I am new to the Linux world and had a few questions regarding configuring a Linux box to act as a firewall, as well as, connecting to my local xDSL service.

As mentioned I would like the Linux box to connect via PPPoE to my ISP (xDSL) and provide firewalling to the rest on my internal segment.

I would like to know what Linux distro would be the best for this application, as well, what NIC's are recommended since I will need two.

The hardware I have allocated for this project;

AMD K6-2 - 400
512 MB RAM
Adaptec 2940 SCSI Card
40 GB SCSI drive
Acer Motherboard

Any help would be greatly apperciated.

You are really talking about three issues. Which distro of Linux, how to set up PPPoE and Firewalling.

You also asked about network cards. If this is a home system and you just want a fast reliable connection almost all of the 10/100 Base-T cards work just fine. Personally I have all Netgear cards in my smaller systems. I use the Netgear FA210TX and FA312TX cards with the "tulip" driver. They cost 14.95-19.95 retail in single unit quantity. As these cards are recognized at install time, you won't have to worry about the driver. Lots of other cards will work as well, I just buy Netgear by the box (large) so I use what I got.

First, I happen to favor Fedora Core 3. It is comprehensive and the basis for the following information about setting up PPPoE and firewall rules. You can download FC3 as .iso images and burn the images (4 total) to CDs for installation. Note, be careful when doing this, you want to have your CD burning software burn the .iso image, NOT a data file!

Next, assuming FC3 is the Linux distro, you want to setup your connection using PPPoE. Go to <system settings> <network> and select "New", pick DSL connection and fill in the blanks. You will then want to verify your connection. I suggest rebooting your machine and attempting to connect to the internet. If you have difficulty go back to the <system settings> <network> manager and recheck your settings. If you have PPPoE working on a Windows box, you may want to go to <control panel> <network> and examine the settings you are using for its connection.

Lastly, you want to set up your firewall. You don't provide any information about your network so I really cannot help too much -- that is I cannot help you with the rules development at this time. You may want to go to:

http://www.linuxguruz.com/iptables/howto

There you will find an excellent discussion of the firewalling concept and how to set up your own firewall.

After reading the howto, I am guessing you will have more questions, so you may want to post them here.

HTH
Bill