[Cary O'Brien, on Tue, 04 Apr 2000] :: 1) Installing new kernels on headless boxes is not for the faint of :: heart. However, it can be done. What I've done is to compile a :: new kernel and put it on a floppy, and reboot the machine so it loads :: from the floppy. if it does a crash-and-burn, just pop out the floppy :: and reboot. This is a promising approach. Take a look at http://www.linuxrouter.org. It uses the Debian kernel; fits on a floppy and of course the floppy can be 1.72 MB, if you want to cram BIND and other stuff on there. http://www.lwn.net also maintains a running list of other floppy-based Linux dists. However, I'm a little confused by the complete layout according to your original description, even after reading it 3X. Some ASCII art might help. ;-)