I have no Idea where to start on this so here's quick outline of my setup and how I would like it to work...

I have 3 PC's all networked together using WIN XP PRO and setup using home & small business networking wizard (I have little networking knowledge).

I have recently discovered that Linux is well cool and Bill Gate can kiss my... well anyway, the PC I have Mandrake on is also the gateway in XP using my speedtouch USB modem. How can I set linux up to act as the gateway (ie ICS) without touching the other 2 PC's so they still connect as normal when I boot into XP on the gateway PC?

In short, how do I setup ICS in Mandrake 9.1 without messing things up in XP or on the other 2 PC's.

I hope that makes sence to anyone that maybe able to help.

Thanks in advance

Steve

If you want to do it manually, load the following modules, with the following commands :

"su -"
<root password>

"/sbin/modprobe iptable_nat"
"/sbin/modprobe ip_nat_ftp"
"/sbin/modprobe ip_conntrack_ftp"

Then, setup the masquerading functionality of iptables (the Linux firewall) :

"/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE"

(eth1 is the 'external' network card in this example)


After this turn on IP forwarding :

"/bin/echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward"

If believe Mandrake Linux also has a 'wizard' for doing this kind of stuff, it is called "DrakGW".

thanks everso much for your reply.

It looks a bit heavy for a newbie

I assume I type that lot in a line at atime as root pressing enter after each line??

OK, let's take a few steps back. :-)

What happens if you start the program "drakgw"?

"drakgw"? sorry for been so thick, but whats that?

You're now thinking "god this is going to be difficult" Sorry I'm very good with windows just a total Linux newbie

I found some information on the Mandrake site, which might be useful for you :

http://doc.mandrakelinux.com/Mandrak...onf-intro.html
http://doc.mandrakelinux.com/Mandrak...ml/drakgw.html