Installation

I'm not sure whether to post this here or in "Image Modification", so apologies if this is in the wrong place (though the m0n0 forums seem slow compared to pfSense's).   Here goes:

I bought a Watchguard Firebox-III a while back intending on putting m0n0wall or pfsense on it, but never got around to it because I lost interest due to the low specs combined with the effort required.  Also, while I was messing around, I accidentally plugged the external DOM in backwards, apparently frying it.  I bought a new one, but realized that I may be able to squeeze a m0n0 image into the on-board flash drive.

That brings us to my questions: to do this I need the image to fit into around 7MB of space.  The options I'm thinking of:

1. Version 1.2 will work, but I'm worried about how out of date it is with security fixes and such.

2. 1.3 and 1.8 definitely won't work as-is, but I wonder if the image could be cut down by getting rid of unneeded drivers and packages?

3.  Or would you consider this just too much effort and would just suggest using 1.8 on the 32MB replacement DOM I bought for it?

What are your guys' thoughts?

Mike

I'd say there is zero chance of being able to reduce the size of any recent version to be able to fit in 7MB.

Go with 1.8 on  your new 32MB DOM.

Wow, Fred, that's about as straight-forward a reply as I could've hoped for!

One thing you didn't answer, though: is 1.2 still considered reasonably secure or has maintenance ended (probably because work on its FreeBSD version has ended)?

Thanks again, Mike

1.236 which dates to September 2009 was the last in the 1.2 series and is no longer maintained.

OK...  This is a longer answer than you may want.

1) Yes, this is slower than pfSense forums.   Not sure why.  I think it is because m0n0wall is very stable, and does not change as much.

2) Size...  Sure this can be done.  It is NOT trivial.  Part of the "drive space" is space for future image upgrades.  You could remove that functionality, and shrink the image.  You would need a full development environment.  Instructions are here. http://svn.m0n0.ch/wall/branches/freebsd8/build/scripts/README

3) 1.2 is a good image.  It was quite stable.  It still has some issues with captive portal that were not worked out, and a few other addins.  IPv6 is right out.  But it is secure.

So, that replacement dom is looking pretty good, huh?

Thanks again, Fred and Lee; regarding your longer answer, Lee, it's exactly what I was looking for, actually.  Unfortunately for our motel (where I want to replace the old K6-2 with its continuously dying fans and hard drive with something with no moving parts), the captive portal is the exact reason we need this setup for our public wi-fi (don't need IPv6 atm, though).  So, yeah, the DOM *IS* looking pretty good right now!