Dual Ethernet on Powerbook with YDL

[Timothy A. Seufert]

At 4:53 PM +0800 5/30/02, ian wrote:
>Hi.
>
>I'm considering using my old Wallstreet PowerBook as an internet server with
>YDL. Is it possible to use two Ethernet ports (the built-in 10-base-T, plus
>a PCMCIA cardbus Ethernet card)?? This is my only hesitation before making
>the switch. I am already family with RedHat 7.2 on a PC with dual Ethernet
>cards.
>
>Specifically, I need eth0 to access the internet, while eth1 serves my LAN
>with DHCP and IP-masquerading support.

Yes, it is very possible.  I'm doing exactly what you want to do on a 
PowerBook 2400, except that since the PB2400 has no built-in ethernet 
I had to use two PCMCIA cards.  I actually used one 10Base-T PCMCIA 
card and one 100Base-T Cardbus card.

Will it be easy to set up?  Can't guarantee that.  My 2400 is running 
YDL 2.0 and it was hard to set up.  YDL 2.2 on a more mainstream 
PowerBook like a Wall Street will probably be easier.  (YDL 2.2 is 
based on RH 7.2, so there should be a lot of common ground for you.)

Things will go smoother if you have the right kind of CardBus 
ethernet card.  In theory, any card supported on Intel would work on 
PPC, but in practice some of them do not.  Cards based on a genuine 
DEC/Intel Tulip chipset are the best bet.  Some Tulip clones work on 
PPC.  Others do not.  It helps here to have access to a store which 
stocks a large number of cards and has a friendly return policy 
(Fry's if you're close to one).

In case you were wondering how good of an idea using an old notebook 
as a gateway is, I really like it.  It's small and self contained, so 
it can be put anywhere, and utterly silent most of the time if I use 
hdparm to enable HD sleeping.
-- 
Tim Seufert