> I just read at VROC 2.0 that a P166 with a fast connection can host a
full
> field online for GPL since it's not rendering graphics or calculating
and an
> "old" P166) both connected to a cable modem. I'd like to set up my
old
> computer as a dedicated server but have a few questions.
> 1) Any security issues setting up as a dedicated server? I just want
to be
> sure no one can***with my computer while it's hosting.
There shouldn't be any significant _increase_ in security concerns vs.
not running a dedicated server. The only one I can think of is that
enterprising individuals could determine the IP address of your
computer by examining the stream of data sent to them by VROC. But
this would be significantly more difficult than, say, using GameSpy to
find the IP addresses of Quake servers.
If you have concerns about having your computer connected to the
Internet at all times, I suspect your cable modem provider would be
able to help you secure your machine against unauthorized access. You
are paying them for the service, after all. (I know that at least some
folks around here have gotten good advice from their cable service
provider).
You might consider removing 32M of RAM. Yes, I said removing. I
believe most (if not all) motherboards on which one would run a P166
are only capable of caching the first 64M of physical memory. Any
unlucky enough piece of code or data that gets mapped to memory above
64M will be uncached (read: access to that memory will be slow).
I believe that VROC is (by far) the most popular place for people to
find GPL servers on the Internet.
Randy
