I really can't say much to this...if you don't want newbiestuff, then why don't you just do it as it is meant - from the command line? create a script that you can easily modify, and you've got everything you ever want from iptables...each option and no limitations that GUI systems always have.

iptables is fairly easy to learn if examined with interest, so I encourage you really to do so..I think fwbuilder is one of the best for this task, but as you said it's a bit "newbiestuff" and I don't like it either. console is console, and it's faster than GUI almost always..

while we're on the subject. Anything already out there that I can simply feed a file with netblocks and which will then integrate this into my existing setup?

for guarddog and fwbuilder, which is better for newbie but yet can be configure for my servers ? (web, php+mysql, ftp, samba etc).....

Guarddog is really easy to use and Ive never had a dependency problem with it.

i mite try it then.

Guarddog user here too, been fine with it.