[olug] Linux Recommendations?

[OBrien, Timothy (Omaha Linux Users Group - OLUG)]

<quote who="Dietz, John D.">
>
> Irish:
>
> 	I have reason to believe that the College is going to be
> implementing a VPN so that faculty/staff and certain students can remotely
> access their computing systems.  The ISP that we are looking into is a
> local
> wireless ISP that people tell me are easy to work with so long as you tell
> them what you want to do before you do it.
> 	I personally want to get something like this setup so that I can
> remotely and securely access our analytical chemical instrumentation and
> run
> my samples remotely.
> 	The reason that VPN technology would need to be used is that the
> College blocks all incoming and outbound connections that are used for
> these
> Internet games.  A majority of the games that students are playing right
> now
> do not allow you to change ports.  I think that it is based on some
> sophisticated filtering software, but it is a tightly kept secret.
> 	Battle.Net is used for all games that are made by Blizzard
> Entertainment (e.g. WarCraft, Diablo, StarCraft).
> 	Do you have any recommendations about a Linksys or NETGEAR device?
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
[snipped]

I SSH into my boxes at work - gives me the secure, encrypted connection I
need. Will your analytical chemical instrumentation allow SSH access?
If your college will allow VPN for your analytical chemical
instrumentation access, then you will be even better off. Some total
security freaks (like me) would run SSH over the VPN. =)

I'm not sure if the VPN will allow reverse access into your gaming server
on your side by your friends on campus - you will have to look into that.

i am also not sure if you can run your own servers for Blizzard games - my
FPS and flight simm games take up enough of my time for me to get involved
with those games. ;)

Personally, I have had better success with Linksys - YMMV. If you need
WiFi, get the combo WiFi & 4 port switch. There is one that you can flash
upgrade the bios & do some c00l stuff with the firmware (which is Linux
based). My five year old Linksys BEFSR41 has not caused me any major
problems for a while now.

A GTFG will find what you need, and steer you in the best direction:
http://www.georeviews.com/Computers/Brands/Linksys/index.php
http://reviews.search.com/search?q=router&tag=srch&edition=ecoustics-cnet.com.com&search=+Go%21+
http://www.epinions.com/Routers
http://www.pcmag.com/search_results/0%2C1744%2C%2C00.asp?qry=router&site=3


--
Timothy "Irish" O'Brien
Publicity & Social activities chairperson
Omaha Linux User's Group (OLUG)
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