Firewall, Router, PPP

["Brian Blater" <bblists@pure-energy.net>]

Hi everyone,

I've heard a lot about Debian and thought I would give it a try. I've been
using RedHat on and off for a little while. Before I install I wanted to ask
a few questions.

I would like to set up my system to be a firewall, router and do ppp for my
home network. Basically I would like the linux box to automatically dial my
isp whenever any of  the computers on my home network wants to access the
internet. Because of this I will need to do some routing and also want to
make sure I'm protected from the hackers by doing some kind of firewall.

Since this is all I want this machine to do (I have another machine that
will sit behind the "firewall" for other things,) what packages do you
suggest I install? Or maybe I should ask what packages I deffinitely do not
want to install. I know there are some applications with security risks and
since this machine will only be doing the above mentioned tasks I won't need
everything, just the basics.

Are there any gotchas or things I should before installing Debian? What
types of installation methods are there with Debian? Server, workstation,
custom?

Thanks for your help and suggestions.
Brian