NIC driver install

[cliff rogers]

OK Patrick now I am really in deep. I guess I need to take a step back and
reconsider all this. Now don't get me wrong, I am not afraid to roll up my
sleeves and configure or install drivers and such but I must admit this is
getting very frustrating. I decided to set this box up with ClarkConnect
because it was supposed to be fairly easy and yet I have spent a lot of time
on this and haven't been able to really use my LAN with any success. The
short time I did have it running I couldn't access either computer from the
other one (I have a laptop and a desktop running W2K with my 3rd box running
Clark as the gateway). I also had problems with e-mails being sent out
randomly from my account. So what do I do now?

1. Would the fact that I don't have my linux box hooked to the modem or the
LAN make a difference on it recognizing and setting up drivers for them?
This is probably a very obvious answer so I apologize for it.

2. Since I don't seem to have a fully compatible hardware and ClarkConnect
distro here and since I cannot return my NIC's would I be better off to
install a complete Linux distro (Redhat 7.3 or maybe 8.1) and then try to
configure my system into a firewall using how-tos like George Toft and
others have provided?

3. Would I be better off to go get a router from d-link or linksys and use
it instead of Linux? Lack of money was one of the main considerations for me
to decide to use Linux for my gateway so I don't know if this will be
feasible for a while.


I am sure I should have more questions than this but its all I could think
of right now. Thanks for any responses.   Cliff