Ron Blizzard wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > I've got kids who are growing older and I want to build a Linux box to > filter Internet access. I've got six computers on the Internet, plus > the laptops -- most run Windows. I'm not sure if it's called a router > or gateway or...? I don't mind doing the leg work, I just don't know > where to start. I'm pretty sure I'm *not* looking for a web server > (though it might be fun to have a local web) -- I might also use the > computer for a file server, but I mostly want a... proxy server? Not > sure what tool I need to use. I seem to remember there were specialty > Linux distributions for this purpose. > > Once I do figure out what kind of box I'm building, would I still be > able to put my Linksys router behind it, or would the Linux box *be* > the router? -- and would I have to get a wireless switch instead? > Would a Pentium III handle this duty, or would it gum up the works and > make the Internet too slow? > > Sorry for stupid questions. At some point I'm going to have to learn > about Linux servers. I'm hoping this project will help me get started > on that. > > Thanks for any pointers. > m0n0wall <http://m0n0.ch/wall/> is the probably easiest firewall package to use. It is FreeBSD based with a web interface to manage it. You can put it on any number of hardware configurations, including an older PC with two network cards. I've been using it for a couple of years now with no problems. It forwards logs to an internal syslog server on my home network. Bob McConnell N2SPP