Network Card: I would recommend you a NIC with a Realtek 8139 chipset. It supports 10 / 100 MBit and is based on PCI. Usually, it is really easy to configure it under Linux. Usually it should not cost more than 15 USD.
About the Distribution: I don't have a suggestion here, just one point to think about: Use a distribution with which you don't install much crap that you won't need. Perhaps you just have a look at www.linuxiso.org where you can download some quite nice distributions. Firewall itself: IPTables or IPChains, at most distributions it is already part of the package. Perhaps you should consider to use snort as an addition (snort is a Intrusion Detection System. Firewalls are some kind of stupid and just work as a simple packet filter: Where is the packet coming from and where does it want to go. This Network Intrusion Detection System also analyzes the content of the traffic and can alarm you if some bad stuff is coming through ;) Best regards, ------------------------------------------------------- BlueScreen / Florian Hobelsberger (UIN: 101782087) Member of: www.IT-Checkpoint.net www.Hackeinsteiger.de www.DvLdW.de ================================================================== To encrypt classified messages, please download and use this PGP-Key: http://www.florian-hobelsberger.de/BlueScreen-PGP-PubKey.txt ==================================================================
