Re: "having a modem and a router as separate devices"
Yes, I meant Raspberry Pi.
The problem is that I don't want to spend too much (any?) money (you can call me a skinflint if you like, I won't take exception). I've got used to using otherwise discarded kit (It's a Thinkpad T20 at the moment) for my firewall, and it's got to the point where I don't actually really have anything powerful enough to comfortably do this job without having to resort to a re-purposed deskside machine. Being a full-time Linux user, I'm still finding my go-to Thinkpad T43 good enough with Ubuntu 14.04 (LTS with Gnome-fallback), and have not had to buy a more modern laptop to free up anything remotely powerful.
I've now actually looked at IPFire on Intel processors, and it may actually be good enough with the current laptop I'm using as a firewall, when used with a PC-Card ethernet device. This is where Smoothwall was lacking, it didn't support PC-Card devices without serious modification, involving a modified kernel - the stock kernel does not support PC-Card modules.
But I then have the problem that the best Wireless Access Point I have (in the Bright Box) is outside of the firewall!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
