Hacknight project

[Sheldon T. Hall]

> Charles Wheeler wrote:
>
> As for what I want out it... well, I definately need a 
> firewall/router
> because right now my computer's directly connected to the 
> cable modem
> without any translation, so I feel exposed.  In the near future I'll
> be branching my home network to include other PCs, so it's just a
> matter of time.  I also have my laptop, which I love to use anywhere
> around the house, so building the wireless ability into it 
> seemed like a good idea.

While it's a solution fairly low on the "education" scale, the easiest and
quickest way to solve this problem is to buy a dedicated "wireless router."
D-Link makes one, and I expect the other home-networking companies (Linksys,
etc.) do, too.  Generally, these devices have decent firewalls, NAT, and all
that, with the ability to do DMZ or port-forwarding, and, hardware-wise,
include a multi-port switch for your wired devices.

They aren't as much fun as computer-based firewalls, but you can have one
running, and protecting you, in an hour.  Once you build the computer-based
firewall of your dreams, you can continue to use the wireless router either
for its wireless capabilities or just as a switch.  

-Shel