linux, OS X, BSD and Windows. Hubs are definately not dependant on a single OS. It would defeat the purpose of a network.

As already said the hubs/switches are OS independent. You will also need:
a 4 or 8 port switch - hubs are almost extinct but ok for home use,
a network card per box - 486s tend not to have them built in like modern kit,
cables to join the boxes to the hub. Buy these made up unless you are threading them through walls and roofs in which case you'll need to buy/borrow an RJ45 cutter/crimper and a cable tester as well as buy cable and plugs. Get lots of plugs as you will probably wreck a lot getting the hang of the layout and technique.

Sorting out the IP addresses is the next step and will probably involve writing a 'hosts' file if DHCP is not enabled on a box. Someome else can answer that point!

Best of luck,

If you only want to network two computers, you could of course just link the two with a piece of crossover ethernet, which would give you marginally better performance than a hub (at vastly less expense) - you can even make a crossover cable yourself if you've got some cable, a couple of RJ45s and a crimp tool.

Trendnet TE100-PCIWN PCI network cards from newegg.com work great for linux and windows, and there cheap. You can usually get patch cables up to 50', but you are better to run cat 5e cable in the walls and put RJ45 jacks on either end.
If you have a broadband connection take a look at a broadband router/gateway, this will network the computers and give them internet access also, they usually come with 4 or 5 ports. Otherwise just about any router/hub will work.

If you have Cable Modem or DSL you can plug a router into that then allow all 4 computers access to the internet via the router. Linksys makes some fairly cheap ones that have 4 available network ports. You then setup each PC to do DHCP from the router. This would kill two birds with one stone.

Since you mentioned 486s the PCI specified by the previous poster likely isn't an option. You likely have ISA slots (or EISA or even MCA). There are older 3 Com cards that work fine in ISA (in fact I'm still running one in my oldest PC) and of course they'll work in EISA since its just an extension of EISA. As far as Linux distros I'm not sure how many still support 486.

I'd recommend something like Damn Small Linux for the 486's. Not sure if even it will support them though.

i have slackware 10.1 running on a 486 dx2 compaq machine with 16MB RAM. it has a 3com ISA NIC. am not running X, though. but fluxbox and other very light window managers might run ok with it.

just to add - i installed slack via NFS export from a CentOS machine. i booted of the slackware installer via loadlin (i have a linux based floppy bootdisk that support my NIC so i was able to put the installation startup files locally).

Interesting thread/Q. Obviously, you struck a nerve (in a good sense) or something.

Ditto about hubs/switches & ISA not PCI cards.

(As often is the case, the "tech" guy @ the store is a semi-idiot & needs some clue. -- In an ideal world it wouldn't be a battery to apply a "clue-by-4". )

Before you spend any time or money on any cards, check if they will work easily under your chosen distro(s). There are two issues here:[list=1][*]Driver availability.[*]Configuration software, if necessary.[/list=1]

Remember also, Linux was not designed to run on a 286.

BIOS ability to boot a CD is handy, too. If possible, pick boxen that can do that, otherwise you're going to be messing w/ floppies.

He's using 486's, not 286's. Linux can run on a 486.

Hello to all,

I'd like to thank everyone for their replies. As far as I can see, the linux community far surpasses all others. Thanks again, I will use all of your information.

If you do not already have network cards for the 486s you will need to hit the surplus and flea markets. I suggest a ne2000 or 3Com ISA card.