USB internet adapter question
 

I have not tried this yet, but I wanted to know if anyone could tell me if it is possible and how difficult it is.

I have a network with a few machines, all running linux, and of course a router and switch. I am getting a USB internet adapter from the cell phone company and wondered if I could simply plug it into one of the machines and share the internet connection throughout the network. Would it just plug in and go? I assume not, but how could I make this work. I'm not totally new to linux but I only have maybe 9 months of solid time with it. Is this going to be a bit difficult or not? Thanks in advance.

it may or may not be quite 'plug and go', though i doubt it would be too horribly complicated if it isn't, but if a driver for it exists in the kernel and it recognizes as a network interface then it would be a simple matter of using iptables/ipchains or firestarter (http://www.fs-security.com/) to direct traffic from the usb internet adapter as the external interface and the ethernet card as the internal.
also the ethernet adapter on that machine must have a static IP so it can be used as the gateway for the other machines, then your ISP's DNS should be plugged into the other machines, or the dhcp server configuration on the machine that does the sharing.