What to do with an out-dated box

[clickerman]

I have an old Intel P3 box, what should I do with it? I am very bored and don't have much to do.

[moonlit]

Turn it into a file/mail/web/ftp/media server or NAS/backup server, run emulators on it, turn it into a media center or dvr (mythtv, xbmc, mediaportal, windows mce), make it a firewall/router, use the case and power supply to host 12v lights/appliances/tools/toys, take out the motherboard and hang it on the wall as decoration...

[clickerman]

Um, I'm not allowed to have a router/fire wall. The university doesn't trust the students with one, I do like the idea of the NAS backup which episode was that from I think it was season 2

[l337virus]

well you could use Free Nas

for the nas and it runs on Free BSD and it really simple to set up

freenas.org

[DingleBerries]

i have the same thing. I just received a free monitor and now i use it to watch iptv or hulu in my dorm. It running Mint and has no keyboard or mouse so i just VNC into it or ssh depending on what i want to do. I also store home work documents on there and when i leave for class i run my file server, that way if i forget to print something out i can go to the lab and download them instead of running back to my dorm.

[clickerman]

I would like to be able to access the NAS from outside networks but i don't have access to the router, how would i go about that?

[digip]

Set up a BBS like Hak5 has or maybe a Honeypot and steel some botnet programs and virii to disect. 2600 had a good article on how to set up a Honeypot using vmware and a base install of Windows XP. You can then find out the passwords the thiefs use as well as the email accounts, etc(If they use any). I am still considering it just to try it and see what I can catch. Like a reverse fishing without the phishing.

(@Darren+crew, you guys should set up a Honeypot and do an EP about it. Let us know what you catch.)

[clickerman]

Is that even legal?!

[snakey]

Is that even legal?!

Who gives a fuck

[Rab]

I have an old Intel P3 box, what should I do with it? I am very bored and don't have much to do.

Throw it away, then have fun with your new PC.

[digip]

Is that even legal?!

Is what legal? If about the subject of a honeypot? Then Yes. It's not against the law to have a honeypot, but what your dorm rules are is another story.

Setting up a pc to put on the internet to intentionally let it get infected is the whole purpose of a honeypot. You then take it offline and examine the pc, learn what went on, how it got infected, what it was infected with, where it tries to connect to. Trap new threats as they appear or may not even be known yet, so you end up with things like Zero day exploits, botnets, etc. Its all for the sake of learning, penetration research, security education and how to protect from things, but also to see threats in real time ad be able to keep snapshots of live infected systems at different stages of infection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeypot_(computing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_telescope

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeytoken

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HoneyMonkey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Client_honeypot

As far as campus rules, probably not going to be aloud to do anything with their network. I thought you meant more toawrds your own machine, home network.

[clickerman]

Eh, I don't think a Honeypot is something I would enjoy. Also the network here is so screwed up we aren't allowed to implement our own routers, I tried. They say its due to DHCP requests screwing everyone up.

[tagno25]

They say its due to DHCP requests screwing everyone up.

Then they have idiots in the IT and/or they have idiots in the dorms, because DHCP does not traverse NAT w/o a DHCP relay.

if you properly set it up as a router no one would even know that you even had a router, they would just think you where using a linux distro with iptables blocking all incoming ports

[clickerman]

Well it's interesting, the network isn't very good. To download one Hak.5 episode it takes me three hours. When I talked to the IT support person he said it's because they have a 20MBit line that has 12MBit being shared by 1200 students, while the other 8MBit is for something else.

[RogueHart]

head back to the early eps of hak5 and look at the bartop arcade wess built. there are tons of plans on the web for something like that. snag a good emulator of your choice and hook it up lol.

you could also run a webserver off it. even if your dorm wont allow you to have a router you can set it up like a desktop.

or hell you could use it as a test machine. find some programs that you think sound cool. download them to the test machine and see if they are plagued with anything malicious and then bring them over to your main box.

theres tons of uses for old boxes. personally i know a guy who is about to get rid of about 5 laptops that he says "are beyond re-selling" which he will give to me for free. ill be turning them each into something different.

an emu platform, a web server or 2, a linux box to use as a dev platform, and probably turn one into a gateway for something. so i can connect to the web from places with web blocks.

and ill definately turn one into a game server. wolfET ftw!

surf google for a while and youll find hundreds of uses.

edit

you could setup an irc server so you and your friends will have some private chat access.

you could setup a bbs. so that you could connect to that irc even if irc is blocked on a computer.

game servers are simple depending on what kind you setup. there are ways to make your own WoW server

edit2

of if you have a dark streak like i do you can use it to test your pranks on such as simple viruses or other such progs

[clickerman]

Ok, I think I would like to turn it into a server of some sort, but I really don't know much about servers

[RogueHart]

Ok, I think I would like to turn it into a server of some sort, but I really don't know much about servers

well an easy thing to do would be to google ____ server setup.

if you want to setup a gameserver then it varies from game to game. for wolfenstein enemy territory all you have to do is start a server and check the "dedicated server" option.

irc youll have to find a setup of some sort.

its not difficult to setup a server. you just have to find which files you need

[El Di Pablo]

P3? I like the Freenas idea from the previous posts. You could also install Damn Small Linux on it, and use it as a safe P2P box for downloading legally questionable stuff without worrying about compromising your "production" workstation.

Light linux/unix distros are the best because they can be ran on an empty soda can if you wanted to.

[Corrosion.]

Use it as a server! :)

I have an old P2 I shoved 512mb ram and winxp pro on it and use it for a server so far ive run

telnet chat

bbs

ut2k4

cspsp

web

ftp

mail

and a few other types of servers on it (not all at once)

[clickerman]

I would like something I could access from other dorm rooms and buildings within the campus or even from other cities. Does anyone know how I would go about that?

[RogueHart]

I would like something I could access from other dorm rooms and buildings within the campus or even from other cities. Does anyone know how I would go about that?

that would fit any server if im not mistaken. as long as the box is connected to the net and not just the network.

[moonlit]

Yup, just have a box set up with the appropriate software on (for example Apache for serving web pages) and leave it switched on when you leave. You may encounter issues with firewalls though, it'll probably be easier to access it on campus than over the net due to this.

[clickerman]

What if I want it as a file server? Would I still use Apache?

[moonlit]

You'd probably use an FTP server for that unless you wanted the files to be available via a browser.

[F4U5T]

That depends on your setup, looks to me like you dont have access to the networks routers or firewall and im sure the net admins are not gonna open anything up for you.

I use hamachi in those situations, as long as your box can see the inet then you can connect to it.

then you could start a rdp session if you got windows or if you got linux use FreeNX, the best by far imo.

But if your connection is as slow as it sounds id stick with ssh server, forget about any type of remote desktop