[colman77]

Can anyone recommend a good linux distro for use as a router/firewall? I'm pretty much a newbie to linux, so something not too advanced would be good.

[Squashman]

IPCop Firewall

ClarkConnect home version is free.

[colman77]

Free is essential.

Clark connect looks good at first glance...will investigate more when I have more time....Thanks for the link, Squashman.

[LinuxGold]

Originally posted by colman77:
Can anyone recommend a good linux distro for use as a router/firewall? I'm pretty much a newbie to linux, so something not too advanced would be good.

Any distro would do. For GUI thingie, use Redhat. I would recommend learning Linux's network utilities to enable you to configure network configurations *exactly* the way you want.
I'll look for NAG (Network Administrator Guide) website and post it here.

[LinuxGold]

There you go:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linag2/book/
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/nag/node1.html

[Squashman]

Originally posted by colman77:
Free is essential.

Clark connect looks good at first glance...will investigate more when I have more time....Thanks for the link, Squashman.

I know alot more people who use IPcop then Clark connect. It is free as well.

[JayTheHun]

I truly have not found anything easier than www.smoothwall.org and it's free.

[Squashman]

Just saw this one today. It will run off a floppy as well. And its free.

http://www.freesco.info/freesco/

[Gizzmo]

My 2 cents. IPCop is the one I use for bussiness and home use. It has great support and some good modifications that can make it even better. Have a look at the IPCop Support Site for more information.

[colman77]

Goin' with Clark connect. Of course, my computer is fighting this every step of the way. It's very unhappy with me for stuffing many ethernet cards into it, and won't let me run any operating systems any more. Error messages all around.

Check out my thread in this forum called EID error?? if you want.

[stnwerks]

Howdy Colman77
Can'y help much with the clarke connect problems, but suggest you try Smoothwall. I'm running beta 6 and found it easy to set up. They have really good documentation. I had never used a network before let alone set one up and yet I found it rather simple with smoothwall. In fact setting up my linux gateway was easier than installing windows drivers for my netgear nic cards!
Good luck!!! steve
http://www.smoothwall.org/

[deuce868]

I have not tried it, but I have heard great things about smoothwall. TechTV had a thing on it a while back and I keep telling myself to try it out for a home router.