I was looking at setting up a proxy server for my home network (4 computers running windows xp) sharing my adsl connection. But the catch is i dont want to have to run it 24/7 - it only needs to be on if at least one other computer on the network is on.

Is it possible in linux to setup a proxy server that will boot itself up (wake on lan?) if a computer on the network turns on AND turn itself off after like 10 minutes of all the computers being off?

If so what distro would i have to use and would i need specific types of network cards? Im new to linux so some straightforward advice would be useful

thanks in advance.

Any linux distro...although if its just going to be web proxy may want something like slackware,LFS,arch...etc...even basic debian or bsd varient.
Something light.
squid
webmin
mysql
whatever plugins for squid

I left out quite a bit but you get the picture.
As for wake on lan let power controle handle this as long as your nic card supports it via software.
set it to say shut off the pwr in 10minutes after log off.

I have never done this but all the componants are there in most to all distros.