[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: Discuss Digest, Vol 31, Issue 19

[tr_data1]

I'm one of the few that are still on dial-up. I couldn't justify anything
faster as we rarely have time to hop on the 'net at home and therefore
the $10/mo fit nicely into the budget. The need for speed has become
much more pressing. Two of my kids will be in middle school this Fall
(school assumes everyone has DSL/cable connection) and 2) There
are much more frequent times that we need a brief query on the 'net
and the waiting for connection (if we manage to connect!) takes
forever. It might just be my ISP (ev1) but at this point, we have 
reach our tolerance for dialup.

I wish to create a setup with reasonable Internet safeguards. 
Several years ago, I got tired of having to reinstall the whole 
FamilyPC on an annual (or more often) basis. So, I banished 'net
access via M$ and required everyone to use Linux for the 'net. I
made the FamilyPC a dual boot of M$/Linux (and just disabled 
M$ 'net conn) so as to not ruffle too many feathers. As part of 
the move to high-speed 'net  access, I am toying with the idea
of letting them access via M$ again - as long as I can put some
safeguards in. I am looking for  ideas on good ways to do this. I
will be networking the systems  together and have already ran
the CAT5e in the walls.  The current systems are:

FamilyPC - M$/Linux dual-boot
Dev1 - Mandrake 10.1 Asus A7N8X-deluxe (my box, always on)
Dev2 - M$/Mandrake 9.2 Asus A7V333 (my other box)

Ideas:
1) Router with firewall. I notice that these are <$100 now.
Do these seem to be a reasonable first line of defense? If so, which
are the more dependable ones that are Linux-friendly? What features
should I look for? Do you think they provide reasonable protection
for M$ to 'net communication? Advantages of hw firewalls?

2) Firewall and ? running on Linux box. All systems reach Internet by
going through this Linux box. Recommended firewalls, etc? What are
the typical resource demands of these defenses (memory, cpu) for
home use? Is it worth the electricity to dust of my K6/233 box and
have it dedicated to this task (vs run on my main Linux box)?

3) Combine 1 & 2. If combined, what would you recommend on the
Linux box (firewall, etc)?

I'm thinking of #3 but if there are no advantages to having a hw
firewall in the picture, then OK. 
=TR=