Rebuilding the HomeNet

I mentioned on Twitter a few days ago that I had just completed rebuilding my home network.

I had two primary design goals in mind – make it easier to manage, and reduce the equipment it takes to do it.

One of the first things I realized is that I didn’t need a dedicated Firewall computer, as much as I loved the software.  It was always on, and always noisy.  I could do better.

I ended up buying a Linksys WRT54GL for $60 from NewEgg.  I put Tomato on it – an open source Linux-based firmware drop that does my Wireless, my router, and my Firewall – all on the Linksys Linux-based PC.  And it does it very well (and easy to set up to boot).

So I spent about three hours, and I replaced three devices (router, firewall, WLAN) with one very small and very quiet device.

I owe Tomato a PayPal donation.  My office is much quieter, I am consuming less power, and I am even better protected than before.