> I have looked around the net a bit and can not figure what I do and do 
> not need to know.
> 
> I am building a  desktop/ firewall for my girlfriend that has cox. As 
> her mother hates me I will not have access to the cable modem before I 
> drop off the computer, and will not have a ton of time to configure the 
> computer before getting something thrown at me. The computer that I am 
> giving away will be protecting the rest of the net from the virus ridden 
> piece of s* that my girlfriend's mom will not let me fix.All I know 
> about the cable modem is that it is not a router and that it has cat-5 
> out. I have no experiece with such things so I am hoping that you could 
> tell me of the ramifications *or point me to a guide*.
> 
> Should I do anything special when I install debian? (should I tell it a 
> bs static ip or what?)

It will need the DHCP client to get an address from cox (and possibly a DHCP 
server for the systems in the house).

> Will I need to find drivers?

Cable Modems are transparent transeiver devices to convert the cable WAN signals 
to cat5 ethernet standards.

> How much time should I assume that I will need to invest to get firewall 
> builder setup?

Depends on how secure you want to make it and other needs.  A basic config will 
need to do NAT and prevent outside systems from getting to or through the debian 
router otherwise.