Does USB to Ethernet Dongles Work With PfSense? (Answered)

Hardware Hub Networking
1

So i watched the video from Logan about turning a old computer into an epic router and i have an old computer that is just sitting in my closet (Laptop).

And i was wondering if it is too bad hardware for PfSense?

Here are the specs:

Intel Pentium 1300MHz

256mb of RAM

ATI Mobility Radeon 7500

40GB Hard Drive can't find speed

Intel PRO/100 VE Network  Connection

1394 Net Adapter

End Of List.

The laptop is called Lenovo Thinkpad R40

2

http://www.pfsense.org/index.php@option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=48.html

Minimum Specs according to them are on their website.

The hardware isn't too bad. However I would personally not use a Laptop as a router. A. Due to the lack of LAN ports and any laptop expansion possibly not being quick enough. B. If it has a WLAN adapter in it, (based on the way you describe it as bad) it may bottleneck your internet connection if it is of only WiFi Standard a/b/g

3

Thanks and yes it does have a WiFi adapter but i have had really many problems trying to use it.

4

But wait i just realised i have a usb to gigabit ethernet cable is it maybe possible to use that??

5

Ummmm, no such thing as a USB to Gigabit (unless it's USB 3.0) USB 2.0 is not fast enough to support Gigabit LAN. It can support 100T speeds.

I do not know the support for USB adapters under PfSense. If it doesn't require third party software to use, then it might work.

6

It's the apple usb to (according to Apple) gigabit port.

7

bump

8

If you can find the exact product in either of the following lists. All should be fine.

http://www.freebsd.org/releases/6.1R/hardware-i386.html#ETHERNET

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=25.0

If you don't find it in the first link, it is unlikely you will find it the second.

9

I'll just quickly jump in and say that pfSense does support usb-ethernet adapters out of the box, see I also recently installed pfSense on my old laptop (Aspire 5740).

I assigned the WAN interface to usb using a simple adapter, and LAN to the laptops ethernet port during the install with no problems at all. I Also tested that the laptop works perfectly as a wifi access point, but I currently have it disabled.

The topic was marked "answered", but i'll gladly help if I can if anyone else is having similar issues.