DIY Routers

[Kedabra]

I have seen it mentioned on various sites that some do not trust brand-name routers, and prefer to make their own, using a cheap computer with Linux. I know nothing about this, and Google has not provided much info.
Can a DIY router meet all of my requirements:

1. At least one gigabit WAN for DSL.
2. Uses SPI & NAT.
3. Works with both Linux and XP Pro.
4. Works with both dynamic and static IP addressing.
5. Easy to configure and use (without a lot of command line stuff).

If so, anyone have links to tutorials or other in-depth information on doing this?

 

[ryanvade]

I have seen it mentioned on various sites that some do not trust brand-name routers, and prefer to make their own, using a cheap computer with Linux. I know nothing about this, and Google has not provided much info.
Can a DIY router meet all of my requirements:

1. At least one gigabit WAN for DSL.
2. Uses SPI & NAT.
3. Works with both Linux and XP Pro.
4. Works with both dynamic and static IP addressing.
5. Easy to configure and use (without a lot of command line stuff).

If so, anyone have links to tutorials or other in-depth information on doing this?

1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. yes
5. yes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_router_and_firewall_distributions

What you want is DHCP, iptables, Zeroshell, SNORT, and supported network adapters. The easy way is to just use one of the Linux distributions on the Wiki page I linked.