Use TC as a kind of router???

[Richard Cranium]

Not sure if I'm posting this in the right section , but possibly a silly question ..   is it possible to configure TC to act as a router? meaning , share internet connection : 

internet--> eth0, eth0 splits to eth1 --> machine 1 , eth2 --> machine 2, etc etc

is that doable??   and then set up a file sharing service?

[Rich]

Hi Richard Cranium

... is it possible to configure TC to act as a router? ...

Yes, it is. Is it worth the effort? Probably not. I've picked up 4, 6, and 8 port
routers for $5 each at garage sales. If you want to build a 4 port router, you
need 4 network cards for the ports plus a fifth network port for the internet
connection.

If I were to attempt this (which I wouldn't), I would google:
linux open source router
and use one of the existing router projects out there.

... set up a file sharing service?

File sharing is easier. There's  samba3.tcz  to share files with Windows.
If you install  cifs-utils.tcz  on your Linux machines, they can access it too.

There is  nfs-utils.tcz  if you only want to share with Linux.

[CNK]

Hi Richard Cranium

... is it possible to configure TC to act as a router? ...

Yes, it is. Is it worth the effort? Probably not. I've picked up 4, 6, and 8 port
routers for $5 each at garage sales. If you want to build a 4 port router, you
need 4 network cards for the ports plus a fifth network port for the internet
connection.

Actually those home routers generally have an Ethernet switch built in, rather than individual network interfaces for each Ethernet port. You can get small Ethernet switch devices that are separate and could be connected to the computer you run TC on. You might still need two Ethernet ports if your modem connects to one and the switch connects to the other. Some motherboards and SBCs have dual Ethernet ports. USB Ethernet adapters are also an option, at least if you don't need maximum network speed.

Old SOHO Ethernet switches can be as cheap as old routers, especially if you only need 100Mbit speed, but they're not as easily found as home routers.

If I were to attempt this (which I wouldn't), I would google:
linux open source router
and use one of the existing router projects out there.

I run OpenWRT on an old home router myself. OpenWRT supports the MIPS or ARM SoCs in many cheap routers, which TC doesn't, so you can use the cheap 2nd hand routers like Rich is talking about. There are tons of router models though so it can still be hard to find one that's supported.

[gadget42]

searching this forum for "tcl router" currently returns four results:
https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,12872.msg70599.html#msg70599
https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23402.msg146648.html#msg146648
https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23887.msg150245.html#msg150245
https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,26252.msg168892.html#msg168892

readers may find https://openbsdrouterguide.net/ to be quite informative/instructive

the dd-wrt and openwrt wikipedia entries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD-WRT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenWrt

see also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_router_firmware_projects

[neonix]

Using TC as software for router is very good idea.

1. More RAM than commercial routers, more sophisticated services.
2. Less probability of backdoor (if you update OS regularly)
2a) you can login only with mouse, keyboard and monitor
2b) you can compile your own software if you can
3. Almost unlimited LAN ports if you use USB-RJ45 adapters. Or optic fiber adapters.
4. Less susceptible for DDOS.

Disadvantages:
Lack of html interface
Biger power consuption
No autorun when there is problem with electricty
Risc of absolate certifiacates
Commmercial routers can worki in high temp and high humidity
Bigger risc for failure if moving parts are used  (ash, spiders, ants)

BTW. What are most popular services for this type router shoud have?

[GNUser]

For several years I've been using a laptop running TCL x86_64 as a wireless router in my home. AP is created by hostapd. DHCP server is dnsmasq. The amount of fun and learning I've gotten from this machine is off the charts. TCL works perfectly as a router OS.

[CentralWare]

For supported hardware based routers: https://freshtomato.org or WRT
For x86/64 you need at very least two Ethernet ports (one in, one out)
For Arm (RasPi for example) a second Ethernet via USB (one in, one out)
** You could get away with a single Ethernet, but the speed would be 1/2 or less as
     you would be sharing it both inbound (eth0) and outbound (eth0:0)

Using IPTables or other similar firewall software, you set up forwarding and blocking rules
https://webmin.com can be used for a web interface to configure the firewall remotely

Example data only - not endorsements