This is fun!...
well, the newb may be getting a step closer..lol..i removed the following line from the rc.local file

route add -net 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 172.16.0.2

and now my pc's on the 192.168.0 home network can ping the linux eth1 (192.168.0.2) nic. Not only that, from a a pc say 192.168.0.3 i can also ping the outside linux eth1 nic (172.16.0.2)..This tells me that the linux box is routing packets across its 2 nic cards and back. I tried pinging the dsl router futher towards the internet (172.16.0.1) and still no go..I'm getting warmer..lol

I'm thinking that now all i need to do is put a route on the dsl router of some sort.
On the dsl router there is a tab called "static route entry" where 8 different routes can be added with the following fields listed for each route.

Destination IP Address :
IP Subnet Mask :
Gateway IP Address :
Metric (box to enter a value default=0)
Private (checkbox)
Active (checkbox)

not sure what should be put in here but maybe i'll take a guess at it. My ip address is dynamically assigned by my isp.

i'm almost excited..

jr

just an update, things are working fine thanks to all your guys!..persistance pays off. I finally needed to add the correct static route to my dsl router and all is good..very pleased and looking forward to the next project of using the linux box to make the connection to my dsl provider instead of the out of the box dsl router thats currently doing it. Also interested in learning how to customize the iptables in rh.9 but one thiing at a time i guess

thanks again to all!
jr

If you want a nice easy gui that will allow you to create firewall rules, try fwbuilder. You can even generate the rules on one machine and install them on another.

Good to hear it is now all working.

pljvaldez, fwbuilder sounds interesting but is there a bunch of different programs \ apps i need in order for me to use it? Never having to d\l and install something in linux yet, i'm wondering how straight forward of a d\l install it would be to get it up and running.

thanks.
jr

I guess now that I look at it, it needs iptables to run. What kernel are you using? < 2.4 use ipchains, I believe...

kernel 2.4 and yes iptables is on the box.

tks,jr

There are plenty of scripts around that you can use, save you the trouble of writing one yourself. This can also help you to understand how the script works until your confident enough to create your own.