Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

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crashnburn · #1 Post by **crashnburn** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:22 am

Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

I am wondering of the Express Card slots would perform here.. are they equivalent of PCIe on Desktop Mobos?

What would be good candidates for this?

PS: Would this be the equivalent..? http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/MiniPCI_Express_slot - I am wondering how to get a GigE RJ 45 port out of this?

jaspen-meyer · #2 Post by **jaspen-meyer** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:40 am

Are you asking 'which thinkpads' or 'which NIC cards'?

T43 and T61 should work but I haven't tried it.

axur-delmeria · #3 Post by **axur-delmeria** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 1:30 pm

crashnburn wrote:Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC?

Yes.

crashnburn wrote:Which ones? Prefer non USB

You can use Expresscard LAN adapters like this one from Startech or Syba.

Any Thinkpad model that has Expresscard slots can be used.

ExpressCard/54
R51e, R52, R60, R61, R61i, R500
SL300, SL400, SL400c, SL500, SL500c
T43, T43p, T60, T60p, T61, T61p, T400, T500
Z60m, Z61m
W500, W700, W700ds, W701, W701ds
X200, X200s, X200 Tablet, X201, X201i, X201s, X201 Tablet, X220, X230

ExpressCard/34
Edge 14", Edge 15"
L412, L512
SL410, SL510
T400s, T410, T410i, T410s, T410si, T420, T420i, T430, T510, T510i, T520
W510, W700, W700ds, W701, W701ds

Important reminder: some particular T61 models have a Smart card reader or 4 in 1 memory card reader instead of the Expresscard slot.

crashnburn · #4 Post by **crashnburn** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 2:22 pm

Thanks for the insights Axur.

I guess I look at Tabook for differences in specific models to weed out the "MemoryCard" ones.

Can these adapters physically work in both 34/ 54 Express slots or specific ones have to be chosen?
PS: They seem to be Win, OSX & *Nix compatible from the read/ r&d i've done.

TonyJZX · #5 Post by **TonyJZX** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:33 pm

You dont say what distribution. Does pfsense support the variety of express cards?

And even then, is it worth it. You can build firewalls from the scrap pile of Windows terminals that have common brcm intel and even pci express cards.

crashnburn · #6 Post by **crashnburn** » Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:55 am

TonyJZX wrote:You dont say what distribution. Does pfsense support the variety of express cards?

And even then, is it worth it. You can build firewalls from the scrap pile of Windows terminals that have common brcm intel and even pci express cards.

Worth it or not is a personal assessment very unique to situation and scenario.

Getting back to subject.. Looking at Pfsense, Sophos, Untangle and few others - Either direct or in light weight VM.

Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

Re: Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

Re: Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

Re: Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

Re: Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

Re: Can an old Thinkpad be used as a Firewall Router by adding a GigE NIC? Which ones? Prefer non USB

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