🚀 go-pugleaf

"Rob Wilson" <rob@robwilson.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3bf0633e.4633566@news.demon.co.uk...
> So far I plan each group of 6 to be connected to a 8 port switch (so
> if the main switch goes down each group of 6 machines can still
> communicate to each other - ie gaming).
>
> Each 8 port switch (for each group of 6 machines) connects to a 16
> port switch which somehow connects to the internet.  This is the bit
> where I am not sure what happens.

Sounds like a good plan, so far.

> I guess I could have a gateway / router or some other setup which will
> enable all the machines to gain access?

You really don't want to use an Internet sharing router, like the Linksys or
Dlink, or Intel Anypoint, etc. These devices sound good in theory, but in
practice they are horrible, they lock up constantly. I have problems with
lockups on a Dlink DI-704 four-port router with just one or two machines
active at a time. I had a little 486 running Linux prior to this Dlink and I
never had these kinds of lockup problems with that, that I have with this
thing. I've seen with other friends who also have Internet routers, that
they have a mixed record of success. In most cases, they say it works
normally for a long time, and then all of a sudden they just lockup with
only mild levels of work placed on them.

I took apart one of these things one day, just to see what circuitry they
have inside them. I found an AMD 80186 embedded processor inside. If you
don't know what an 80186 (or a 186 for short) is, then you're probably not
alone. This was a processor that is an x86 processor, just like the original
8086 and 8088 processors. It came after the 8086-generation, and just before
the 286 generation. It was never used inside PCs, it was always used as an
embedded processor. Intel and its partner at the time, AMD, sold all kinds
of these things in the early 80's. I don't know why they chose such an
ancient generation of processors to power these boxes, but it's likely
because of cost. Though the 186 and its packaging is likely new, and not
just something that was sitting on a shelf for 20 years, the technology has
not really been updated in those years. It doesn't look like this thing is
upto the task of handling routing jobs, and it just dies. The problems
become even worse when you start using DHCP or PPPoE as the IP assigning
protocol from the ISP to you, because these protocols require constant
supervision by the router, and it just adds to the tasks that this router
already has to perform.

Plus, online games generally don't work through a NAT firewall. You should
get a Linux box setup that has special online gaming modules for its
built-in firewalling software. I never had a lockup problem with a Linux
box.

    Yousuf Khan