This project is something I started quite a while ago, but am now looking to finish it. Ironically, I no longer need it, but I'm still going to finish it anyway...... Some of you may have seen the start of this on another forum, but it's new here and as I'm about to start working on it again, I figured it was as good a time as any to start my own log here on TBCS....
I'd been thinking, for a while, about building a dedicated firewall PC based on the excellent Smoothwall linux distro, and as I recently got my hands on some spare (ancient) hardware, there is no longer any reason not to....
The basic task comes down to getting this PC....
Into this CD Case....
With a few tweaks along the way (the original case IS almost double the size of the new one....
So, first things first - find out what needs to move. As it's a dedicated firewall, it doesn't need an optical or floppy drive - just the mobo, cpu, ram, vga card and hard disk out of this little mess here, along with a pair of new 10/100 NICs, some cooling, a new PSU and some lighting too I expect.
I was hoping just to basically move the guts across and lock them against the side and base of the new case, but that won't be possible as some essential connectors are on the BACK of the daughterboard. (For those of you young un's who have never heard of a daughterboard - its a smaller board which plugs into the motherboard and provides additional functionality - in the case of this old Compaq, the Motherboard has the standard I/O ports, processor, ram, and thats about it - the daughterboard provides PCI slots, IDE ports and the main connector for power)
So before I get started with anything more drastic, I figured I should make sure the damned thing will physically fit inside - one stripped down compaq and 5 minutes of drilling out rivets on the Aluminimum case and....
It fits - JUST - now I just have to figure out where I can sneak in the drive and PSU.
More coming (fairly) soon - I've never been one to rush these things....
I just changed the name of the project from Hardcase to Sentinel - however, I'm still open to other suggestions, although I admit I DO like Sentinel. In the meantime, if anyone can think of a decent name for the project, feel free to suggest it - remember its a dedicated firewall, and I'm pretty much decided on red lighting and a fire style etch on the window I'm putting in the top of the new case, so something to do with fire or protection or the hard case or somethin - idn - thats why I'm askin you guys :p