>Hi Tony,
>
>I wouldn't run anything on the Linux box but Routing/Firewalling software. The more services you run, the more likely you are to be hacked - particularly any SMB services (ie Samba). Let me recommend a GREAT piece of software - Smoothwall. You can download the free GPL version at www.smoothwall.org. It's a vastly cut down Linux distro with firewalling / routing built in. It has a Web interface so you can configure/manage/etc it over your home network. If you need to run additional services on your network I would suggest running them on different PC's. If you need to run Mail or WWW (for example) services you can set up "pinholes" in your firewall which will forward traffic on specific ports on your firewall to specific ports on another PC. Check it out - you can't beat the price!
>
>Regards,
>
>Liam

Liam,
Most Linux distros (at least RH, Mandrake and SuSE) have options for creating firewalls and/or proxy servers which fullfil all the conditions you mention. And, since it would be the same software that the workstation / desktop is setup with there doesn't have to be a mix-match between two different distros in the same network.
JLK






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>>Hello everybody:
>>
>>In trying to set up 2 pcs at home, one with LINUX 8.2 mandrake and the second one with Windows 2000 professional, am running into the following problem.
>>
>>The two pcs are connected via a crossover cable and the linux box has 2 network cards. One connected to the cable-modem and the other one crossover cable. This architecture was suggested to avoid the need of a hub or a router.
>>
>>The goal is to have the linux box host the windows 2000 box for internet access, and down the road, i would like to set up SAMBA to provide some file to the Windows pc.
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>>But most importantly, I would like to setup a e-mail server in linux where i can send e-mails from my windows pc using VFP.
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>>The windows going out thru the linux box and reach internet did not ever work.
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>>I have DHCP on the cable-modem network card eth0, and tried just about all combinations on the eth1 card. Not successful yet, any suggestions?
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>>Please assume network cards work correctly.