[gentoo-user] Questions about setting up reliable firewall

[cothrige]

I have been trying to find a way to set up a simple firewall which I
can trust is doing what I need it to do.  I am connecting via a
diaulup with my local phone company which dynamically assigns me an ip
address.  I want to be able to use the web and send and receive email
via my pop and smtp server, also from my phone company, but of course
would like to protect myself from outside attacks.  I also have a
second machine connected via ethernet which allows me to operate out
of two rooms, but I don't have anything I can use to set up a
dedicated firewall box, which seems to be what so many howtos assume.

Can anyone make a suggest a guide or howto on firewalls which I can
use?  I have never been able to figure out iptables in such a way that
I am confident that I am doing anything other than making things
worse, or just end up unable to connect to anything.  Or perhaps there
is a simple tool which will do these things?  I tried firestarter but
it never seemed to work quite right.  I could get it to allow me out
once, but then when I would dial up later I couldn't reach the
network.  Or the ssh connection would be down.  Or something similar.
This was disappointing as it really did seem the simplest to use of
those I investigated.

I hope someone can make a suggestion to an iptable newbie about where
to go now.  Many thanks for any help,

Patrick
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