Use Tiny Core Linux as router OS?

[bartgrefte]

Hi y'all!

Just found out about Tiny Core Linux, which looks very interesting

Now I've got here a mITX computer** which I would like to use as a router.
At first Damn Small Linux got my attention, but DSL is being a pain in the ass plus I can't get the NIC's to work. Probably because the kernel is too old. (Yes, I know about DSL-N, but that is no longer in development....)

pfSense is no option since it doesn't support the NIC's (yet), so I think I'm gonna take a look at Tiny Core Linux.

I've got already some questions about it, before I'm gonna try it .

* Can Tiny Core work as a router? And firewall if possible.
* Can Tiny Core be booted with Lilo? Only see GRUB at the "Install Tiny Core Linux" page.
It's because that GRUB won't boot on this particular mITX system. Get a cursor flying across the screen for a few sec, then it shows a character that kinda looks like a smiley... If I connect the CF-card with GRUB to a different system, it works fine(?!). Haven't been able to find a cause or solution for this.
* Does Tiny Core have the Intel e1000e driver (for Intel's 82574 NIC's) integrated into the kernel? If not, is it easy to get it integrated/added to Tiny Core?
* Got a character LCD, with keypad, in the case (see specs at end of message). Can those be used by Tiny Core?
*.... can't think of more at the moment.

With regards,

Bart Grefte

** Some specs:
MSI IM-945GSE-A motherboard (Intel Atom N270, 2* onboard Intel GbE NIC's, very low powerusage
Kingston KVR533D2S4-1G, 1GB SO-DIMM DDR2
Mini-Box M300LCD case (character LCD + keypad + Compact Flash-reader build in)
picoPSU 60w 6-26V with 12V/60w AC Adapter

[curaga]

* Can Tiny Core work as a router? And firewall if possible.

Absolutely, as well as any linux distro (though I have a hard time imagining a PCLOS/Ubuntu router )

* Can Tiny Core be booted with Lilo?

Yes, any bootloader that supports recent linux kernels should work

* Does Tiny Core have the Intel e1000e driver (for Intel's 82574 NIC's) integrated into the kernel? If not, is it easy to get it integrated/added to Tiny Core?

For 1.x, it's in the extension net-2.6.26.tcem, for the 2.x series it's in the base

* Got a character LCD, with keypad, in the case (see specs at end of message). Can those be used by Tiny Core?

There's no extension yet, but both lcd4linux and lcdproc seem to support this lcd, so compiling one of them should work.